Great piece. The gentrification has been mandated by FEMA and the towns willingness to enforce their rules. If the original settlers of the key (or any barrier island) were required to build hurricane-proof structures, they would never have been settled. Our plea to owners has been to renovate if you can - for the exact reasons you mentioned. every home that is torn-down will become a 3rd/4th/5th investment property for hedge fund or pharmaceutical exec when it's too cold to be in Martha's Vinyard, and the place in Aspen is being renovated. We flooded 10x since 2001 when we bought the lowest property on LBK - a 1954 wood frame cottage with single-pane glazed windows...for $289k. We could afford it (barely) with me working 70hrs/wk and Janet home with the kids. We enjoyed 23yrs in that home, raising our daughters as LBK natives. We know the risks, and were reminded of them by the semi-annual 8-inch surge from the Gulf of America into the living room.