Meta* CEO Mark Zuckerberg is building a stunning $100 million residence in Hawaii.
The project also includes the construction of an underground bunker capable of ensuring a natural apocalypse.
Construction is becoming a closely guarded secret on the island of Kauai. Builders note that such secrecy is typical for the military, but not for modern people.
At the same time, not all residents are happy with the new neighborhood, and they have objective reasons for this.
Zuckerberg bought 560 hectares of land for the construction of a residence
The territory that Zuckerberg bought in 2014 is marked in red, and the territory purchased in 2021 is marked in blue.
According to documents reviewed by Wired, Zuckerberg’s residence is located on a territory with a total area of about 560 hectares. In the documents this place is called the Koolau Ranch.
On its territory there are more than 12 buildings with a total of 30 bedrooms and 30 bathrooms. They will be located around two mansions with an area of almost 5 thousand square meters. The buildings will have elevators, offices, conference rooms and industrial-sized kitchens.
In the nearest forest It is planned to build 11 tree houses in the form of discs, which will be connected by rope bridges.. Residents of these houses can walk from one building to another, remaining among the treetops.
On the other side of the main mansion there will be a full-size gym, swimming pools, sauna, balcony tub, plunge pool and tennis court.
The main gate of Zuckerberg’s residence.
There will also be guest houses and technical buildings on the territory. The scale of the project suggests that it will be more than just a personal holiday home. Zuckerberg has already held two events at the complex.
The two central mansions are connected by a tunnel with a branch leading to an underground bunker. with an area of 465 m². The shelter includes living quarters, technical rooms and an escape hatch, which can be accessed by a ladder.
Many doors on the complex are controlled remotely using remote controls. The door in the underground light fixture will be made of metal and concrete.
A building in the distance to the sole Zuckerberg.
The ranch will be completely self-sufficient with its own water tank 16.7 meters in diameter and 5.5 meters high, as well as a pumping system. The bunker will have an energy source that is not separated from the rest of the buildings.
Various products are already produced at the ranch. There is a farm on site, including cattle.
According to the documents, the cost of construction is estimated at $100 million; Zuckerberg returned another $170 million to purchase the land. But the prices are probably too low and the real costs are much higher. In any case, your costs are one of the most expensive to start construction in the history of mankind.
Construction is underway in complete secrecy
A fence about two meters high is installed throughout the entire territory, behind which nothing can be seen. Construction is taking place in a remote area that is far from public roads.
The person working on this project has no right to talk about what he is doing. Almost everyone who passes through the ranch is bound by a strict non-disclosure agreement.
These agreements are not a formality. Some builders were fired after publishing information about the construction on social networks. According to the publication’s sources, teams are organized around the use of facilities, and the principle of respect with other teams about their work is observed.
One construction worker, for example, was fired after he posted a photo of the project on Snapchat.
This is fight club. We’re not talking about fight club.
David, former builder
“There are cameras all around,” says David, and the documents confirm this. The plan for just one small production building included more than 20 cameras.
The level of secrecy in the construction of private residences is not significant in the Hawaiian Islands.
This can only be found in protected areas.
Said one of the local builders associated with this project
He also added that for private buildings, non-disclosure agreements are a rarity in Hawaii.
Zuckerberg is known for his privacy-conscious attitude. Professor and privacy expert Daniel Citron described how he visited Zuckerberg’s home in Silicon Valley in 2018.
Not seeing the front door in front of him, Citron was very surprised when a thick hedge opened in front of him, behind which there was a secret passage.
One person died at the site, another was injured due to a falling crane
It is not known exactly how many construction workers are working at the site. Construction was carried out actively, with vehicles carrying construction materials entering the structures every day.
There have already been accidents. In February 2023, a 53-year-old man was seriously injured and taken to hospital after a crane rolled down a hill. At that moment he was in the crane cabin. After recovery, he returned to construction.
In August 2019, 70-year-old security guard Rodney Medeiros was on duty at the beach. When his 12-hour shift ended, the ATV that usually picked him up couldn’t come because of the rain.
Medeiros began climbing a steep path to get to the exit of the complex, and halfway there he suffered a heart attack. He was taken to hospital, where he died several hours later.
The secrecy of the complex became an issue after Medeiros’ death.. The guard’s relatives did not notice for several days that this had happened at the ranch.
Pilaa Beach. The territory above it belongs to Zuckerberg. The beach is public, but getting to it is very difficult.
A week after their father’s death, his three children spoke on the phone with Hank Barriga, manager of the security complex. In a recording of the conversation, the children complained that for several days after the heart attack they did not address any details about what happened.
Barriga said he wanted to talk to the family but was prevented from doing so. “They told me simply, you know, all the bosses want to talk to each other,” he added.
Medeiros’ children filed a wrongful death lawsuit against one of Zuckerberg’s companies that hired the security guard. Another employee, a longtime neighbor and a close friend of Medeiros said in court that they did not want to discuss the incident because of his nondisclosure agreement.
The whole island knows about Zuckerberg’s massive construction project
Kauai is the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands, dating back 6 million years. Its area is 1456 km². It is the smallest of the four main Hawaiian Islands.
About 73 thousand people live on Kauai. Initially, the inhabitants of the islands were engaged in the production of sugar cane, then tourism began to grow, and now the construction industry is actively developing.
The island consists of small towns and villages. The largest city, Kapaa, has a population of about 11 thousand people.. Local residents communicate closely with each other, people know their neighbors well.
Panorama of the city of Kapaa.
Older residents remember the times when the island had one traffic light. The second appeared only in 1973. Wild chickens run all over the island and are not threatened here.
In accordance with the non-disclosure agreement, it is prohibited to discuss the project in a secluded place complex acquired on Kauai, mythical status. One local architect not associated with Zuckerberg’s project jokes that it reminds him of medieval rulers who killed the architects of their most ambitious projects so their secrets would die with them.
There are many rumors about the buildings among local residents. Some people think that Zuckerberg is building a huge underground city. But many speculate that the site will become some sort of post-apocalyptic emergency bunker.
Not all islanders are happy about Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg bought his first land on the island in 2014. Two years later, he fenced his plot with a two-meter wall. As Zuckerberg’s land area increased, the length of the walls increased.
Some townspeople did not like this decision because the wall blocked the view of the ocean. When active construction began, car and truck traffic increased in the area.
There were no cars before. They are not here to enjoy the island. They are here to get somewhere, and you are in their way.
Jeff Lindner, a local resident who lives near Zuckerberg’s residence
In December 2016, Zuckerberg, through one of his companies, sued to force some local landowners to sell off 10 to 12 lots on his ranch.
Hawaiian law allows land to be given to the descendants of ancestors without formal paperwork, meaning that the descendants of the original landowners had a small stake in the Zuckerberg compound and could legally take title to gain access to it. As a result of the court case, the descendants were given the right to either sell their share of the land or put it up for auction.
January 2017 the lawsuits drew intense criticism when the public learned about them. After this, Zuckerberg backed down.
But he continued to “quietly” buy land, including with the help of local resident Carlos Andrade. He is now retired and formerly was a professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Some locals say Zuckerberg is another example of outsiders moving into Hawaii and taking advantage of the people already living there. In June 2020, a petition to “stop Mark Zuckerberg from colonizing Kauai” received over millions of signatures, but it went nowhere.
Zuckerberg began investing money on the island
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan created a special charitable foundation that donated more than $20 million to various non-profit organizations on Kauai in 2018.
Zuckerberg and Chan are now two of Kauai’s most prominent philanthropists. Local communities usually turned to Zuckerberg with a request to solve a particular problem.
For example, in August 2022, residents of Zuckerberg asked to fund a new drive-in movie theater because there are currently no movie theaters on the island.
Because of his donations, including locations and the hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual property taxes Zuckerberg pays, many locals consider him a presence in the islands.
*banned in the Russian Federation, recognized as an extremist organization.
Source: Iphones RU
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
