Holy shit you're right, this is basically Rapture. I'm surprised they don't have a lighthouse to keep ships from crashing into it, that would complete the picture.
It even comes with an overly simplistic view of how to fix society's problems. That bit about freeing the human race (i.e. a few hundred rich people) from politicians sounds just like a 16-year-old anachist's idea of the perfect world. And then there's this:
The Institute claims it will 'give people the freedom to choose the government they want instead of being stuck with the government they get'.
If inhabitants disagree with the city's government, they could paddle their colony to another city, forcing governments to work to attract citizens.
I can just see some hedge fund manager go "Yeah, I moved to this ultra-futuristic oceanic paradise city but I don't like the tax rate so I'm going get the building moved over to a place where I have to pay less." There's no way that could backfire.
Not to mention how utterly absurd the idea is that the only way to escape a dysfunctional government is to start a new one from scratch. Like, you know there are other countries, right? Many of them have very nice weather. You really have to ascend to a whole new level of privilege to come to the conclusion that, when you're rich enough to be able to move to literally any nation on the planet, you should instead
build a new one.