Ch-ch-changes

Nov 22, 2025

“Time may change me
But I can’t trace time

I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream of warm impermanence”

David Bowie, “Changes” Hunky Dory, 1971

One hundred fifty miles east of Puerto Rico, in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the northeastern Caribbean Sea is a small, picturesque volcanic island with a mountainous interior and rocky terrain, little freshwater, and an abundance of tan, rich, and attractive people.

St. Barths is splendid in every corner, lacking the ambient chaos found elsewhere in the Caribbean. It feels cut from a Slim Aarons photograph, a place far removed from today’s calls for affordability. It remains defiantly unaffordable - governed as if one would need a permit to be poor and those permits are not issued.

The jewel of the island is Eden Rock, a petit and luxurious resort for both the idle rich or those seeking rich idleness.

Like any good luxury brand, Eden Rock’s roots trace to an iconic founder. Remy de Haenen was a swashbuckling adventurer/pilot/smuggler that bought the rock protruding from St. Barth’s St. Jean beach for $200 in the early 1950s.

On the rock he built a family home, expanding it over time to host guests. De Haenen ran it as a remote and fabulous bed & breakfast-style retreat for over 50 years. Present ownership, David and Jane Matthews, purchased the property in 1995. Since then, along with help from manager Oetker Collection, they’ve transformed it from surf shack hideout to irreverent luxury destination.

But they left the DNA intact.

The remarkable transformation is not one thing, but many things. Instead of one $50 million change, it’s been five thousand $10,000 changes.

A long string of iteration, small changes made over a long period of time - interspersed with more significant upgrades when hurricanes allow.

Small adaptations like placing a table in the afternoon shade for a proper gin & tonic.

Where it’s also in the sun for morning coffee.

With a proper ashtray as a nod to the island’s French heritage.

Some things can only be done with time. Like pruning a hedge to the perfect height for both privacy and sun.

Or training a roof of vines on a side passageway.

Customizing shades in response to the unique conditions of the property.

And some changes only come with time and experience, like a properly sized table and customized condiment carrier for beachfront dining.

Window hardware designed to catch the ocean breeze.

Painting light bollards and stair edges are simple modifications. But only after living with a property can one recognize the opportunity to make these small changes.

A water cooler in just the right place, out of the way of a service closet but on the way to the beach.

And a towel storage cabinet that carries the striped theme; form and function.

Handmade signs, customized to communicate with users of the property.

Night lighting added in just the right places - this can’t be done in advance on a computer. It can only be done (effectively) in person, standing and looking and getting a feel for the setting after the plants and trees have matured.

Eden Rock knows their customer, and service is both brisk and effortless.

Anywhere else, being adjacent to an airport would be frightful. But at Eden Rock, it’s a feature not a bug, lending to the island castaway vibes.

Eden Rock has all the trappings, from remote control bidet toilets (anything else would be barbaric) to operable casement windows in the shower.

The music is cheeky, with a 70s nostalgia: think Little River Band’s “Reminiscing” or Disco Incorporated’s cover of Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day”.

The service, food, drinks, and vibes are impeccable but it’s the setting that makes the place. A place crafted and re-crafted over time. Only with decades of small changes can one create an authentic luxury Robinson Crusoe-style hideout.

But to what end?

Yes it’s ridiculously fabulous but these years of small changes have also led to some big time value creation.

Remy de Haenen’s 70,000-ish square foot rock is now one of the most valuable real estate parcels in the Caribbean. Who knows what a Russian oligarch or Dallas socialite would pay for the land underneath that part of the Eden Rock resort, but I’ll bet $1,500 per square foot ($105 million) wouldn’t be out of the question.

Compounding the original $200 purchase to $105 million over 75 years averages 19.2% annually. Not too shabby when compared to Berkshire Hathaway’s 18.3% compound annual growth rate from 1965-2024.

The lesson for developers, as Mr. Bowie identified, is to embrace changes. We never know where they will lead, but with time and thoughtful application they compound into something powerful.

In the meantime, enjoy the warm impermanence.