Business Opportunities Weblog

May 29, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

Startup Journal:

Entrepreneurs like Gordon Black never really retire. The 65-year-old, who started a market-research firm in 1975 that went on to become Harris Interactive Inc., a prominent polling company, tried to stop working. But he soon found himself starting another business — albeit one that took him in a completely different direction.

Looking for sun and a place where his windfall would go further, he settled on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. “I came down here because it’s gorgeous, but it also happens to have an attractive tax situation, so I immediately started thinking of setting up a new company.”

Within a few months, he hit upon the idea of starting a real-estate business. After buying and renovating a villa for himself and his fiancée, Annika Van Wambeke, Mr. Black decided to buy additional properties to fix up and sell.

“We bought a second house, and then a third, and my real-estate business just sort of happened,” says Mr. Black, who so far has purchased seven homes, four of which have already sold. He looks for high-end homes selling for more than $1 million that are in a state of disrepair (some have been hit by hurricanes), and then renovates them from top to bottom with fixtures imported from the U.S. Ms. Van Wambeke is in charge of the decorating and interior design.

Mr. Black’s customers are mostly Americans, the majority from New York, looking for vacation homes or retirement residences. One of his properties, a waterfront home with a 345-foot private beach, is on the market for $4.3 million. “People are ready to spend $2 million to $5 million on the right house,” he says.

When not overseeing work on his houses, Mr. Black spends afternoons on his boat, and travels often to the U.S. and Paris, where he owns an apartment. He is also involved in charitable organizations on the island and frequently hosts friends and family.

Photo by WSJ.

In Profiles, Retirement | 1 Comment