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Stepping inside TapOut Sports Zone Bar and Grill in Boquete, Panama, is like stepping inside suburban America.The menu features American staples like cheeseburgers, barbecue chicken sandwiches, and Philly cheesesteaks. Flat-screen TVs sit above the bar, airing the latest game. On Friday nights, you might catch a band performing hits like "Take It Easy" by the Eagles. On Mondays, locals stop by for karaoke and $1 beers.I visited TapOut in April — not for the bacon-wrapped shrimp but to see the Boquete Community Players, a theater group that hosts shows in the back room of the restaurant. On a Saturday afternoon, the small room was bustling with a dozen Americans preparing for an upcoming performance.As they debated curtain colors and stage lighting, a waiter dropped off a round of piña coladas. Another passed by with two bottles of Panama Light beer. Since arriving at TapOut, it was the first reminder that I was far from the heart of America.<div type="image" title="TapOut Sports Zone in Boquete, Panama." height="1365" width="2048" msid="112650986" hostid="261" sizebytes="494876"></div>Seeing Americans — especially those around retirement age — is standard in Boquete. The town's year-round cool temperatures and the affordable cost of living have earned it recognition for being one of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-ten-countries-for-a-comfortable-retirement-2023-9">best places to retire</a>.While some people moved because <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-moving-abroad-cost-of-living-too-expensive-debt-retirement-2024-4">retiring in the US was too expensive</a> — if not impossible — others told me they came to avoid America's divisive political climate. Regardless of why they ended up in Boquete, the town has changed drastically in the past two decades because of retirees, and the influx doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.<h2>Boquete wasn't always a retiree's paradise</h2>Founded in 1911, Boquete remained a quiet town for decades. The region was known for its coffee plantations and an annual flower festival. Beyond beans and blooms, Panamanians were lured to Boquete for its comfortable weather.Situated about 4,000 feet above sea level, Boquete's temperatures hover around 70 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. The town has long been a weekend escape for Panamanians living in nearby cities like David, where temperatures can reach the 90s.Thalia Velasquez, who grew up in David, remembers begging her mom to take her to Boquete every weekend."Boquete, at the time, was a very, very simple, little town," Velasquez told me about her childhood visits there. "The stores would close by 4 p.m. The bakery would close by 5 or 6 p.m., maybe even earlier. There were very few cars in town. A lot of people still rode their horses."Landreth Laws, who owns <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/iwannaboquete/">Iwanna Boquete Tours</a>, has similar memories from growing up in Boquete.<div type="image" title="A view of Boquete, Panama." height="1536" width="2048" msid="112650990" hostid="261" sizebytes="253526"></div>The 42-year-old said the town's busiest time was during an annual flower festival. He remembers his family home teeming with people. There weren't enough hotels in town to accommodate visitors in the '80s and '90s. Back then, there were few tourists and even fewer foreign retirees.In the 1990s, Velasquez took her partner at the time, Samuel Walker Taliaferro, on a tour of Panama. They stopped in Boquete, and Taliaferro, an American inventor, engineer, and investor, fell in love with the town.They moved to Boquete, along with Velasquez's two children, and the couple opened a real-estate business, bought land, and spent their days riding horses.During one ride, Taliaferro took her Velasquez to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.valleescondidoboquete.com/">Valle Escondido</a>, a former coffee plantation and "the most beautiful place in the valley," Velasquez said. The couple bought the land, and Taliaferro eventually transformed it into a $100 million residential resort community. The property opened in 2003, with a chapel, café, restaurant, hotel, and 150 condominiums. Taliaferro set out to promote both his property and Boquete as a retirement haven. He worked with International Living magazine to advertise the destination, and retirees arrived with suitcases in tow.It helped when AARP named Boquete the No. 1 foreign retirement destination in the Western Hemisphere. In 2005, <a target="_blank" href="https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/07/11/8265242/index.htm">Fortune Magazine</a> featured the town as an idyllic place to retire."Taliaferro sold Boquete like a new destination, like it was one of the most beautiful places to retire," Laws, who worked for Taliaferro as a bartender in 2003, said. "He pushed Boquete to be the best."Velasquez said she initially feared backlash from locals and admitted some people were upset by the town's quick change. Others saw it as an opportunity to create their own businesses with the influx of new residents and visitors.In 2000, Boquete was home to 17,000 people, according to<a target="_blank" href="https://www.citypopulation.de/en/panama/admin/chiriqu%C3%AD/0404__boquete/"> City Population</a>. By 2023, the town ballooned to 23,500 residents. <a target="_blank" href="https://internationalliving.com/building-a-better-life-on-2500-a-month-in-boquete/">International Living</a> said 5,000, or about a fifth of the population, are expats.<div type="image" title="A billboard advertising one of dozens of new projects being developed in the highlands of Panama in 2008." height="702" width="1024" msid="112650994" hostid="261" sizebytes="163818"></div><h2>Thousands of expats now call Boquete home</h2>As I hopscotched between Boquete's roads and uneven sidewalks, I saw the beauty and change Laws and Velasquez described.The small town sits at the bottom of a valley where the outline of mountains can be spotted in every direction. It's one of the greenest places I've visited: tropical flowers fill gardens outside family-owned restaurants, and massive palm fronds reach toward the sky.Between green landscapes, I also saw foreign retirees' influence on Boquete. I doubted the sandwich shop Holy Cow Boquete or Panama Barcade existed when Laws grew up. Traffic sometimes clogged the main street. Signs hung in the library advertising an upcoming talk on cybersecurity and another discussion on wills — topics seemingly fit for an older generation.Boquete is still a small Panamanian town. Walmarts and McDonalds have yet to reach the serene valley and Spanish was the language I heard most. But walk down any street, and older Americans are impossible to miss. They're also eager to share how they ended up in Boquete.Jackie Lange, 70, moved to the town in 2010 to escape the Texas heat.Kelle Sparta, 54, and her husband, Jeff Brandon, arrived in Boquete in 2022, citing tension and high stress levels from America's political climate.Mike Hill was ready to retire, but early retirement in California was out of reach. Faced with working until his full Social Security hit at 67, Hill and his wife decided to relocate somewhere cheaper in 2018.<div type="image" title="TapOut Sports Zone in Boquete, Panama." height="1536" width="2048" msid="112650984" hostid="261" sizebytes="583986"></div>Each expat I spoke with had a different reason for the initial push to move to Boquete, but they all mentioned similar motives for staying. Mild temperatures, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-cost-of-living-what-is-middle-class-housing-market-2024-4">cost of living is cheaper</a>, healthcare is affordable, the economy uses the US dollar, no one talks about politics, and you can get by only speaking English.Boquete is also home to tour companies showing off the technicolor landscape, grocery stores, and nearby hospitals.Lange owns one of those companies, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://panamarelocationtours.com/">Panama Relocation Tours</a>, which takes groups to meet with immigration lawyers to discuss visa options. For many retirees, getting residency in Panama is easy with the pensionado visa, which requires proof of income or a pension of $1,000 a month and an additional $250 for each dependant.While $1,000 is required, realistically, retirees can comfortably live in Boquete for $1,400 a month as an individual or $2,000 as a couple, Lange said.That's drastically less than the<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-states-to-retire-in-cost-of-living-comfortably-2023-10"> cheapest US state for retirement</a>. A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gobankingrates.com/retirement/planning/how-much-a-comfortable-retirement-will-cost-you-in-each-state/">June analysis by GOBankingRates</a> found that Mississippi had the lowest cost for a comfortable retirement at $62,154 annually, or $5,180 a month. Meanwhile, Americans living in places like California and New York need closer to $100,000 a year for retirement.<div type="image" title="A group of ex-pats meeting up through Panama Relocation Tours." height="1536" width="2048" msid="112650997" hostid="261" sizebytes="272700"></div>Lange estimates that her team helps about 100 people move to Panama monthly. And it's not just Boquete, Panama City and the San Carlos area are also popular retiree destinations in the country.<h2>Cheap living is not so cheap anymore</h2>Dagmar Rios grew up taking family trips to Boquete. "At that time, it was more simple," she told me.After studying and working in Panama City, Rios, 34, moved to Boquete in 2018. She bought a house and eventually opened her own dentist's office.Boquete is drastically different from Rios' childhood memories, but she said she's also seen many changes in the town in the six years she's lived there."Now, there are more supermarkets. Now, there are more restaurants and hotels," she said.With these changes, Rios said costs have increased. A few years ago, a person could afford a house with a monthly salary of $600. Rios said her employees tell her that's no longer possible.Instead, houses are more expensive, targeting foreign buyers with larger budgets.<div type="image" title="A view of Boquete, Panama." height="1536" width="2048" msid="112651003" hostid="261" sizebytes="362590"></div>Jason Cohen, the CEO and owner of the Boquete realty company <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.casasolution.com/">Casa Solution</a>, said a decade ago, homes in Boquete were priced between $150,000 and $500,000. Today, properties range from $200,000 to $2,000,000."As Boquete gained international recognition, and with baby boomers approaching retirement, the allure of living in a foreign country grew," Cohen added. "This, coupled with Panama's economic expansion, led to a dramatic surge in prices from 2002 to 2006."Panamanians feel these rising costs the most, but some of Boquete's long-term expats also mentioned that the town has become more expensive.Gabrielle Reynolds, who has lived in Boquete for nine years, told me drinks cost $3 at a popular restaurant two summers ago. Last year, prices went up to $7.It's still cheaper than a cocktail back home in Los Angeles, she added."In LA, people are telling me it's $20 a drink," she said. "I'd have to give up martinis, and don't ask me to do that."As the owner of three restaurants in Boquete, Chris Young said he's had to balance increasing costs, pleasing customers, and avoiding pricing out Panamanians.<div type="image" title="A view of Boquete, Panama." height="1365" width="1820" msid="112650988" hostid="261" sizebytes="356148"></div>Young moved from the US about 15 years ago and arrived in Boquete with a restaurant background."When I got here, there were maybe five restaurants,'" he said. "Now, there's a hundred."After bouncing around regions and jobs, Young and a friend opened <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/bigdaddysgrillboquete/">Big Daddy's Grill</a> in Boquete eight years ago. Since then, Young has opened two more restaurants in the town: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/139559905897345/christophers-american-bistro/">Christopher's American Bistro</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/tapoutboquete/">TapOut Sports Zone</a>.For years, Young said he was able to sell meals for cheap. Recently, that has become increasingly difficult.While inflation plays a role, he said the country's pensionado discount — a discount on goods and services for retirement-age residents — has impacted profitability in an industry that's hard to stay afloat. At restaurants, older diners get 25% off their bill.Young said his menus focus on local, typically inexpensive ingredients to keep food costs low. He's also created a tacaño or "cheap" menu at Big Daddy's Grill to appeal to Panamanians and foreigners.<div type="image" title="Jackie Lange with tour guides, Jay and Jolynn." height="1349" width="2024" msid="112650992" hostid="261" sizebytes="168594"></div>Young and others said the arrival of the expat community has also positively impacted Boquete. The surge of hotels, restaurants, and businesses means more job opportunities for Panamanians.Rios said she's grateful for the tourism and retirement community in Boquete. About 80% of Rios' patients are foreigners, and those patients are partly why her <a target="_blank" href="https://www.odontosmileclinic.com/osc/osc.html">Odonto Smile Clinic</a> has grown from two employees to an office with two doctors, four assistants, and three specialists.Before the retirees came, Laws worked in coffee fields, making $5 daily. "I came from the bottom of the bottom," he said.Now, Laws runs a successful tour company where he spends his days showing off his beautiful home."I love to live around the retirees. I love business. I love to talk to the tourists," he said. "I want to live the rest of my life in Boquete."<h2>Ditching the American rat race</h2>The Americans I spoke to also plan to live the rest of their lives in Boquete, and they said it's their job to integrate into the town's community and culture — not the other way around.<div type="image" title="A group of expats in Boquete, Panama." height="3024" width="4032" msid="112651004" hostid="261" sizebytes="710648"></div>Hill, for example, enrolled in Spanish classes after arriving in Boquete to better communicate with locals. Reynolds, who helps run Boquete Community Players, said she's always searching for ways to include the Panamanian community in the theater group.One of the biggest challenges Lange has seen with retirees is shifting from America's intense work culture to Boquete's quiet and relaxed pace."Panama is not right for everybody," Lange said. "Some people, it's too different from what they're used to. There's no Walmart down the street."While some struggle with the change of pace, others love it. Christopher Minori, 58, remembers moving to Boquete with his wife, Brandy Minori, in 2021 and being shocked by how friendly and stress-free everyone seemed. It was a complete 180 from his life back in Georgia."It doesn't matter what side of the aisle you're on in the States; half of the country hates the other half," he told me over the phone. "It was, to me, stressful."That wasn't the case for Panama. "It's a very, very mellow country, which is actually hard to get used to when you first move," he said.Once he accepted small changes — like needing to ask a waiter for more water or understanding that a driver might stop in the middle of the road to chat with a neighbor — he fell in love with the town.I heard about Panamians' friendly and carefree attitude from every expat, and I witnessed it during my first afternoon in Boquete. After touring a coffee farm, the owners didn't call me a taxi to my hotel — they drove me there themselves.<div type="image" title="The view from Gabrielle Reynolds' front porch." height="924" width="1232" msid="112651001" hostid="261" sizebytes="306260"></div>While the expats <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-keep-busy-after-early-retirement-big-tech-employee-2024-3">ditched America's rat race</a>, they said it hasn't led to boredom. Retirees no longer fill their days with work they're unhappy with or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/my-husband-worries-well-run-out-of-money-in-retirement-2024-4">stress over finances</a>. Instead, they've found community and joy in Boquete.Sparta, who continues to run a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://kellesparta.com/">business as a spiritual coach</a>, pulled up her calendar to show me events every evening in Boquete. Theater practice, karaoke, bingo, and volunteering pack her schedule.Hill, who spends his days fishing, working with the Boquete Community Players, writing novels, learning the saxophone, and volunteering with local schools, agreed. "I'm retired, but I'm busier than ever," he said.Reynolds said between their busy days, she and her husband spend each morning sipping coffee and soaking in mountain views from their home. In the evening, she swaps coffee for cocktails and enjoys the sunset."We say this to each other almost every night, "Could it get better?'" she said. "I don't think it could be better than this."

Boquete, Panama, was once a quiet town home to rainforests and coffee farms. Then came the retirees. 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A new book on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-bill-gates-spends-fortune">Bill Gates</a> came out this week from New York Times correspondent Anupreeta Das.</li><li>It explores his time at Microsoft, his divorce from Melinda French Gates, his businesses, and more.</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-still-pulling-strings-microsoft-ai-copilot-chatgpt-2024-4">Microsoft founder Bill Gates</a> is, of course, one of the most influential business leaders of our time.And now, a new book offers some behind-the-scenes insights into his reign at Microsoft, the Justice Department's landmark antitrust case against the company, Gates's divorce from Melinda French Gates, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-warren-buffett-friendship-2018-3">his long friendship with Warren Buffett</a>, his philanthropy through the Gates Foundation, and more.In it are also some fascinating nuggets — like Gates's farmland supplying the potatoes for McDonald's fries.The book, "<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow sponsored noindex" class="" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=f3e6a8dbf642e0f1765596f4d1a6767fce72c090925dbf9256aab7f60c3a0bbe&amp;postID=66bb76147d61a86c18658aa4&amp;postSlug=bill-gates-new-book-melinda-french-microsoft-mcdonalds-four-seasons-2024-8&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBillionaire-Nerd-Savior-King-Gates%2Fdp%2F1668006723%3Fcampaign_id%3D4%26emc%3Dedit_dk_20240605%26instance_id%3D125428%26nl%3Ddealbook%26regi_id%3D194893788%26segment_id%3D168753%26te%3D1%26user_id%3D2259c117e2d6d1f3b6de8de6262da403">Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King: Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape Our World,</a>" came out this week from New York Times correspondent Anupreeta Das.It hasn't been greeted warmly by Gates. A Bill Gates spokesperson told Business Insider of the <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-melinda-gates-stressful-work-culture-gates-foundation-book-excerpt-2024-8">new book</a>: "Relying almost exclusively on second- and third-hand hearsay and anonymous sources, the book includes highly sensationalized allegations and outright falsehoods that ignore the actual documented facts our office provided to the author on numerous occasions."Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the book:<h2 id="9cc21b88-9038-413a-a5ad-74f1076c8d9d">Gates took the Microsoft antitrust case personally</h2><div type="image" title="Microsoft store sign" height="2121" width="3182" msid="112545420" hostid="261" sizebytes="109380"></div>Gates was "personally wounded" by the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-1990s-antitrust-case-looms-over-apple-2024-3">US Justice Department's antitrust suit against Microsoft in the 1990s</a>, according to the book."'This makes no sense to me at all,'" Gates would say, in the words of one former Microsoft employee who spoke with him often on the company's media strategy. 'I don't understand how your government comes for you when you're one of the bright lights and contributing to the economy,'" the book reads."Bill was confused into thinking [by Microsoft's lawyers] it was a legal case, when it was always political. Bill didn't understand that," former Microsoft exec Bob Muglia told Das. "It really hurt Bill. It was a personal attack on him."<h2 id="9a4edeb4-b83f-4051-9be5-3efca205405c">The workplace culture at the Gates Foundation could be rough</h2><div type="image" title="Man walking past &quot;Bill &amp; Melinda Gates foundation&quot; sign on a building" height="2800" width="4200" msid="112545417" hostid="261" sizebytes="994460"></div>The book also offers a glimpse into a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-melinda-gates-stressful-work-culture-gates-foundation-book-excerpt-2024-8">workplace culture with a constant "low hum of fear" at the Gates Foundation</a>."He's the scariest person in the world to provide a recommendation or briefing to because he scans a page and comes back at you saying something like, 'What you say in the footnote on page 9 does not match with the footnote on page 28,'" one former foundation employee says in the book.Following <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-melinda-gates-announce-divorce-end-marriage-2021-5">Gates's divorce from Melinda French Gates in 2021</a>, employees were increasingly torn between the two "power centers" of Team Melinda and Team Bill, the book says."One recently departed employee observed that people at the foundation fall into three types: consiglieres who bow to Gates; young aspirants who are awed by him; and the skeptics who find Gates domineering and eventually leave," the book reads.<h2 id="eb8aa9f3-9415-4659-8db9-f7a5531217f1">Gates's farmland produces potatoes for McDonald's fries</h2><div type="image" title="McDonalds fries" height="1658" width="2211" msid="112545418" hostid="261" sizebytes="97382"></div>In her book, Das writes that Gates has an agricultural team that handles his farm investments. His land <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-farmland-potatoes-mcdonalds-french-fries-investment-2021-6">produces carrots, corn — and some of the potatoes McDonald's uses for its famous fries</a>.Gates has quite the real estate empire. He's one of the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-house-real-estate-property-portfolio-list-settle-washington">top landowners in the US,</a> with more than 275,000 acres as of April.The majority of that is made up of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-tied-farmland-purchase-angers-north-dakota-2022-6">farmland in several states</a>, and he's spent millions of dollars to add to his portfolio. Despite some pushback from locals, Gates has previously said his ultimate goal will benefit others."I have invested in these farms to make them more productive and create more jobs," <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-defends-farmland-purchases-there-isnt-some-grand-scheme-2023-1">Gates said in a Reddit Ask Me Anything</a> in 2023. "There isn't some grand scheme involved — in fact, all these decisions are made by a professional investment team."<h2 id="4d6bb6db-e920-44d3-bf72-a95200d2090e">Gates is a hotelier with strict boundaries</h2><div type="image" title="Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort." height="3648" width="5472" msid="112545414" hostid="261" sizebytes="2708030"></div>In 2021, his investment firm bought a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/bill-gates-four-season-cascade-investment-firm-controlling-stake-hotels-2021-9">controlling stake in the luxury hotel chain Four Seasons</a>, where he's been an investor since 1997. However, Gates is typically uninvolved in negotiations about his investments, and Das writes that he still keeps his ventures separate."Because of Gates's ownership stake in Four Seasons, employees of the Gates Foundation are typically not allowed to stay at any of their hotels to avoid any appearance of impropriety," the book says.<h2 id="6ed6e76c-e6f2-4831-a0fa-c27d2bf4e7f8">Gates is investing billions in building a new tech hub in Tampa</h2><div type="image" title="Tampa, Florida, downtown skyline." height="3000" width="4000" msid="112545419" hostid="261" sizebytes="937430"></div>Das shares more details about the 2016 partnership between Gates's investment firm and investor Jeff Vinik to develop an ecosystem in Tampa, Florida, similar to that of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hudson-yards-rundown-major-buildings-finished-2018-10">Hudson Yards</a> in Manhattan.She writes that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-vinik-closing-his-hedge-fund-2013-5">Vinik</a> sold his stake to Gate's Cascade Investment LLC in 2023, putting Gates's firm in control of the Water Street project, which will likely cost around $4 billion. It's the city's largest real estate development in recent history, and it's set to be complete in 2027, according to the book."The bet is that Tampa will become a destination for tech companies, and young, urban workers will follow, bringing business and hipness to central Florida's often overlooked city," Das writes.

Bill Gates's farmland produces McDonald's fries — and 4 other fascinating facts from a new book on the ex-Microsoft CEO

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Urban golf courses are used by a fraction of city residents, but take up a ton of space and resources. </li><li>Many states subsidize golf courses with low property taxes, so non-golfers are footing the bill. </li></ul>San Francisco's 18-hole Presidio Golf Course sits in some of the most prized land in the country: a national park.Combined with eight other courses in the city — where a severe housing shortage has helped push the median home price to<a target="_blank" href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/10/21/less-home-for-more-money-home-prices-rise-as-buyers-swallow-higher-interest-rates/#:~:text=The%20median%20home%20price%20in,the%20California%20Association%20of%20Realtors."> $1.3 million</a> — golf takes up <a target="_blank" href="https://priceonomics.com/why-does-san-francisco-have-so-many-golf-courses/">over 700 acres.</a> To put that in perspective, Manhattan's Central Park is 843 acres.When the pandemic hit, golfing was paused and the 150-acre Presidio course <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-san-francisco-golf-course-public-park-coronavirus-2020-4">opened up to anyone who wanted to walk, hike, jog, or bike</a> through it without fearing they'd be knocked out by an errant ball. This opened up access to many San Franciscans who'd never set foot in one of the most beautiful green spaces in their city, simply because they don't, or can't afford to, play golf.That begged the question for some: why is a massive green space paid for by taxpayers, but closed off to most? As the co-founder of Vimeo, Zach Klein, tweeted after a walk through the course on April 25, 2020, "It was intoxicating to be there and consider the possibility of this remaining a park forever. It would be an instant classic, an immense open space in America's second densest city." Urban and suburban golf courses are one of the least efficient and equitable ways to use densely-populated land. Many urban planners see them as a golden opportunity to address worsening homelessness, a housing affordability crisis, and a shortage of green space. Repurposing golf courses could offer cities a pressure relief valve."Golf courses are kind of a blessing in disguise because we have all of these problems related to urbanism and the housing crisis and social isolation," Tayana Panova, a researcher who studies the built environment, told Insider, "and then we have golf courses, which are these places that are right smack dab in the middle of some of the areas that have these crises to the highest level."<div type="image" title="Aerial view of a golf course in San Francisco, California." height="1979" width="3000" msid="104987791" hostid="261" sizebytes="568854"></div>Urban golf courses also cost taxpayers — even those who don't play — a lot of money. In about half of US states, golf courses are heavily subsidized through property tax breaks. In California, a 1960 law ensures golf courses aren't taxed based on their "highest and best use" as other land is, and instead get a special tax break just for being golf courses. They also benefit from Prop 13, the state's famous law sharply limiting property taxes, particularly on property that doesn't change hands.Golf courses are, by the nature of the game, some of the most underused spaces in a city. No more than <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ngcoa.org/golf-business-weekly/2020/november/week-3/multifunctional-courses">about 300 players</a> can use a typical 18-hole golf course in one day. The Presidio Golf Course has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sfexaminer.com/archives/constructive-criticism-keep-sf-golf-courses-closed/article_69475223-7175-5410-9a1a-cf105b8ae739.html">just 1,200 visitors per acre each year</a>, while San Francisco's nearby Golden Gate Park welcomes 24,000 visitors per acre annually. Any other sport — from football to pickleball — is a more efficient use of space. A single golf course could be home to thousands of people if there were housing on it.Developers and land trusts have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-golf-courses-redevelopment-transformations-2018-8#the-country-club-was-left-uncared-for-after-it-officially-closed-3">managed to buy up</a> some defunct courses and add commercial buildings or turn them into parks. But golfers and neighbors are making any change a major challenge.<h2>Inequitable and expensive</h2>While golf has diversified over the years, it's still <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theringer.com/2021/4/7/22370057/golf-diversity-issues-history-pga-lpga-the-masters">disproportionately played by affluent, older, white men</a>. Several exclusive golf clubs even <a target="_blank" href="https://www.si.com/golf-archives/2019/07/01/private-golf-clubs-muirfield-augusta-women-discrimination">still prohibit women from becoming members</a>.The famous Los Angeles Country Club, which was founded in 1897 and sits on 313 acres in super-affluent Beverly Hills, <a target="_blank" href="https://newrepublic.com/article/173714/yet-another-golf-scandal-woefully-undertaxed-la-country-club-us-open#:~:text=In%201960%2C%20Hope%2C%20an%20avid,use%20as%20a%20golf%20course.">admitted its first Jewish members in 1977 and its first Black member in 1991</a>. Malcolm Gladwell noted <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-history/a-good-walk-spoiled">in a 2017 podcast</a> that the club, which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to join, sits on about $9 billion worth of land. If it were taxed as homeowners are, it would owe <a target="_blank" href="https://www.laweekly.com/we-should-raise-taxes-on-these-3-things-to-pay-for-healthcare-and-parks/">between $60 to $90 million</a> in annual property taxes. Instead, the club pays <a target="_blank" href="https://defector.com/the-los-angeles-country-club-owes-l-a-more-than-just-a-good-u-s-open">about $300,000 a year</a> in taxes.<div type="image" title="Scottie Scheffler playing golf at the US Open at The Los Angeles Country Club in Los Angeles, CA" height="2000" width="3000" msid="104987792" hostid="261" sizebytes="141614"></div>"Whether you're a pure market person and think we need to just do what the market wants, or you're very much about equity and supporting equitable access to space, you should be united on this one," Mitchell Reardon, director of urban planning at the Canadian design firm Happy Cities, told Insider.Golf has also gotten a lot less popular over the last two decades. Before a pandemic-induced uptick, the sport had been on a steady decline since the 2008 financial crisis. About a third of public golf courses <a target="_blank" href="https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2021/06/16/golf-industry-municipal-courses-us-open/">lost money in 2019</a>. In golf-obsessed Florida, municipal golf courses <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/shaping-our-future/growth/2018/04/18/florida-municipal-golf-courses-have-lost-nearly-100-m-over-past-five-years/407554002/">lost almost $100 million</a> between 2013 and 2018. Proponents of retrofitting courses note that reducing the number of golf courses would help boost revenue for courses that do survive. Indeed, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ngf.org/are-we-there-yet/">business is looking better</a> since <a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/2019/06/05/730057491/there-arent-enough-golfers-to-keep-all-of-the-u-s-courses-in-business">course closures peaked in 2019</a>. Urban golf courses work against the advantages of cities, taking up valuable space and making walkability and environmental sustainability much harder to achieve."The whole virtue of cities is that you can build places at a much lower cost of infrastructure per capita," Ray Delahanty, a former urban planner who runs the popular <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/@CityNerd">CityNerd YouTube channel</a>, told Insider. "And so when you have big open spaces in the form of golf courses," particularly when they're close to transit, "it's really wasteful. It conflicts with a lot of the climate goals that cities have, which often drive the rezoning and redevelopment around transit stations."<h2>Not on my golf course</h2>When she was running for mayor of Toronto in 2018, Jennifer Keesmaat <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/jennifer-keesmaat-golf-courses-public-spaces-proposal-1.4854524">proposed</a> remaking three city golf courses into public parks. The former chief city planner noted that interest in golf had flatlined in Toronto, while demand for cricket pitches, off-leash dog parks, and other amenities had surged."So many of our parks are absolutely jam-packed with people on any sunny day all summer long," Keesmaat told Insider. "But then on the flip side, we have these public golf courses that are just these almost vacuous spaces that are quite underutilized."Keesmaat lost that election and the city courses haven't been redeveloped, but <a target="_blank" href="https://www.toronto.com/news/proposed-development-will-transform-north-york-golf-course-into-40-acre-public-park/article_edfec77b-896e-573f-a7e4-c142f481d5b4.html?">plans are in motion</a> to transform a private course into four apartment towers and 40 acres of public parkland. She argues that rethinking golf courses is just part of "the natural evolution of ensuring that the public amenities we have are fitting with the broader public interest."<div type="image" title="Don Valley golf course in Toronto, Ontario, Canada" height="2000" width="3000" msid="104987793" hostid="261" sizebytes="1616630"></div>Actually getting a golf course redeveloped into public space and housing is a major challenge. First, there needs to be a buyer. Then that buyer needs to find funding. And finally, in many cases, the parcel needs to be rezoned — often a political and highly-fraught process.Charlie McCabe, the former director of the Center for City Park Excellence at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tpl.org/">Trust for Public Land</a>, told Insider that the most successful golf course redevelopment efforts he's seen have involved private developers buying a course, building housing, and giving a portion of the land back to the city for green space. He noted that projects that just involve turning golf courses into parks are often most palatable to neighbors.In one shining example, part of an abandoned golf course in New Orleans was transformed into <a target="_blank" href="https://growdatyouthfarm.org/">the city's biggest urban farm</a> with a focus on engaging youth.But there are a mountain of examples of failed efforts. In one such case, Denver voters recently <a target="_blank" href="https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2023/04/05/denver-election-park-hill-golf-course-vote-results">rejected a plan</a> to build hundreds of homes — 25% of which would have been for lower-income residents — on a 155-acre former golf course. Shortly thereafter, the City Council reversed its efforts to redevelop the Park Hill Golf Course, rezoning it as open space with the goal of <a target="_blank" href="https://denverite.com/2023/05/03/park-hill-golf-course-rezoning-18-hole-course/">turning it back into an 18-hole course</a>. Predictably, homeowners — who see golf courses as good for their property values — were <a target="_blank" href="https://coloradosun.com/2023/10/13/opinion-it-might-actually-be-the-nimbys/">much more likely</a> to oppose redeveloping the course than renters.Former California Assemblymember Cristina Garcia, a Democrat who represented parts of southeastern Los Angeles County, introduced a bill in 2021 that would have given cities funding to convert public golf courses into housing and public park space."Even if all you did was take down the fence and give us a park, that is a gift to the community," she <a target="_blank" href="https://soundcloud.com/matt-levin-4/gimme-shelter-what-if-california-put-affordable-housing-on-golf-courses">said on the podcast Gimme Shelter</a> last year.The pushback to the legislation from golfers and other NIMBYs was fierce and the effort failed."There's no group more motivated than retired or semi-retired people," McCabe said.Despite what "<a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/SamMaggs/status/1366450739321602048">anti-golf Twitter</a>" says, proponents of redevelopment don't necessarily want to abolish the sport — they just want golf to take up less space in dense places.This could mean shrinking 18-hole courses to nine holes, putting a grocery store in a clubhouse, or opening up the course on weekends or at night."Why not at least try and meet cities and other neighboring communities in the middle by offering more activities to take place within that space?" Reardon said.

Urban golf courses are making housing more expensive and parks harder to access — and taxpayers are footing the bill

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="45830" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bill-Gates">Bill Gates</keyword> owns more private farm<keyword id="6356114" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="land">land</keyword> in the US than anyone else, an analysis by The Land Report found.</li><li>His 242,000 acres of <keyword id="6432517" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="farmland">farmland</keyword> stretch across 18 states from Washington to Florida, according to the report.</li><li>The land could be split between the Microsoft founder and his wife <keyword id="131379" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Melinda-Gates">Melinda Gates</keyword> after their divorce.</li></ul>The Microsoft cofounder and philanthropist Bill Gates owns 242,000 acres of farmland in the US, making him the largest private-farmland owner,<a href="https://landreport.com/2021/01/bill-gates-americas-top-farmland-owner/"> an analysis by The Land Report found in January</a>.But, Gates may not be the largest private-farmland owner for much longer. On Monday, the Microsoft cofounder announced on Twitter that he and his wife, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-melinda-gates-announce-divorce-end-marriage-2021-5">Melinda Gates, were getting a divorce after 27 years of marriage.</a>As the fourth-richest man in the world, Gates' estimated net worth of $146 billion and his assets, which includes the 242,000 acres of farmland, could be split between the couple.Bill and Melinda Gates <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-melinda-gates-divorce-prenup-marriage-money-wealth-fortune-2021-5">never signed a prenuptial agreement,</a> but plan to split their property via a "separation contract," according to a report from TMZ. The separation contract will allow the couple to divide their assets outside of the court.While the details of the agreement are unclear, the resulting settlement could be one of the largest ever, cementing Melinda Gates as one of the wealthiest women in the world. The couple holds an extensive farmland portfolio stretching over 18 states, according to The Land Report. The Gates family's biggest holdings are in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres), and Nebraska (20,588 acres), the report said.Their farmland is held both directly and through Cascade Investment, a firm controlled by Gates to manage his investments, according to The Land Report.Read more:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-favorite-books-2017-5?r=kd-sub"> 32 books Bill Gates thinks everyone should read if they want to get smarter about business, philosophy, and science</a>Gates also owns several thousand acres of transitional land. <a href="https://eu.azcentral.com/story/money/real-estate/catherine-reagor/2017/11/08/bill-gates-cascade-invests-belmont-real-estate-development-near-phoenix/842280001/">The Arizona Republic reported in 2017</a> that about 25,000 acres near Phoenix that Cascade Investment bought a "significant stake" in were being transformed into a suburb with space for 80,000 homes; more than 4,000 acres for schools, offices, and stores; and 3,400 acres of open space.Gates' farmland ownership isn't entirely surprising. In 2017, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/bill-melinda-gates-foundation-commits-300m-255m-to-help-farmers-in-africa-and-asia-cope-with-climate-change-1011093734">pledged $300 million</a> over three years to support research to help low-income farmers in Asia and Africa adapt to climate change.The following year, the Gates Foundation announced it would <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-dfid-investment-galvmed-perfect-cow-edinburgh-2018-1">invest $40 million</a> in research to help breed chickens that lay better-quality eggs and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-farms-super-crops-investment-2018-2">cows that produce more milk</a> for farms in South Asia and Africa.As runners-up in The Land Report's rankings, the <a href="https://www.rdoffuttfarms.com/">Offutt family</a>, whose history in farming dates back to 1964, could take Gates' crown as the largest private-farmland owner, with 190,000 acres.Stewart and Lynda Resnick, the cofounders of the investment firm the Wonderful Company, also own 190,000 acres of farmland in the US, according to The Land Report. They own the brand behind Wonderful Pistachios, POM Wonderful, and Wonderful Halos Mandarins.Though Gates is the US's top farmland owner, according to The Land Report, he's far from the biggest landowner. The top spot in The Land Report's <a href="https://landreport.com/americas-100-largest-landowners/">list of the 100 largest US landowners in 2019</a> belonged to John Malone, the billionaire businessman, landowner, and philanthropist, with 2.2 million acres of land.

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Boquete, Panama, was once a quiet town home to rainforests and coffee farms. Then came the retirees.

Monica Humphries

Bill Gates's farmland produces McDonald's fries — and 4 other fascinating facts from a new book on the ex-Microsoft CEO

Sarah Jackson,Jordan Hart

Urban golf courses are making housing more expensive and parks harder to access — and taxpayers are footing the bill

Eliza Relman

Bill Gates is America's biggest owner of private farmland, and his 242,000 acres could be split in his divorce

Kate Duffy

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