Good Lifestyle

To get out of a dusty suburban train in Florida, New York, a sleeping city to 95 miles north of New York, and to go fifty not at the entrance toSilo Ridge Field Club-A private community and a golf course of 800 acres upscale - is an exercise to challenge your assumptions.

For starters, no: it's not acountry club. Of course, you will find here 18 rolling holes of the fairways, bunkers and water risks here, but do not expect to meet a strict dress code, a clogged air, a custom grid (serving sea dirty and Cold butter) or a cloakroom filled with old men playing five cards draw in their underwear.

And no, despite the "field club" in his name, do not expect to find Cashmere aristocratic scores with hunting for pheasant hunting or pursuit after horseshoes.

So what is the agreement with Silo Ridge?

Well, when you walk through its doors - as I did this summer, you first see golfers playing a Tom Fazio class wearing t-shirts and on-board shorts, and s' Stopping in various "sumptuous" comfort stations along the way, where they enjoy treats such as hardened duck, artisanal beer, venison Empanadas and margaritas (a tap, by the way). Then you will see a gymnastics built in an old garage, where the doors swell for open air opening sessions like a crossfit box. You will also see a greenhouse, two swimming pools, a hot tub and a garden with gold raspberries and fresh vegetables. And if you are down for a glamping volume, you are lucky: you will find a torn nestled on the side of one of the green, on the precipice of a 20 feet bluff overlooking a manmade lake, which, which, Yes, do not hesitate at the cannon ball of.

Oh, and this lake Manmade? Of course, it houses many bad golf balls, but it is also used for paddle and kayak embarcaders and is lined with a beach covered with sand. And a few hundred meters from the entrance, on a ridge overlooking the course, you will find the house of Ridge, a restaurant of Chef Jonathan Wright (formerly the rainbow room, the restaurant List of New York Restaurant Atop Rockefeller), where you can order local procedures - these garden dishes mentioned above with objects such as grilled beets and Kale-et-Endive salads.

In short, Silo Ridge, who opened in 2015 and Goldman Sachs Traders and All-Star athletes, including Tom Brady and former Baseman Yankee Mark Teixeira-from among his members, is more or less a leisure paradise on the Earth, a mishmash of all you ever wanted to do during a afternoon afternoon summer weekend all fell in an exclusive place. But to experience magic, you must be a member, which only happens if you buy one of the 245 homes of the property, of which about 80 of them have already been sold - condos at a single level with Mahogany beams and cathedral ceilings at 5,000 squares. -The house houses with overflow swimming pools with slate and cuisines al fresco. And everything is the idea of ​​a man: luxury developer and referee of luxury pleasure,Mike Meldman.

If this name sounds a bell, it may be because it has the CEO ofDiscovery business, Who has developed nearly two dozens of ultra-high-end private communities all in North America in what could be the world's most exclusive real estate portfolio. IllustriousYellowstone Club? Yes, it's a discovery property - as well as Gozzer Ranch, the 18-hole rustic hole in Alene, Idaho. Oh, and Dune Deck, the beach evacuation in Westhampton, is a discovery property. El Dorado, the Swanky Refuge A-Lister in Los Cabos, too.

You can also know it for Casamigos, the TEQUILA brand that it founded with your friendsGeorge Clooney andHiver Gerber In 2013, they sold Alcohol Giant Diageo last year for a billion cool dollars. Or maybe it's theThe Wall Street newspaper titles as"Developer Mike Meldman is the real estate party."(Meldman, for what it is worth, categorically denies this evaluation.)

Recently, I had the chance to talk to the man behind magic and choose her brain on a whole multitude of topics, including silo ridge, golf play, beer pong, paternity, codes sticky vestibles,The equilibrium of elusive professional lifeAnd what it's like breaking a billions of dollars in thin air (with the most cool celebrity friends).

[This interview has been published and condensed with clarity.]

The first thing I noticed in Silo Ridge was the golfers of the shorts. Where does the idea of ​​the dress code come from?

Well, I did not grow like a golfer, so when I made my first place, my children were very young, five and six years old. And I tried to get them in golf shirts, to fight with them because they did not want to wear a collar shirt. So, I just said, "Okay, what am I doing? We are here to have fun. Why are we fighting on a golf shirt? Forget it. Wear a t-shirt, What do I worry? " And then, the golf professionals at the time were like: "Oh, my God, you can not do that," and I was like: "Why?" And they go, "Well, I guess you can, Mr. Meldman."

It was the beginning of the relaxed nature of the dress code. And my attitude is also that these people who buy are successful, good people, and I hope they know how to act, then I give them the benefit of the doubt. If they want to dress in t-shirts and short shorts and no shoes and play golf, who am I to judge?

The coolest thing about Silo Ridge: these "comfort stations" around the course. I heard that they were inspired by your own childhood.

Well, I grew up in Milwaukee, so we went to the camp and at the family camp in northern Wisconsin, so many activities and things like that are inspired by things I made like a child, then things I do with my children. So, everything is intended to bring you back to the past when life was simpler. You want everything to be a treat, right? As, wherever you turn, you want to feel something special, or that you are treated to something special.

What is the most practical lesson that your father has taught you?

He has always led to the athletic teams of our school, so he taught me basically to be a good sport and have an integrity.

Is it something you are trying to convey to your son, too?

Trying. [LaughsThis is a different world. My other sons are now 30 and 28. The beauty of all this is that they obviously had an inspiration from a lot of business and have been a big one,fat Part of it - and something I am so proud of is that they came through that very unfitled. It's something I'm really proud of.

Parenthood is a very important topic for us here toBetter life. But we care about career success too. How can you balance being a businessman and a father?

I was lucky because my business lifewas Type of my personal life, and all these activities we do have been launched from me, wanting to spend time with my children. When I made my third project [Iron Horse in Whitefish, Montana], there is a beautiful golf course and it's a big leisure area. But being from Milwaukee, I did not know what to do anything. Nevertheless, I wanted to teach children how Wake-Board. So we bought a boat and hired a wake up instructor and a guy from driving it so I can actually be there with them and enjoy the process, instead of emphasizing to try to learn and not run them and not to run them and kill them. It was not a stressful experience, it was a pleasure that I was able to participate directly in. I was really lucky to be able to create a business around my children.

They are inspiration. Without them, I would not have been as active or engaged in all these other activities. And I just do not have that like a child, so it was nice to share that with my children.

This is no longer secret than most young professionals today have a lot of trouble balancing work and playing. What is your advice for them?

That's a reason I think [the discovery] has been so successful. Many of our buyers and members focus on person, successful personalities,to success Careers - and I think one of their only regrets is that they may not have spent enough time with their children or their families. The great thing about the discovery is that we give these people who work so hard to be with their families. I have already seen it, in all our projects. Reward yourself for hard work and success, but also reward and invest in your family andbeing With your family.

What is the best advice you've ever been given?

Learn at Golf. [Laughs]

What is the worst advice you have ever received in your life?

So my first project was the Estancia, back in the early 90s. It was the RTC days [Resolution Trust Corporation], where the entire real estate world was upside down and blowing. And I remember that I was flying southwest of Phoenix to San Francisco. Been to the first row that has the six seats face? Two of my college friends were in these seats, so I sat with them, and I explained what I was going to Scottsdale: I'm going to build a golf course. This would be the most exclusive place of Arizona's biggest end. And my friend Rob Schumacher-who was a golfer and probably knew a lot more about the business that I did - said, "You're out of your mind. You never do it. You'll be killed." The investment was about $ 20 million in the day, which was a lot, which was a lot,is a lot, and he said, "For $ 20 million, you can go to the RTC and buyArizona. Why would you like it? "

So I ended up doing it. To date, I think Rob bought a dozen my projects.

Do you have a number one advice [for golf]?

The problem I had is that I literally have twenty-a few golf courses, so I have pros at each place and they all try to give me thea Tribbit of information that will make me better. All he does is to confuse you. Paste with an instructor.

This seems applicable to more than golf.

Yes.

What is the craziest thing you have ever blown?

Probably planes and art.

What is the healthiest purchase you have ever done?

Oh, Casamigos, for sure.

Yes, congratulations! You are always very involved in everyday life, right?

Yes, we are fundamentally only a subsidiary of Diageo [the giant of the alcohol industry], we manage all the daily society.

This Holy Trinity, you, George [Clooney], Rande [Gerber] -How did it come to?

We all had houses in El Dorado, my project in Cabo, and we just created a tequila that we liked ourselves. It was not really intended to market or sell, but as we drunk and shared with everyone, everyone said, "You should sell it in shops and bars!" We liked that, everyone liked, so we just knew it was going to work. Then we went to the wine and the spirits of the Southern Glazer, which is our distributor. They loved it and said they would help, andPoof! The next thing you know, we are a billions of dollars business.

I understand that you know how to start a party really killer. What are the keys to get out of the perfect holiday?

Ingredient number one:Lot Casamigos. [LaughsNext: Having a lot of food - a lot of good foods and a lot of fun food - Because a thing people do not do when holidays have enough food, and if you do not have enough food, people get too drunk. At least if you have food, people can drink and have fun anymore. Finally, invite an eclectic group of people. If you succeed in a business, you meet people successfully in other companies. This makes it all nice.

The rumor has you that you are a monster with pong beer, just dominate everyone you play.

[LaughsYeah, I'm good at pong beer. But I'm also a goodstrategistwith pong beer. So, my big stratagem in the pong beer is, between the matches, I do not blow like everyone else, so I stay relatively sober. I am also the king of the "Cup of Death", which means that if your teammate strikes - my sons are really good too, then the three of us were dominant, I am a follow-up quickly with the shot of relief in the same cup for the death cup. Game over.

So what is the next discovery? Are you going international? Europe? Eastern Asia?

We have some new projects in progress, one in Nashville, one in Austin. We would like to watch in Europe, we continue to see opportunities. And we are looking for in the Middle East and China everywhere, really, because we believe that our form of recourse and luxury translates into all other markets. The more this type of luxury product is close to [your] at home, the easier it is to use. If you are in Dubai or Beijing, or wherever you are, this translates into a market, this luxury form. If we have the right partner and good opportunity arise, I think we can go anywhere.

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