After years of protests from his neighbors about plans to create a large family estate, Mark Zuckerberg’s Silicon Valley ‘five-house’ compound is finally pictured.
Facebook founder and CEO, 37 years old, has made his $7million Palo Alto house that he originally purchased in 2011 into a huge estate. He also bought four other properties surrounding it for $30 million.
Zuckerberg bought the homes from a neighbor who planned to make a deal with a developer to buy them. He wanted to build more houses and sell the properties to homebuyers.
However, the City of Alto blocked the tech entrepreneur’s bid to knock down four houses and start over. The board feared he would build one large residence in an area with few single-family homes.
Aerial photos obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com show the massive five-home compound Mark Zuckerberg has built in Palo Alto since buying his main family home (center) in 2011 for $7million
The house pictured above was a neighboring one that he purchased in 2013. It is the only one not connected. Although there is a permit application pending to demolish it, scenes at the house suggest that work has already begun.
With his wife Priscilla Chan, Facebook’s founder and CEO, and their two children. In 2016, there was widespread concern that his plans to demolish single-family homes meant that he wanted to construct a lavish compound for his family. In a CBS This Morning interview, the couple gave viewers an exclusive glimpse inside their family home in Palo Alto.
During a meeting of the public five years ago, Kathy Walker, Walker-Warner Architects’ architect, said that he did not intend to build a luxurious compound for himself and his family – his wife Priscilla Chan (36), and their children Maxima (6 and 4).
Walker stated that the owners bought the first house as well as other properties because they loved the area’s character, the significant trees, the residential scale, and the diversity of houses.
Zuckerberg instead diluted his plans and demolished two of them, replacing them with one story homes. This avoided any permits issues as one-story houses do not require council approval.
Now, these photos from DailyMail.com show Zuckerberg building a huge compound for himself and his family.
The aerial photos of five properties were the first to be taken. Additionally, three properties that have been acquired by Zuckerberg are linked to their main Zuckerberg home. This house has the most extensive roof area and a children’s jungle gym.
Zuckerberg purchased this Palo Alto residence in the first place, and then he bought four surrounding properties at outrageously high prices of over $30million.
After a neighbor wanted to dispose of them, a Facebook founder bought the remaining homes and sold the properties to a developer who was looking to construct a larger house. He also planned to market the property for potential buyers as someone living near the Facebook owner.
It is the first aerial view of all five properties. Three out the four properties acquired are connected to the Zuckerberg Family Home, the property with the biggest roof (pictured).
An aerial image shows Zuckerberg creating a rectangle of properties, with a middle garden. A pathway links the properties and leads to the original house.
A rectangle with four properties has been created by him. The middle is a garden. There’s a path connecting the properties and an entry to the original home.
Norm Bearer, President of Crescent Park Neighborhood Association, argued at the decision that Zuckerberg should not be permitted to make one glam-palace.
The local newspaper reported that he said to Zuckerberg: “Zuckerberg should not be allowed remove housing from our housing inventory. This is why there’s such a shortage of housing. It’s so bad that he is demolishing houses of great quality and wastes resources.
The association refused to comment further when it was asked.
The detached house to the north-east of the main property is still there, although it may not be for long, as Zuckerberg plans on demolishing that too.
By trying to force through plans last month that would ‘deconstruct’ this home and ‘build a two-story, single-family home of 3,554 square feet, Zuckerberg is at risk of further causing discord in the community.
A children’s playground is located in front of the main home. Zuckerberg opted to modify his original plans and instead renovated and destroyed two of the neighboring homes. The new one-story homes will be built without council approval.
Above is a picture of the house he purchased for $10M and later demolished in order to build a brand new, one-story home.
The property shown above was one of four additional properties Zuckerberg bought in December 2012. It cost $4.7 million. This home was finally demolished and transformed into a brand new, one-story property.
Estimated costs for the work are $1.56million
These photos however show there is construction machinery on the site. This may be despite his demolition plans being rejected by the city’s planning department as “incomplete” and two other building permits being rejected as “in plan review”. under review.
This isn’t Zuckerberg’s first instance of being accused of jumping to conclusions with his renovation plans.
Residents living near his Mission District, San Francisco $10 million city home complained that he had taken over their street. The renovations began soon after he purchased it in 2013 and continued for nearly three years.
Permits were issued for $65,000 in kitchen and bathroom renovations, $750,000 to rear and side wings, and $720,000 each for office, media, laundry, wine, and wet bars.
San Francisco’s city council recorded the complaints about the property. A local objected by stating construction had begun without a permit, and that an “east side” of the wall was being constructed [had]It is already [been] taken down.’
Zuckerberg was faced with similar problems in San Francisco’s Mission District, where he had to rent a $10M pad. This happened after residents objected to his plans for redeveloping the street.
The renovations, which began soon after Zuckerberg bought his home in 2013, lasted for almost three years.
The latest aerial photographs show Zuckerberg’s 4-story home for the first-time since its completion. Locals can now breathe a sigh relief, although some of his neighbors have begun major renovations.
A neighbor stated that the neighbor had underestimated it. [of]Cost of construction, work outside the permit scope.
Another complaint added, “Lots dust and it’sn’t properly contained.” Complainant’s child has asthma.
“Construction workers often leave behind a lot of trash after work, and sometimes they even park on sidewalks or double-par. A lot of people make noise at night between 7am and 5pm, sometimes even later.
In 2015, renovations were entering their third year. Neighbors complained that electricity work had been done without permits ‘for six weeks or more’. Zuckerberg’s contractors were also causing a lot of debris to be left on neighboring properties and the job site.
Residents were upset that the contractor was parking in the worst spots. They wrote a letter to protest this practice.
They complained that they had put up with the ‘very long construction, the noise and the trash… now that the circus is done, we are left with 2 silver SUV’s permanently occupying desirable parking spots.’
The Facebook founder and CEO, Priscilla and Chan are pictured here with their children and spouse. Residents were concerned that Chan was planning to build a luxurious compound for his family and himself in an area without single-family homes.
Zuckerberg received permits for home renovations (sidewalk view), $65,000 for kitchen and bathrooms; $750,000 to rear and side wings; $750,000 for office, media, laundry, wine and wet bars.
The latest aerial photographs show Zuckerberg’s property from four stories. Locals are able to breathe relief now that the renovations have been completed.
Since June 2019, 12 permits were issued to the owner for the complete renovation of his house.
It was required that a building permit be issued in January to “underpin the property wall due to foundation works” between Zuckerberg’s property and Zuckerberg’s neighbor’s property. This involved ‘approximately 28 feet of underpinning.”
This protects the property foundations, but it is more uncommonly because of subsidence.
Builders Moroso Construction did not respond to our request for comment.
An anonymous resident complained also about his neighbour’s work. He stated: ‘Extremely noisy generator running continuously. The generator is so loud that even when the windows are closed, it can be heard from across the street.