Wealth Management

The idyll classes

Richard Lofthouse discovers the exclusive property clubs where the ultra-rich can combine principle, profit and networking

How do the genuinely wealthy find each other when everyone wears Prada these days? Not easily. Buffeted by a storm of information, plagued by commissionhunting locusts and often isolated geographically, their peer networks have never been more fragile.

Doug Regan, who as president of the special wealth management unit of Northern Trust advises dozens of America's richest families, defines Ultra High Net Worths (UHNW) as those individuals and families with more than $100m ('€68m) of net assets. Regan observes tremendous demand for peer networking events where all the wannabes and sharks are kept out. Once together in a private setting, the seriously rich are 'astonishingly candid with each other' he says.

Apparently, they're also phenomenally competitive and much, much more open about discussing wealth than they used to be. 'The founding generation did not talk about wealth, but today children can Google their parents.'

One recent networking event put on by Northern Trust, titled 'Inspiring Human Capital', helped families discuss what wealth means. The collective answer? 'If you are UHNW you have the privilege of living out your values.'

Defining those values is trickier, but philanthropy is the hottest ticket these days, 'the new competitive sphere for UHNW families', says Regan.

Right on cue is a new company offering peer networking and philanthropy in one shot. Called Everlands, co-founder Bob Burch speaks of his childhood dream of packing a six shooter and riding as a cowboy across the American plains. Today he is living his dreams by acquiring 45 must-have retreats and hunting lodges all over the world and offering them as a fractional investment to rich individuals ''selfselecting' in light of core values of love of nature, family values and conservation.'

It goes without saying that they are also self-selecting in terms of wealth. Burch has invested '€17m of his own money plus an additional '€680,000 towards a conservation endowment. The Everlands business model envisages a total membership of 1,800 by 2012, rewarding each of 20 founder members with a projected return on investment of 48%. For regular members, who will pay a third to two-thirds of a million euros plus annual dues of '€27,000, the investment angle is less obvious although conceivably memberships could one day be traded at a profit.

Members will also need to have the means to flit around the globe at will, spending on average six weeks a year at properties ranging from William Rockefeller's Aidirondack retreat on New York's Upper Lake Saranac, called The Point, to Giraffe Manor in Kenya.

The question of where money profit ends and charity begins is necessarily fuzzy, say the founders, not least because the potential value of meeting other UHNWs cannot be easily quantified yet might be worth its weight in platinum.

As for conservation, one could ponder the sustainability of globetrotting by private jet while claiming to conserve the properties in question. Yet Everlands has the support of famous Kenyan conervationist Dr Richard Leakey and has already decided that every property will generate its own community outreach program.

No wonder the Everlands catalogue submerges itself in the cosy, familiar world of the super-rich taken for granted when The Point was built by Rockefeller in 1929. 'Everlanders are a rare group,' the glossy brochure intones, 'remarkably diverse individuals whose commonality is the avid pursuit of camaraderie, sports and the outdoors.' So far that membership doesn't exist, but backing from Lehman Brothers has enabled the company to acquire seven properties including hunting lodges and estates in the UK, New Zealand, Alaska and the Bahamas. Phase two will see a bigger emphasis on European and African properties, and Burch says that membership recruitment has only just begun, by its very nature a gradual exercise based on hundreds of ongoing conversations.

Another example of combining investment, luxury and environmental stewardship is Auberge Resorts, which owns and runs landmark properties in California ranging from the Auberge du Soleil in the Napa Valley to the Esperanza in Los Cabos, Mexico.

Not content with a growing portfolio of top-notch resorts and spas, CEO and managing partner Mark Harmon last

year launched a new brand called Solage, dubbed 'a new breed of green resort'. The first property, based in Calistoga, Napa Valley, combines eco-chic with an emphasis on personal health and wellbeing, with reclaimed furniture, sustainably sourced fabrics and geothermal, off-grid heating and cooling. It has joined the hottest new trade body year launched a new brand called Solage, dubbed 'a new breed of green resort'. The first property, based in Calistoga, Napa Valley, combines eco-chic with an emphasis on personal health and wellbeing, with reclaimed furniture, sustainably sourced fabrics and geothermal, off-grid heating and cooling. It has joined the hottest new trade body ' the Green Hotels Association.

Echoing Everlands, Harmon will this year begin work on what he claims is a sustainably developed, 2,400 acre, mixed-use resort on the island of St Kitts in the Caribbean, a vision that will lead to a village, privately owned villas and hotels, and a golf course. Environmentalists might sneeze, but Harmon claims that the golf course will be watered with semi-saline water drawn from an renewably powered desalination plant. Harmon has also created the St Kitts Foundation, a non-profit organisation devoted to community outreach, reef protection and conservation.

The suspicion that these schemes amount to little more than rich people trying to get the best deckchairs on a planet-sized Titanic is one the founders roundly reject. Conceding that redefining conservation in the face of climate change is not easy, Everland's Burch insists that the act of taking on the properties is itself a victory for the environment, given that so many familyowned estates are ailing and thus easy prey for developers.

Pointing the way to a better future, they claim, involves being realistic about the need to make a profit ' hence the real estate angle of these various developments ' but also to show integrity concerning the conservation and stewardship elements. Recently appointed Everlands CEO Ken May notes, 'Many of the properties that we are looking to buy do not currently make much money. Conservation in this sense doesn't mean stopping the clock, but it might mean an element of rescue and certainly an emphasis on long-term conservation and investment with a view to a lasting legacy.'

That's money to the ears of many Northen Trust clients, and Burch claims no shortage of interest in Everlands even though the membership process has only just begun. As ever, the proof of big wealth is wearing it lightly and giving it away ' if Warren Buffett and Bill Gates led the way last year, now it's the turn of everyone else to get on board.

If you go down to Bretton Woods

The birthplace of the post-war economic system is being turned in a billion-dollar resort, finds Justin Keay

Most business people would be fazed about investing two-thirds of a billion euros in New Hampshire's White Mountain region, a two and a half hour drive from Boston and a good 40 minutes from the nearest town of any size. The fact that the local landmark, Mount Washington, has recorded the fastest winds on earth, and that temperatures in winter routinely fall some 15 degrees below zero ' challenging all but the most enthusiastic of skiers ' might also prompt hesitation, as would the fact that most visitors are from within New Hampshire. Even Patrick Corso, the man driving the investment, admits it is 'highly unusual to spend this sort of cash in the north-east US', but feels the payback will make it worthwhile.

'The heart of this project is contemporising an old but much loved and revered property and turning it into a year-round resort, rather than one dependent on summer visitors. I'm sure the market is there: call it a leap of faith,' he says.

The property he is referring to is the Mount Washington Hotel, in Bretton Woods, best known for hosting the famous 1944 conference which established the IMF and World Bank and laid the foundations of the post-war global economy; the room where John Keynes and other delegates stayed is something of a shrine, although movie fans will be more impressed with the vast lobby which inspired The Shining.

In the year and a half since Celebration Associates and CNL Income Properties bought this long-neglected landmark for '€27m, renovations have proceeded apace. The 18-hole golf course is being restored according to original plans and will eventually be transformed into a 36-hole course; the panoramic veranda ' at 275m the longest in the US ' has been renovated along with the historic dining rooms; four new tennis courts are being constructed to complement the one that in its heyday saw Jimmy Connors and others play televised matches; whilst work is proceeding on a state of the art spa and conference centre. Rooms are being upgraded carefully so none of the historic ambience is lost.

Although the Mount Washington hotel is central to Corso's strategy, the bulk of the money will be spent constructing new real estate. At present, Bretton Woods has a handful of holiday homes ' albeit highly priced ones. Corso however plans no fewer than 1,000 new residential units, everything from time-share to three and four-bedroom homes aimed at the mega-wealthy who appreciate Bretton Woods' isolated charm.

Particular attention will be paid to the human side: Corso is at pains to stress the cobble-stoned streets and traditional-looking buildings will evoke a traditional New Hampshire village atmosphere. Residents will be less ordinary ' although time-share properties start at '€20,000, larger condos will sell for up to '€1.7m. However those taking the plunge can be reassured by the fact Corso has overseen the restoration of such legendary properties as Pinehurst in North Carolina, constructing quality real estate at both locations that has since substantially appreciated in value.