Frank McKinney of coastal Delray Beach is renowned for his work on mansions but has owned this 1988 Yugo GV since 2006. It has about 117,000 miles on it, 50,000 of those since he bought it for $2,000. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Most people who live in the oceanfront communities that dot southern Palm Beach County know Frank McKinney as the long-haired, eccentric builder responsible for either constructing or renovating 44 mansions either on or close by the ocean over the past 33 years.
But there’s a lot people don’t know.
Most don’t know his Caring House Project Foundation has also built 29 self-sustaining villages in the desperately poor jungles of Haiti. That he has competed in the Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135-mile footrace held every July from Death Valley to the Mount Whitney trail, 12 times and finished it seven. Or that in March 2020, while the rest of the world was experiencing the first days of the coronavirus pandemic, McKinney was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia.
Bedridden and miserable for two weeks while fighting the cancer that had invaded his white blood cells, McKinney ultimately survived the ordeal and then used it as motivation for his seventh book, Adversitology. His book tour was unusual: Instead of visiting bookstores he drove up the East Coast and came back down through the Midwest, stopping at soup kitchens, homeless shelters and the like, making 26 stops in 27 days.
“The image on the cover shows a guy hanging by a thread, and who can relate to the message of hope more than the homeless population?” he said.
“So, I’m standing on a chair in front of 200 people with the hair, and I’m white, and people are thinking, ‘What’s this guy going to teach me about adversity?’
“The talks went about 30 minutes, at which point people had a choice of cash, gift cards for grocery stores and pharmacies, or the book. And in those 26 stops we kept track and 71% took the book.”
McKinney said he’s met more than 10,000 homeless people and estimates more than 70% shouldn’t be.
“They’re educated, they’re lucid, they can carry on a conversation, and they want to know you care. Some are there because of substance abuse, but for many it’s bad timing, bad luck … they’re one paycheck away from getting off the street. I’ve written a letter to Congress saying we need a homeless czar, and I’ve offered my services. I’d gladly fill that role.”
McKinney, 60, and his wife, Nilsa, live in Delray Beach. Nilsa has owned her own interior design firm, Nilsa Design Services, since 1988. Their daughter Laura, who lives in New York, started her public relations company, StrataBrand, in 2022.
— Brian Biggane
Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: Beneath it all I’m a corn-fed country boy. Grew up in Carmel, Indiana. Four high schools in four years, graduated from a reform school run by Benedictine monks named The Abbey in Cañon City, Colorado. I loved it; it was one of the best experiences of my life. But I learned independence. I’m the oldest of six and was ruining the vibe in the family, and my parents told me at 18 I needed to go.
Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I came to Florida with the plan to earn enough money to go to California and be a stuntman. I got a job on a golf course digging sand traps by hand. I started to fall in love with the Florida lifestyle, and I saw the rich-and-famous lifestyle every day. I got transferred to the tennis courts and had been a top junior tennis player when I was young. I borrowed money, went to Hilton Head and became a certified teaching professional, and that certificate became like my Ph.D., because now I could mix with those people and make good money doing it. My club didn’t want me, so I went out and found four high-end clubs in Boca with no instructors and began making $100,000 a year.
At the end of each lesson, I’d ask questions and kept hearing that people made their money investing in real estate. Then I bought a crack house on the ocean that had been abandoned for $750,000, fixed it up and sold it for $1.4 million. Then we jumped to a $2.4 million mansion. Now we’ve done 44 projects on the ocean or across the street since 1990.
Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: Exercise your risk tolerance like a muscle. I’m afraid every day of my life, but I don’t let fear stop me. And that was one of my advantages coming up. I didn’t let fear stop me from taking big risks. All of us are going to have regrets. I want to regret what I did, not what I didn’t do.
Q: How did you choose to make your home in Delray?
A: My wife and I were doing our A1A drive in 1997. Women need roots to start a family. We drove by a house at the north end of Delray. The house was built in 1935, the last designated historic house on the beach. They were afraid I was going to do all this work and I didn’t change a light bulb. If you hated what I built, it’s that different. But what attracted us to Delray was how quiet it was back then. Compared to Palm Beach, Boca and Gulf Stream it was the red-headed stepchild, but it had all the amenities, better beaches than any of them.
Q: What is your favorite part about living in coastal Delray Beach?
A: The people. We still have friends we made 25 years ago. The core person who is drawn to Delray Beach, that it isn’t Boca or Palm Beach, that’s who we are. The average age now is dropping. When we started selling beach properties the average age was over 60. I bet it has dropped 10 years. That’s pretty amazing.
Q: What book are you reading now?
A: My favorite author is Anthony de Mello. He’s an obscure philosopher who died in 1987 and remained a Jesuit priest his whole life. I’m rereading his book Awareness. I just love his philosophies.
Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: People will look at the picture here and say, “Oh, I know what kind of music he likes.” And they’re not wrong. Heavier stuff, Van Halen or Mötley Crüe. It relaxes me, believe it or not. But if I’m going to write a new book or come up with a new design, Vivaldi. I love that sense of just closing your eyes and your brain popping like a soda can.
Q: Have you had mentors in your life? People who have inspired your life decisions?
A: When I went to Manalapan, I had the long hair and all, and wondered who would help me out. It was (Amway co-founder) Rich DeVos. He wrote the foreword to my first book. He taught me in the late ’90s, when I was on the front page of the Miami Herald for selling the most expensive spec house in the history of Palm Beach County. I was depressed and went to him and asked what was wrong. He asked me what my spiritual calling was, and ultimately taught me there’s a difference between a professional calling and a spiritual calling. There’s a Bible passage that says to whom much is given much is required. That’s a good way to live life and he instilled that in me, and that’s what got us building these villages in Haiti.
Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?
A: Johnny Depp. He can capture an eccentric. There’s a fine line between an eccentric and a lunatic. The eccentric has the money.
Q: Is there something people don’t know about you but should?
A: I drive Yugos. The one I have now I’ve had since 2006. It’s an ’88. I learned early on that the energy we put into thinking about buying and thinking about material things, that favor is never returned. I just love that car. I haven’t put many miles on it because all my projects were up and down the beach.
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