A billionaire and an A-list actor found refuge in a 37-home Florida neighborhood with armed guards—proof that privacy is now the ultimate luxury

A quaint, 37-home neighborhood an hour from Miami is attracting moneyed residents, including actor Mark Wahlberg, despite not having a private golf club or coastline. Instead, its major selling point is privacy and a well-trained security staff of former military and police. Stone Creek Ranch, located in Delray Beach, Fla., is one of the hottest new neighborhoods for the ultra-rich, but it didn’t always start out that way. The development was created in the early 2000s a stone’s throw away from the marshy land of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Senada Adžem, the executive director of luxury sales at Douglas Elliman, said before she started selling homes in the development, prices averaged around $6 million. Adžem broke the mold when she put a house up for sale in the neighborhood for $20 million in 2018. It took her two years to sell it for the first time, but it then sold several times after that. Late last year, the same property, now remodeled, sold to Wahlberg for $37 million. The neighborhood’s privacy and security was part of the reason for that sale, as well as the $43 million sale of two properties to Rockstar Energy Drink founder Russell Weiner, who changed his legal name to Russ Savage. Most of the houses have 2.5-acre lots, about the size of two football fields, and sit on the edge of an artificial lake, giving each home its own bubble of privacy. There is no golf club, so people aren’t coming in and out, Adžem said. Plus, the neighborhood isn’t on the beach, so outsiders can’t peep at residents’ backyards from the house-spotting boat tours that are common in the Miami area. In addition, the neighborhood includes guarded entrances and 24/7 security made up of armed ex-military and police, which saves residents money when it comes to spending on their own protection. “The clients who can be on the ocean and can afford to pay 100-million-plus for a property will actually have to hire security personnel just for themselves,