Mark Zuckerberg‘s $37million ‘five-house compound’ in Silicon Valley is pictured for the first time after years of complaints from neighbors over his plans to build a massive family estate.
The 37-year-old founder and CEO of Facebook has transformed his original $7million Palo Alto home that he purchased in 2011 into a massive estate after buying the four surrounding properties for hugely inflated prices totaling $30million.
Zuckerberg scooped up the other homes after a neighbor planned to sell them to a developer, who wanted to build a bigger house and market the property to potential homebuyers as living next door to the Facebook owner.
But the tech entrepreneur faced a setback in 2016 when the City of Palo Alto’s Architectural Review Board blocked his bid to demolish the four houses to start from scratch, fearing he would create one giant residence in an area where single-family homes are already scarce.
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
Pictured above is a nearby house that he bought in 2013 and is the only one that is not interconnected. There is now a pending permit application to tear it down, however, the scene at the home suggests work may have already commenced
The Facebook CEO and founder, pictured with his wife Priscilla Chan and their two children, sparked concern among the community in 2016 after residents feared his demolition bid meant he was planning to create a luxury compound for himself and his family in an area where single-family homes are. The couple offered viewers a rare glimpse into the family home in Palo Alto during a 2019 interview with CBS This Morning
However, his architect, Kathy Walker of Walker-Warner Architects, denied that he had plans to create a luxury compound just for his family – wife Priscilla Chan, 36, and children Maxima, six, and August, four – during a public board meeting five years ago.
‘They bought the original house and these other properties in the neighborhood because they love the character of the neighborhood, its significant trees and the very residential scale and the variety of homes, and that’s what we’re endeavoring to preserve,’ Walker said at the time.
Instead, Zuckerberg watered down his plans by renovating two and demolishing two, replacing them with one-story homes, thereby sidestepping any permit issues since one-floor houses don’t need council approval.
But now these exclusive DailyMail.com photos appear to show that Zuckerberg is creating a giant compound for his family.
This is the first time the five properties have been pictured aerially and three of the four acquired properties are now connected to the main Zuckerberg family home, which is the one with the largest roof and children’s jungle gym in the backyard.
Zuckerberg first bought this Palo Alto home in 2011 before snapping up the surrounding four properties for hugely inflated prices totaling $30million
The Facebook founder scooped up the other homes after a neighbor planned to sell them to a developer, who wanted to build a bigger house and market the property to potential homebuyers as living next door to the Facebook owner
This is the first time the five properties have been pictured aerially and three of the four acquired properties are now connected to the main Zuckerberg family home, which is the one with the largest roof (pictured)
Aerial images show Zuckerberg has created an enclosed rectangle of properties with a garden in the middle, and a pathway connects the four properties with an entrance leading to his original house
He’s created an enclosed rectangle of properties with a garden in the middle, and a pathway connects the four properties with an entrance leading to his original house.
At the time of the board’s decision, Norm Beamer, president of the Crescent Park Neighborhood Association, argued that Zuckerberg shouldn’t be allowed to create one glam palace.
He told the local newspaper: ‘(Zuckerberg) should not be allowed to remove housing from the housing inventory. There is such a scarcity of housing. And he’s tearing down perfectly good houses and wasting resources.’
The association failed to respond when asked for further comment.
There’s one house, which remains detached, north east of the main property, but possibly not for much longer, since Zuckerberg now wants to demolish that one too.
Zuckerberg runs the risk of creating more bad blood with the local community by attempting to push through new plans submitted last month to ‘deconstruct’ the present home, and build ‘a new two-story single family home with a single story, 3,554 sq ft, attached garage, 789 sq ft, basement 1625 sq ft, and detached accessory unit in rear yard, 691 sq ft.’
The main family home has a children’s jungle gym in the backyard. After his bid for demolition of the surrounding homes was denied, Zuckerberg instead watered down his plans by renovating two and demolishing two, replacing them with one-story homes, thereby sidestepping any permit issues since one-floor houses don’t need council approval
Pictured above is one of the houses he bought for $10M in 2013 and then demolished to turn into a new one-story home
Pictured above is one of the additional four properties that Zuckerberg purchased in December 2012 for $4.7million. The home was eventually demolished and turned into a new one-story property
The works are estimated to cost $1.56million.
Yet these photos show that there’s construction machinery already on site and work may have started already despite the city’s building department rejecting his demolition plans as ‘incomplete’ and the other two building permits ‘in plan check’ i.e. under review.
But this isn’t the first time that Zuckerberg has been accused of jumping the gun with renovations.
The residents close to his $10million city pad in San Francisco’s Mission District complained about his renovations taking over the street, which started soon after he bought it in 2013, and lasted nearly three years.
He was issued permits for renovations including $65,000 for the kitchen and bathrooms, $750,000 for a rear and side wing, and $720,000 for an office, media room, mudroom, laundry room, wine room, and wet bar.
San Francisco city council publicly logged the property’s complaints and one local objected stating that construction had already started without a permit and that an ‘east side of the external wall [had] already [been] taken down.’
Zuckerberg faced similar issues with $10M city pad (pictured) in San Francisco’s Mission District after residents complained about his renovations taking over the street
Renovations started soon after Zuckerberg bought the home in 2013, and lasted nearly three years
Our latest aerial photos show Zuckerberg’s four-story property for the first time since completion and locals can finally breathe a sigh of relief – although his next-door neighbors are getting their own back with a series of major renovations
The following year, another neighbor said there had been an ‘underestimating [of] construction cost, work beyond the scope of permit’.
Another complainant added: ‘Lots of dust and it’s not properly contained. Complainant’s son has asthma.
‘Construction workers leave a lot of garbage behind after lunch and they park on the sidewalks and even double par. Lots of noise between 7am – 5pm (sometimes later).’
While in 2015 with renovations entering their third year, neighbors complained that electrical work was being done without a permit ‘for the past six weeks or longer’ and Zuckerberg’s builders were ‘creating a lot of construction debris on the job site and neighbor’s properties.’
When the renovations were finally finished, some residents were irked that his security team was hogging the best parking spots, penning a letter which was circulated around the neighborhood.
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 CEO and founder, pictured with his wife Priscilla Chan and their two children, sparked concern among the community in 2016 after residents feared his demolition bid meant he was planning to create a luxury compound for himself and his family in an area where single-family homes are scarce
Zuckerberg had been issued permits for renovations at the home (sidewalk view) including $65,000 for the kitchen and bathrooms, $750,000 for a rear and side wing, and $720,000 for an office, media room, mudroom, laundry room, wine room, and wet bar
Our latest aerial photos show Zuckerberg’s four-story property for the first time since completion and locals can finally breathe a sigh of relief – although his next-door neighbors are getting their own back with a series of major renovations.
The owner had 12 building permits issued since June 2019 to completely overhaul the house, including doors and windows, and ‘excavate for a fully below-grade basement’.
In January, it was necessary for a building permit to be issued to ‘underpin the property line wall due to foundation work’ between Zuckerberg and the neighbor’s property with ‘approximately 28 linear feet of underpinning’.
This is normally to protect the properties foundations and, more unusually, because of subsidence.
Builders Moroso Construction didn’t respond to a request for comment.
There was also a complaint about his neighbor’s work from an unknown resident, stating: ‘Extremely loud generator running constantly. Even from a building down the street with windows closed it is louder than our conversations.’