- Mark Zuckerberg owns an enormous amount of land on a Hawaiian island.
- He reportedly paid $100 million for multiple properties along the North Shore of Kaua’i back in 2014, and another $45 million for additional property in 2017.
- In 2016, Zuckerberg sparked controversy by building a six-foot wall around the property and was then embroiled in a land dispute after he reportedly teamed up with a member of a native Hawaiian family to file suits to force land sales.
- The Facebook CEO ultimately backed out.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
It’s no secret that Mark Zuckerberg values his privacy.
The Facebook billionaire has multiple homes – he most recently purchased a $22 million secluded estate in Lake Tahoe – but one of his properties in particular is as controversial as it is beautiful.
Back in 2014, Zuckerberg purchased a 750-acre property on the North Shore of the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i, Forbes confirmed. The purchase includes two separate parcels: the Kahu’aina Plantation, a 357-acre former sugarcane plantation, and Pila’a Beach, a 393-acre property with a white-sand beach.
Zuckerberg paid a reported $100 million for both properties, though a source told Forbes at the time that he plans to build just one home, and has since spent another $45 million to purchase additional land on the island.
Take a look:
Madeline Stone contributed to an earlier version of this article.
The Kahu’aina Plantation is located on 357 acres of land in Kilauea, Hawaii.
It includes 2,500 feet of white-sand beach.
Source: Kahu'aina Plantation
It also has a working organic farm with a variety of crops, including ginger, turmeric, and papaya.
Source: Kahu'aina Plantation
According to the property's promotional materials, the plantation was approved for up to 80 homes, though Zuckerberg reportedly plans to build only one when he purchased the property. It doesn't get much more private than that.
Source: Kahu'aina Plantation
The house, under construction as of May 2018, will be a two bedroom, 6,100 square feet home, all according to the Kaua'i's newspaper The Garden Island.
Construction plans include a separate garage complex and administration building, featuring a security headquarters and keycard-access offices, The Garden Island reported.
Zuckerberg is known to go to great lengths to secure his privacy. In 2013, he bought four houses adjacent to his Palo Alto home to prevent nosy neighbors from moving in. The Kahu’aina Plantation feels isolated and exclusive.
Source: San Jose Mercury News
According to Forbes, Zuckerberg has bought as many as two dozen landlocked parcels on the plantation. The rights to those parcels are known as "kuleanas."
Source: Forbes
He reportedly paid $66 million just to assemble this 357-acre parcel.
Source: Pacific Business News
And it's absolutely gorgeous.
Zuckerberg also paid $49.8 million for an 89.2% stake of Pila'a Beach, an isolated oceanfront property adjacent to the plantation.
The 393-acre parcel had not been publicly listed.
The beach is difficult to access, with a half-mile trail that leads down to the shore. The beach is open to the public, and the piece of land that Zuckerberg purchased is situated a bit further back from the shoreline.
All told, the Facebook billionaire owns roughly 750 acres of property on this isolated stretch of Hawaiian beach.
Which became embroiled in a land dispute involving a native Hawaiian family, who partially owned four parcels (2 acres) of the land, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Wall Street journal reported that in 2016, Zuckerberg teamed up with one of the family members to file suits to force land sales, but ultimately backed out after receiving backlash. Gizmodo reported that this family member, Carlos Andrade, ended up winning all four of the parcels at auction in June for $2 million.
Zuckerberg spent $45 million on 89 more acres of land in 2017, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Now check out the homes and estates owned by the wealthiest people in tech.
