Mass Buying Of Millionaire Amazes Florida

Taupo Times, Volume VI, Issue 286, 1 August 1957, Page 3

Mass Buying Of Millionaire Amazes Florida

A little silver-haired man whose favourite hobby is reading murder mysteries has been buying up real estate in Florida in the past year at the rate of 250,000 dollars a day. He is 90-year-old Arthur Vining Davis, whose only heirs are a stepdaughter he rarely sees and a nephew who is a missionary among the Red Indians. Sole ruler of a 400,000,000-dollar empire, Davis now owns more than one-eighth of the total land area of Dade County, which takes in Miami and its suburbs. Here is what Davis did one recent 45-day stretch: — Bought 200,000 acres of valuable waterfront land on an island 70 miles south of Cuba. Announced plans in Florida for a 20,000,000-dollar shopping centre. / Obtained approval to control an 18,000,000-dollar bank. Bought the fabulous and exclusive Boca Raton Club for 22,000,000 dollars.

Picked up an air line, an office building, a huge cattle ranch, leased an ocean-front strip for 2,000,000 dollars and revealed plans for a 2,000,000 dollar hotel to be built on it. During the whole period he sold nothing. In fact, since he moved to Miami in 1948, he has made only one sale — his tomato farms, which were losing money. Davis' incredible mass-buying has alarmed and intrigued the whole State. Bankers and businessmen are fearful of its effects when he dies. Said one banker: "He's doing nothing constructive with his holdings. "If the trustees of his estate decided to liquidate quickly, the market would be glutted and the bottom would fall out of land values." Some, awed by the little man, think he has some master strategy. Other say he may be erecting a huge foundation and that one day he will announce a staggering fund to help his fellow-men. Davis himself says nothing. He shuns all newspapermen, has few friends and no known enemies. Even his organisation is a mystery It is known that he is flanked by a .law concern, a team of accountants and many experts. Davis, whose wife died in 1933, is chairman of the Aluminium Company of America. He guided it from a small shop in 1888 to one of the richest corporations in the world today. He works 12 hours a day, seven days a week — an astounding feat for his age. He expects everyone about him to match his pace.