It seems a person can't build a 26,000-square-foot home in Beverly Hills these days without creating a ruckus.
Francesco Aquilini, the managing director of the group which owns the Vancouver Canucks, purchased a two-acre lot on Loma Linda Drive in Beverly Hills for $7.2 million with the hope of building his megamansion on a street whose past residents include Justin Bieber, according to the National Post.
The Post said the home's plans included an indoor basketball court, bowling alley, two bars, two swimming pools, moat-like features and an underground parking garage which could fit 10 cars -- the essentials, really.
But those plans angered his new neighbors. The street's average home size is reportedly 6,200 square feet (almost three times the size of what the most recent census claimed as average for new American builds), and it seems neighbors weren't too thrilled about a 26,000-square foot palace looming over the neighborhood.
So neighbors lawyered up and penned angry protest letters, but when Aquilini agreed to reduce the size of the plans down to just 21,000 square feet, neighbors weren't satisfied. They continued to complain to the city and started hanging banners which read "Save our neighborhood!" and "Stop Aquilini!," the Post reported.
Their campaign to thwart the construction of the home worked, but their concerns about Aquilini remain. According to the Post, Aquilini has a history of misleading his neighbors. He purchased a home in nearby Bel Air three years ago and promised to keep the home's architectural integrity intact. But Aquilini never moved in, instead rebuilding a much larger, glass-walled home on the property before flipping the entire thing to Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz.
According to the Post, Aquilini paid $11 million for the Bel Air property and flipped it for $34.5 million. He might not have keep his promise to his neighbors, but at least he made a profit.
(h/t National Post)
