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CNN Saturday Morning News
High Life
Aired November 02, 2002 - 07:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
O'BRIEN: Carlos Bravo likes to keep his toys close at hand, so when he's done flying his biplane, he taxies it right to his doorstep. To his hangar attached to his hangar, attached to his house, just like a garage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARLOS BRAVO: This we call it Disney Land for adults.
O'BRIEN: Welcome to Spruce Creek, Florida. It's the granddaddy of fly-in communities. The homes surround a runway, and pilots can slip the surly bonds with the greatest of ease.
BRAVO: It sort of makes you feel like a kid in a candy store. That's my -- mighty (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it's more a matter of people being able to live the way they wanted to live and achieving that.
O'BRIEN: Carols made a dot.com fortune, sold out in the nick of time, and moved his family here from Illinois. He is among 1100 homeowners at Spruce Creek, about half of whom sit smack dab on a taxiway minutes away from the wild blue yonder. Which is precisely where real estate values are headed here.
LENNY OHLSON, REAL ESTATE BROKER: That's all hangar.
O'BRIEN: Did he build this place?
OHLSON: Yes.
O'BRIEN: That' hangar.
OHLSON: That's all hangar.
O'BRIEN: Real estate broker Lenny Ohlson is on top of the world these days, sandwiched between joy rides in his biplane, he hustles some pricey listings.
OHLSON: Let's see; in 1995 you could buy a lot -- a pathway lot -- for about $75-80,000. Same lot now is going for two and a quarter.
O'BRIEN: Two and a quarter. On a taxiway. Just the lot.
If you think that's a lot, for a lot, this two-acre tract owned by John Travolta, is fetching one and a quarter million. Out of your league? How about a condo, with a plane port. $300,000.
If the American dream is home ownership, is this the American dream on steroids?
OHLSON: If -- well -- no more than the fellow that owns a house on a river to put his boat in the backyard.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
OHLSON: So, this is pretty nice because you have your own airport and it's -- it's the ultimate for anyone that has a plane.
O'BRIEN: The military built the runway here when it abandoned the field it fell into disrepair until the mid-70s when some investors with deep pockets and a deep passion for planes hatched the idea.
Sure the prospect of taxiing your own plane to your own house that's enough to make a pilot's mouth water. But this place is about a lot more than just the convenience of it all. Otherwise, hangar after hangar wouldn't be filled up with World War II vintage biplanes like this one. Now this is about a place where people come together to share a passion and that makes for a very unusual community.
O'BRIEN: If you're anxious about keeping up with the Jones', this is not the place to come. This is where the big dogs run, right?
BRAVO: Yeah, you either beat Mr. Jones. You got to be Mr. Jones. That's what I always told my wife; we're Mr. Jones.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: I guess you could call it the high life.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 2, 2002 - 07:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
O'BRIEN: Carlos Bravo likes to keep his toys close at hand, so when he's done flying his biplane, he taxies it right to his doorstep. To his hangar attached to his hangar, attached to his house, just like a garage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARLOS BRAVO: This we call it Disney Land for adults.
O'BRIEN: Welcome to Spruce Creek, Florida. It's the granddaddy of fly-in communities. The homes surround a runway, and pilots can slip the surly bonds with the greatest of ease.
BRAVO: It sort of makes you feel like a kid in a candy store. That's my -- mighty (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it's more a matter of people being able to live the way they wanted to live and achieving that.
O'BRIEN: Carols made a dot.com fortune, sold out in the nick of time, and moved his family here from Illinois. He is among 1100 homeowners at Spruce Creek, about half of whom sit smack dab on a taxiway minutes away from the wild blue yonder. Which is precisely where real estate values are headed here.
LENNY OHLSON, REAL ESTATE BROKER: That's all hangar.
O'BRIEN: Did he build this place?
OHLSON: Yes.
O'BRIEN: That' hangar.
OHLSON: That's all hangar.
O'BRIEN: Real estate broker Lenny Ohlson is on top of the world these days, sandwiched between joy rides in his biplane, he hustles some pricey listings.
OHLSON: Let's see; in 1995 you could buy a lot -- a pathway lot -- for about $75-80,000. Same lot now is going for two and a quarter.
O'BRIEN: Two and a quarter. On a taxiway. Just the lot.
If you think that's a lot, for a lot, this two-acre tract owned by John Travolta, is fetching one and a quarter million. Out of your league? How about a condo, with a plane port. $300,000.
If the American dream is home ownership, is this the American dream on steroids?
OHLSON: If -- well -- no more than the fellow that owns a house on a river to put his boat in the backyard.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
OHLSON: So, this is pretty nice because you have your own airport and it's -- it's the ultimate for anyone that has a plane.
O'BRIEN: The military built the runway here when it abandoned the field it fell into disrepair until the mid-70s when some investors with deep pockets and a deep passion for planes hatched the idea.
Sure the prospect of taxiing your own plane to your own house that's enough to make a pilot's mouth water. But this place is about a lot more than just the convenience of it all. Otherwise, hangar after hangar wouldn't be filled up with World War II vintage biplanes like this one. Now this is about a place where people come together to share a passion and that makes for a very unusual community.
O'BRIEN: If you're anxious about keeping up with the Jones', this is not the place to come. This is where the big dogs run, right?
BRAVO: Yeah, you either beat Mr. Jones. You got to be Mr. Jones. That's what I always told my wife; we're Mr. Jones.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: I guess you could call it the high life.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
