I spent the day around Mar-a-Lago. See the exclusive enclave where Trump is retreating, complete with billionaire neighbors, ornate mansions, and Floridian Ferraris.

Mar-a-Lago sits on a narrow sliver of Florida's eastern coast, flanked by the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. Construction sites and low-cost establishments that I drove by just five minutes away from the property make the club's grandeur seem like a surprise.

Typical hallmarks of Floridian life dot Southern Boulevard, the major street leading to Trump's Mar-a-Lago. There's a 7-Eleven attached to a coin laundromat, a corner store advertising "bait and beer," and a location of Flanigan's — a beloved, casual South Florida restaurant chain known for ribs.

Once I crossed the bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway, which has been under construction for years, those quaint establishments fade away and are immediately replaced by multimillion-dollar mansions.

Once over the bridge, I sidled alongside Mar-a-Lago's southern edge. The resort was largely hidden by hedges. A security tower peeking out from the property made me wonder how elaborate security at the front gate would look.

The security tower, branded with "Palm Beach County Sheriff," seemed to be positioned near the club's tennis courts.

Even with the hedges, Mar-a-Lago's main building is completely visible from the street. It was the first glimpse I got of the resort's opulence.

Trump acquired the property in 1985 for $8 million. The facade visible from the street, though, is just a sliver of its expansive 20 acres.

Typically, only members can go beyond the main gate. But the day I went, there seemed to be minimal security.

Previous photos of the club's entrance show guards posted outside the gate. But on the Saturday in early January that I visited the area, there didn't seem to be any security aside from a car valet just inside the gate. 

There was a car valet under a portico just beyond the main gate. I spied a red Ferrari parked out front.

Since Ferraris can run upwards of $200,000, the car was certainly not out of place at Mar-a-Lago, where membership costs just as much. There are roughly 500 members at the club, who are expected to pay $200,000 in membership fees, which is then supplemented by a yearly fee of $14,000 and a $2,000 dining minimum.

Mar-a-Lago's grounds are sprawling. Members have access to the club's pools, beaches, dining halls, private rooms, tennis courts, croquet lawns, and more.

The entire property, which was built by Post cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1927, sits on 20 acres and boasts 128 rooms. The property spans the entire width of the barrier island, with beach club access to the Atlantic Ocean to the east and access to the Intracoastal Waterway to the west.

The inside of the club is known to be ornate. It features decor and design reminiscent of European palaces, including high ceilings and plenty of gold plating.

The lavish property has served as a backdrop for many society galas and, in the last four years, formal affairs with heads of state.

The gilded decor of its function rooms and communal areas is in line with Trump's ostentatious taste.

His own 2,000-square-foot private residence on the property was reportedly being "expanded and spruced up," for his return according to a report from People.

Neighbors have come out against Trump's move to the area — some have even tried to block his move by singing a letter claiming that Trump cannot live on the property because of an agreement he signed to that effect roughly 30 years ago, when he established the private members-only club. 

Trump's Mar-a-Lago club looks perfectly at home on South Ocean Boulevard, a stretch of Florida's famous State Road A1A, which features a number of luxurious multimillion-dollar mansions.

A1A, a highway that hugs the East Coast of the US from Key West in the south to Jacksonville near the Georgia border, has come to represent taking the scenic route. The iconic road offers blue skies, palm trees, and views of the Atlantic Ocean.

The houses neighboring Mar-a-Lago are historic and stately - and inhabited, more often than not, by the rich and powerful. The area is known as "Billionaires Row" to locals.

The ZIP code — 33480 — is one of the wealthiest in the country. Bloomberg reported that the average adjusted gross income of the area was $1.37 million, making it the third richest ZIP code in the country behind tony Silicon Valley suburb of Atherton, California, and notoriously ritzy Fisher Island, a private island in Miami.

The home pictured above, known as the "ham and cheese house" because of its alternating bands of red brick and coral, sold for nearly $16 million in 2013. The historic property, built in 1928, was purchased by a Connecticut couple who had previously bought and restored a different landmarked oceanfront property.

Some homes are set farther back on their lots, hidden behind both hedges and fences. This mansion belongs to billionaire Bill Koch.

Bill Koch, a lesser known Koch brother, is an energy billionaire with a net worth of $1.5 billion, according to Forbes. He sold his stake in the family businesses to his brothers Charles and David for hundreds of millions of dollars in 1983.

Koch's property spans the width of the island — similar to Mar-a-Lago — which means it also has access to both the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway. It is a quarter of a mile north of Mar-a-Lago.

Billionaires Row homes aren't complete without private beaches, with signage to deter uninvited guests.

All of the homes along Billionaires Row have their own stretches of private beach. The properties' private beaches are separated from their main mansions by the A1A highway — but some of the most posh spreads have a tunnel that runs underneath the road to provide no-hassle access to the Atlantic Ocean. Many of the houses also have smaller homes built directly on the beach.

Signaling how precious unobstructed ocean views are to Billionaires Row residents, Koch contested the design plans of a beach house that he thought was too close to his property in 2019.

According to Palm Beach Daily News, Koch's neighbors — the son and daughter-in-law of Jane Holzer, a well-known art collector who starred in films made by Andy Warhol in the 1960s —set out to build a home on the stretch of beach just south of his. The couple planned to construct a home on a half-acre parcel they bought for $7 million in 2018.

Koch's lawyer told the Palm Beach Architectural Commission — the entity that approves construction in the area — that the new build would disrupt Koch's privacy as well as the "visual harmony" of the neighborhood. "From our standpoint, it is obviously too big, it's too long, too tall," he said.  The commission ultimately decided the project would need to be scaled down.

While many of the mansions in the area are historic, the Palm Beach Architectural Commission has approved new builds in recent years.

The property pictured above was purchased by commodities trader Nedim Soylemez for $7.6 million in June 2018. The Palm Beach Architectural Commission approved the intended neoclassical design for the 14,683-square-foot home the following month. The house is still under construction.

The owner of another new build under construction along Billionaires Row near Mar-a-Lago started with an empty lot that they purchased in 2018 for $12 million.

The lot is nearly an acre and was sold to a company controlled by a luxury home builder based in Naples, Florida, according to Palm Beach Daily News. It has roughly 130 feet of private oceanfront and will be a 13,800-square-foot Mediterranean-inspired home upon completion.

While impressive, these new arrivals seem humble in comparison to some of the area's largest spreads. For example, billionaire hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin has accumulated nearly $250 million in real estate along Billionaires Row over the last several years. Forbes estimates that the current net worth of the Citadel chief is $15 billion.

After checking out the houses on Billionaires Row along South Ocean Boulevard, I kept driving north to Palm Beach's public stretch of sand.

The day we visited was a chilly 63 degrees Fahrenheit. While that may sound balmy to most, that's a touch too cold for a beach day in South Florida. Even still, there were some young families and older couples enjoying the white sand and crisp air off the Atlantic. There was far more foot traffic a couple blocks inland toward downtown.

Even amid the coronavirus pandemic, downtown Palm Beach's restaurants were bustling. The cluster is about three miles north of Mar-a-Lago, or a 7-minute drive.

A famed and beloved New York City French bistro, La Goulue, opened a location in downtown Palm Beach in October. New Yorkers, who seem to be following Trump's lead and fleeing to Palm Beach in droves amid the pandemic, can find the restaurant's beloved cheese soufflé at the new spot, too.

The downtown area is both pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly, with a number of people cycling around leisurely.

Two blocks over, there's even more fine dining.

Legendary Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud has a French restaurant inside Palm Beach's Brazilian Court Hotel. It's has been a local favorite since opening in 2003.

Beyond coveted dinner reservations, the area also has high-end shopping aimed at its deep-pocked residents.

In the southern swath of downtown Palm beach, closer to a number of Billionaires Row homes, is Palm Beach's Worth Avenue. The thoroughfare is lined with outposts of luxury brands like Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Salvatore Ferragamo, and more.

 

After spending the day in the Palm Beach area surrounding Mar-a-Lago, checking out flashy cars and massive estates, I thought that the posh neighborhood seemed like the perfect playground for socialites and multimillionaires.

Those who have moved to the area amid the pandemic cite the climate — it's sunny 237 days of the year — and financial perks like no state income tax as main drivers in their decisions.

Those wanting to follow suit should have no trouble finding a realtor. It felt like there was a major brokerage on every block of downtown Palm Beach.

South Florida recently welcomed relocating billionaires like Charles Schwab and Carl Icahn with open arms.

Trump can only hope for as warm a reception.