How Mike Meldman Got the Rich and Famous to Live in Resorts
Mike Meldman is one of the most influential real-estate moguls in the country thanks to his luxurious live-in resorts, which became irresistible to the rich and famous during the pandemic
Mike Meldman started out a long way from the luxurious resort communities he’s built since the early 1990s.
The Milwaukee native and Stanford graduate started out with plans for a career in law — but he told Insider that idea was scrapped when he “bombed the LSATs” and had to refocus his postgrad path.
A few months later he found himself dealing blackjack in Lake Tahoe, where he met a man who asked him if he’d like to make as much money as he wanted while working as little as he could. He said yes.
From there it was off to the races in real estate, where Meldman started working as a commercial broker until he started building his own property empire.
Today he’s the chairman and CEO of Discovery Land Company, which he’s led since founding the firm in 1994. The multimillion-dollar developer is behind some of the world’s most exclusive neighborhoods. Meldman is also the co-founder of the trendy tequila brand Casamigos alongside two longtime pals: the Oscar-winning actor George Clooney and the nightlife mogul Rande Gerber, who is also the longtime husband of the model and actress Cindy Crawford.
Meldman, 62, has propelled Discovery from a single golf club to more than two dozen private enclaves from Idaho to the Caribbean that are now sought after by the world’s wealthiest.
Even before the pandemic, his properties had already lured A-list residents and guests from Michael Jordan and Tom Brady to Reese Witherspoon and Bill Gates. But the 1% have moved in even greater numbers since last spring. Sales at Discovery — where home prices range from $2 million to $50 million — were more than $2 billion last year, according to the company. That’s up from $1 billion in 2015.
“Everywhere we had available inventory, they sold it,” Meldman said via phone from Discovery’s Maui property. “People wanted the safety, the security, and the bubble we create.”
Last month, Ben Affleck, a member of Meldman’s Yellowstone Club in Montana along with the businessman Eric Schmidt and Justin Timberlake, reportedly rendezvoused with Jennifer Lopez in a mansion with a private chef in a much-watched rekindling of their early-2000s romance.
It’s just the latest sign that Meldman has convinced the richest, most famous people in the world that they don’t want to live (and vacation) on Park Avenue or in the Hollywood Hills but rather in remote, lush landscapes with spacious lots, outdoor activities, and amenities that outshine the Ritz-Carlton.
Inside Discovery Land
It helped a business that the casually fancy atmosphere Meldman cultivates became coveted year-round during the pandemic.
The move toward social distancing and remote work turned several of Discovery’s vacation communities into primary residences, Meldman said. Existing inventory sold out at virtually all properties in the months after the coronavirus hit the US, and demand drove Discovery home prices up 25%.
People who flocked to Yellowstone, for example, came from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, Meldman said, emphasizing that many relocated to far-flung locales, like Montana, because they felt safe. At his upstate New York property, Silo Ridge, the same phenomenon unfolded.
The company’s vigilance in on-site COVID-19 testing and amenities like homeschooling and medical facilities, Meldman said, made living at Discovery all the more attractive to homebuyers looking to escape the crowds while still having every convenience close at hand. When residents, called members, arrive at a Discovery property, the staff handles everything, he said, so the experience can be stress-free.
To support members’ outdoor pastimes, Meldman “loves to hire the best local people” and bring on the “best experts.” Yellowstone offers fly-fishing and skiing, while the Hawaii property, Mākena, lends itself to pursuits like surfing and paddleboarding.On-site dining facilities use organic farm-to-table produce, Meldman said, mimicking the Michelin-starred beach clubs of Italy’s Amalfi coast. Jim Tripi, the director of culinary operations at Discovery’s Austin and British Columbia locations, said he “fell in love” with the company for the freedom it gives its chefs to create dishes with producers and harvesters. But a clean diet wasn’t always Meldman’s style, Tripi recalled.
“He was eating classic American food like meatloaf when I first met him,” Tripi said, but over the past decade or so he has become more health-conscious. Now he’s a fan of Tripi’s plates of fish and turkey.
Meldman recalled a time at Discovery’s Bahamas location when a chef caught a fish right out of the water and made sushi for a table of 15 dining beachside.Members at all outposts enjoy vegetables and herbs grown on-site, along with vineyards and indigenous plant life.
Silo Ridge — located in Dutchess County, New York, about two hours north of Manhattan, where homes start at $2 million — “has an amazing garden,” Meldman said.
It’s fitting that Mindy Grossman, the CEO of WW International (formerly Weight Watchers), is a resident there. She and her husband have owned a home in nearby Millbrook for the past 23 years, but when they found Discovery, they couldn’t help but buy a property.
“Silo is a gift,” she said of the sprawling community with a bustling social life and leisure offerings including ice skating and golf — a sport her husband loves but she’d never played before joining. Now she’s found herself driving and putting on the regular. She even recounted a time when she finished up on the green and a staffer stood waiting to cool her down with a shot of tequila and a wet towel.
“I’m wowed a lot,” she said, recalling memories of meals with Meldman, emphasizing that he sets the tone for the entire operation. “He’s a fantastic human being. You can tell his belief in what he’s creating is who he is and authentic, and that’s why it’s successful.”
Peter Whalen, the general manager of Discovery’s Bahamas property, Baker’s Bay Golf and Ocean Club, has been working for Meldman since he was 19. Now 37, he spoke to Insider about his career as passionately as if he’d only just finished his first day.
He remembers arriving at the Arizona club, called Mirabel, as a teenager during a long day of job hunting. He was welcomed in, he said, and spent hours shaking hands and interviewing while his then-girlfriend (now wife) waited in the car. He got the job.
“I love Mike Meldman more than my father, and I really love my father,” he said. “He made me feel important like I mattered — part of his family.”
Whalen loves the company so much he named his 2-year-old daughter Baker after his Bahamian paradise.
In 1996, he debuted his first official project in Scottsdale, Arizona, a ritzy suburb of Phoenix.
The Estancia Club’s golf course was named the best new private course anywhere by Golf Digest. Lots sold for $1 million, significantly higher than neighboring properties. But there were fewer of them — just 223 homesites on 640 acres.
But the smaller a golf club was, the better. It’s more exclusive: A scarcity of homes makes each one more attractive — and more valuable.
“Most people think you have to have as much density as you can, but it doesn’t work like that,” Meldman said. “You’re just scarring the land.”
Meldman then crossed the Rockies to work on Yellowstone, now one of the most exclusive private ski resorts in the world. From there, he went on to develop a total of 25 Discovery properties worldwide.
Read the full article at Business Insider.
For Many, the Pandemic Has Led to the ‘Discovery’ of Golf
And homes on courses are the place to be now, not something you save for vacation or retirement.
For the first 15 years of his career developing real estate focused around golf courses, Mike Meldman had never really played. “I didn’t golf at all. The golf was an amenity to sell the real estate,” he confided, noting that his naïveté was fundamental to an approach that has distinguished his dozens of projects from the standard template.
“If I’d grown up like a golf snob, none of the fun I’m trying to create at our places would ever have happened.”
Now chairman and chief executive of Discovery Land Company, Mr. Meldman has more than 25 years of experience developing residential golf communities across North America, in the Caribbean and soon in Europe. He shared some thoughts about how the pandemic has reshaped their use, and what it presages for golf communities in the future. This interview has been edited and condensed.
How has your business changed over the last three decades?
When I first started with Estancia [a golf club in Scottsdale, Ariz.], people were buying empty lots, figuring they’d move in during their retirement. Now a lot of people aren’t buying for retirement, but the lifestyle today — our buyer has gotten younger, and there are a lot of 30- or 40-year-olds with their families. So now we’re more of a home builder, because people want to use these places immediately. It’s very positive for these communities. There used to be more speculators who bought a lot to flip it for two or three times their money.
The pandemic has reshaped so much. How has it affected Discovery’s communities?
We’re more full today than we ever have been, because everyone has escaped. We have fairly stringent Covid policies, and we encourage people not to really leave the property; they don’t want to anyway. We thought Silo Ridge, just outside New York, would be a weekend home for people in the city, but it’s become their primary house now for many. It’s taught us that low-density projects that are secure and protected from the outside have real value. People just feel more secure there right now.
Your company is focused on creating a social community, as much as a physical one. How did that evolve?
Thirty percent or higher of our members have multiple properties. Once people have these places, they tend to use them a lot more than they first say they will. It’s the biggest question people ask me: Will we use it enough? In the early clubs we did, we had to increase the size of the kitchen and dining rooms because people were there every night.
In your communities, which is more important — the houses or the golf courses?
We purposely design it so the homes don’t impact the golf experience — we’re fairly low density compared to most golf communities, with 200 or 300 homes rather than 800. We have wide fairways and big setbacks, and the houses are designed to see the golf course, but not be a part of it. Balls aren’t hit into your patio or your pool all the time. At Chileno Bay Golf and Beach Club, in Los Cabos, Mexico, there aren’t even homes on the course.
DESIGN DISH: BĀBĀ AT THE YELLOWSTONE CLUB
BraytonHughes gives BāBā by world-renowned Chef Ming Tsai—a signature style
Experience the recently completed BāBā at the Yellowstone Club, designed by BraytonHughes. Grand in scale but doused with warmth, the overall essence is an effortless combination of rustic materials and Asian-inspired details to complement Chef Tsai’s remarkable cuisine.
An iconic ski, golf and adventure destination since 1977—the Yellowstone Club which sits at the base of a private ski mountain on over 15,000 acres— houses a number of residential, dining, shopping, spa and fitness facilities. Prior to working on BāBā, BraytonHughes designed the new village’s Buffalo Bar and Grill (BBG) restaurant, The Boot Room underground bar, sales center, locker room and Yellowstone Club spa.
“We wanted to create an atmosphere at BāBā that is as dynamic during the day as it is at night,” said BraytonHughes Design Studios President and Principal, Joel Villalon. “The transparency of glass offers passersby views into the restaurant and a surround screen experience to those inside. The restaurant is lit by natural daylight, and when the outdoor light goes dark, sconces suspended from a ring of timber columns create a rhythm around the room and a warm, welcoming feeling.”
Working in partnership with architecture firm Hart Howerton, the two powerhouse firms realized an elegant space that is massive in scale yet still feels cozy and intimate. BraytonHughes achieved this energy by covering the walls and ceilings with weathered wood planks and hammered steel plates accented by custom, seeded glass light fixtures and stone quarried from the heart of Montana. The Hart Howerton team designed the building in an expansive octagon that allows guests to enjoy 360-degree views of the surrounding scenery and endless skies.
Guests can capture a glimpse of Chef Tsai in action with the design of an open-display kitchen that flanks the bar which heightens the overall ambiance and aromas.
Read the full article at California Home Design.
New York’s Silo Ridge is the Ultimate Work from Home
When New York closed its offices and forced everyone to work from home, flocks of city dwellers suddenly rethought their living quarters. Those with homes outside the city immediately took to them, and those without were suddenly reconsidering their living arrangements.
Notable Features
- More than 100 members were on property throughout March, April, and May. To keep members—and their children—entertained, Silo Ridge offered virtual bingo, a photographer to take photos of residents on their porches, plenty of provisions, member contests including “chopped challenges” and a tie-dye challenge, Zoom workouts with experts, a cookie bake-off, and more.
- When it comes to work, high-speed internet is available throughout the property, and as members are considering staying at Silo Ridge full time this fall, Silo Ridge will offer private conference spaces, which can be used for conference calls, Zoom meetings, or even tutoring sessions for the younger members.
Photos courtesy Discovery Land Company.
Read the full article at CSQ.
ALL–PRECAST CONCRETE SOLUTION AWARD – YELLOWSTONE CLUB
ALL–PRECAST CONCRETE SOLUTION AWARD
YELLOWSTONE CLUB
BIG SKY, MONTANA
Yellowstone Club is a 15,200-acre private residential community nestled in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. One of the most recent additions to this community is the exclusive and unique Yellowstone Club Village Core, a collection of five structures that provide luxury residences, ski facilities, and private ski club access, along with unique amenities and a gathering space for the community. The designers of this high-end destination originally considered a cast-in-place design. However, a total–precast concrete solution was ultimately chosen to accelerate construction and provide a more durable set of structures. Using emulative design to convert the project from cast-in-place to precast concrete, the designers were able to cut 24 months from the construction timeline, allowing them to finish the project in just one year. To meet the aggressive timeline, the stakeholders facilitated a fast-track schedule through four seasons. Throughout the project, workers battled extreme weather and several severe freeze-thaw cycles.
ROCKING MOUNTAINS
The use of precast concrete helped the team meet the Category D seismic design requirements necessary for the location, which is in the Yellowstone supervolcano area. The added seismic support included grouted joints and connections, redun-dancy in concrete reinforcements, seismic hooks, and the use of vertical grout. The vertical grout joints are closure pours with stirrups projecting out of the walls. An additional cage built and installed in the cavity prior to casting adds a rigid frame with members that can withstand seismic loads.
To overcome framing difficulties created by fixed column locations, shallow and long-span heavily prestressed beams, and multiple locations of transfer-framing beams, the team took a deliberate and proactive approach to achieve required top of precast concrete elevations. Solutions included monitoring beam cambers in pre-dicted problem areas and setting vertical framing elements, including columns and walls, at predetermined elevations.
Among the most innovative elements of this project are the 96 monolithic precast concrete balcony slabs. These balconies are a completely new product line for the precaster and required design and installation of a new custom production facility at the Colorado Springs, Colo., plant. The production of the uniquely shaped balcony elements, many of which feature drastically different geometry, required bidirection-al prestressing of many members. Prestressing during casting of the primary tension member was followed by post-tensioning of the cantilevered slab to resolve negative moments.
Extensive coordination among the design, engineering, general contractor, and precaster teams ensured that the rigorous project requirements were all met; the result is an elegant and inviting addition to this private mountainside community.
Read the full article at Ascent Magazine.
U.S. Golf Communities With the Best Amenities for Luxury Living—and Playing
These properties cater to owners’ every need—and make you feel like you’re on an eternal vacation
For an avid golfer, living in a luxury course community can be akin to feeling like you’re on a year-round vacation. Aside from all-access to spectacular greens and daily play, these enclaves offer some serious amenities.
“What sets these high-end golf communities apart is the level of service and quality of goods,” said Mauricio Umansky, founder, and CEO, at The Agency, a global luxury real estate brokerage and lifestyle company based in Beverly Hills, California. “It’s definitely enticing to have world-class golfing, food, pros, and more within easy reach for those who live there.”
And they create a true sense of community among residents.
“For a start, they all share the same pastime, and there are great amenities to get to know your neighbors, including clubhouses, gyms with group fitness classes, mixers events, and more,” Mr. Umansky said.
There’s a draw of belonging to an exclusive club with a very exclusive and private clientele, said Zack Bates, CEO Private Club Marketing, a firm based in Newport Beach, California, that offers membership consulting, marketing, and communications for private clubs and luxury brands.
“People buy into these communities not only for the club and its amenities, but also for those associated with them; a club is only as good as its members,” Mr. Bates said.
While these communities offer the best in luxury living, “that doesn’t always mean white tablecloths and stiff jackets,” Mr. Bates said. “In these instances, it’s an authentic experience with impeccable attention to detail, a place where residents and club members can have a bit of an escape from their everyday lives.”
Below are four golf communities in the U.S. with some of the most impressive offerings.
Kūkiʻo Golf and Beach Club, Hawaii
The scenery takes center stage at the Kūkiʻo Golf and Beach Club, a 1,100-acre oceanfront resort-like retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii, where beach and greens have equal appeal. The 28 holes of golf include an 18-hole regulation course and a 10-hole short course. Both can be played barefoot and afford never-ending ocean views and a constant supply of mai tais and margaritas from on-course comfort stations.
Thanks to the idyllic ocean-side locale, outdoor activities come second nature here.
“Kūkiʻo offers everything Hawaii you could think of—from water activities like snorkeling with sea turtles and paddle boarding with dolphins to playing tennis, golf, and enjoying the pool,” said Mr. Bates, of Private Club Marketing.
There are two clubhouses, an oceanfront dwelling with a dining pavilion and beach bar, and the Golf Clubhouse, which affords a dining room, outdoor bar, several pools, an open-air spa, and fitness center and Hawaiian fishponds.
What sets Kuki`o apart are bespoke luxuries such as an on-site farm that provides most of the produce the property’s restaurants use on a daily basis. Harvests occur just about every day to serve guests the freshest options available. And thanks to the community’s beehives, different varieties of honey are made seasonally.
Another major perk of membership is access to the Kona Shuttle, the community’s private Boeing 737-800 aircraft, solely for members, that operates twice a week out of Oakland, California.
Membership requires homeownership as well as an initial fee of $275,000, with annual dues of $57,000. There are three distinct neighborhoods with luxury homes, cottages, and custom lots that range from $1.25 million to more than $20 million.
The Bighorn Golf Club, Palm Desert, California
Set against the jagged peaks of the Santa Rosa Mountains some 15 miles from Palm Springs, The Bighorn Golf Club is an elite desert oasis nestled in the hills above the Coachella Valley floor.
At its heart are two championship golf courses: The Mountains, a target course with elevation changes and desert terrain, and The Canyons with its expert bunkering and idyllic water features.
“The scenery is phenomenal, as there is terrain both up and down the hillsides and large water features,” said Sean Stanfield of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty. “The elevations and mountain backdrops of the course give it one of the most unique settings available in the desert,” he said.
The club has hosted numerous events including the LPGA World Championships from 2004-2007.
The newly opened 80,000-square-foot clubhouse set 1,000 feet above the valley floor is the centerpiece of the golf program. It houses multiple dining options such as the renowned Pour House, indoor and outdoor dining in both the men’s and women’s locker rooms, as well as an events terrace with seating for 600. Members can have their own private wine storage lockers and cigar humidors. The pièce de résistance, however, are the four multi-level penthouses built above the club, ranging from 4,782 square feet to 6,709 square feet of luxury living.
Bighorn’s amenities are as big and impressive as its golf program. There’s a spa and wellness center with offerings from a salon and fitness center to a Pilates studio and electric cryotherapy chamber, as well as tennis and pickleball courts.
In a community as high end like this one, it’s almost expected members have access to private car service—and private jet service. Or, should you choose to drive yourself around, you can park your car at The Vault, a 24,000-square-foot facility that’s part garage, part car museum where owners can showcase their vintage and collectible rides. There’s a lounge to sit and admire the vehicles as well as a virtual race simulator where members can virtually race every brand of car on any track in the world. Car storage? Spots cost upward of $116,500 and there’s currently a waitlist.
Membership fees include a $250,000 initiation fee with $26,500 annual dues. Homes range from $2 million villas to custom homes in the $15 million to $20 million range.
Read the full article at Mansion Global.
Learn more about Hart Howerton here.
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