Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has purchased two
massive, adjacent chunks of land on Kauai’s North Shore in an effort to
create a secluded 700-acre sanctuary for
his family, sources have confirmed to Forbes. All told, the 30-year-old
billionaire has spent in excess of $100 million to acquire the land,
and he hasn’t even built a house yet.
The first acquisition is
Pila’a Beach, an isolated, 393-acre parcel with a gorgeous and private
white sand beach. Property records show that an entity called Pila’a 400
LLC paid $49.8 million for an 89.2% stake (or about 350 acres) in the
property on September 12. Pila’a 400, LLC has an office in Woodbridge,
Conn. The property was not officially listed, but was being shopped
discreetly as a “pocket listing.”
Zuckerberg’s second
acquisition is the adjacent Kahu’aina Plantation, a 357-acre former
sugarcane plantation that has been off-and-on-the market for a few
years, most recently listed for $70 million. That property features
2,500 feet of oceanfront and a working organic farm. The sale price has
not yet been recorded at the county, but local reporter Duane Shimokawa
of Pacific Business News pegs it at about $66 million. Sources tell
Forbes his reporting is accurate.
Mark Zuckerberg paid a
reported $66 million for the 357-acre Kahu’aina Plantation, a former
sugarcane plantation on Kauai's North Shore, in September 2014. He also
purchased 350 adjacent acres at Pila'a Beach for $49.6 million.
Though the Facebook billionaire brought an unusually lengthy
non-disclosure agreement along on his property shopping trip, the fact
that he bought land on Kauai’s North Shore is a well-known secret on the
island. Last year, when Zuckerberg dined at burger joint Bubba Burgers
he made the local paper’s front page.
“We don’t comment on rumors and speculation, but thank you for reaching out!” a Facebook spokesperson said.
Zuckerberg purchased Pila’a Beach from Pfleuger Properties, a Hawaii
limited partnership belonging to Jim Pfleuger, a retired local Honda
dealer. Last year Pfleuger reportedly pled no contest to felony reckless
endangerment after seven people were killed in a 2006 collapse of a dam
on his property.
The Pila’a Beach property consists of five
separate parcels, each which could be developed into private homes.
Sources tell Forbes that Zuckerberg plans to build just one home on the
parcels. But he will have one neighbor, Denver executive Gary Stewart of
Melange International, who purchased the remaining 10.8% interest in
the property for $6.04 million under the name Koa Kea International LLC,
according to property records. Sources tell Forbes that the billionaire
tried to buy Stewart out, but that the oil exec wasn’t interested.
Stewart did not respond immediately to Forbes’ inquiry about the
property.
But the 30-year-old tech executive is having better
luck buying out what a source says are as many as two dozen families who
own “kuleanas” on tiny plots of landlocked land within the greater 357
acres that is Kahu’aina Plantation. Kuleanas are basic, even ramshackle
huts, many without electricity, which have been passed down through
families over generations. They are generally used as rustic weekend or
vacation spots. Zuckerberg is said to be paying each family as much as
$1 million each for these tiny plots of land, so that his compound can
be totally private.
The Kahu’aina Plantation had been approved
for up to 80 homes, so Zuckerberg’s buy seems designed to fend off
potential neighbors. The seller of the plantation is San Mateo,
Calif.-based Falko Partners, which is reportedly owned by a Hawaii
landowner named Larry Bowman.
Zuckerberg has a net worth of $32.2 billion at the time of this story.
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