Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly expanded his sprawling $300 million compound in Hawaii by nearly 1,000 acres — stoking yet more controversy with locals on the idyllic Pacific island chain, according to a report.
The latest expansion on the Meta CEO’s massive estate on the Hawaiian island of Kauai includes 962 acres of ranch land purchased earlier this year under an LLC, according to the tech news site WIRED.
A person close to the sale estimated the purchase price at more than $65 million. The acquisition brings Zuckerberg’s total holdings on Kauai to more than 2,300 acres.
Property records place the land’s market value at around $75 million.
Inside the existing compound, Zuckerberg has constructed two mansions with a combined floor area comparable to a football field, a gym, a tennis court, several guest houses, ranch buildings, saucer-shaped treehouses, a water system and a tunnel leading to an underground bomb shelter about the size of an NBA basketball court, outfitted with blast-resistant doors and an escape hatch.
Recent planning documents released through public records show plans for three more large buildings, ranging from 7,820 to 11,152 square feet — nearly 10 times the size of the average home in Hawaii.
Two of them include 16 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms between them, arranged in a motel-style layout, with a shared lanai measuring more than 1,300 square feet.
Each building features cameras, keypad locks and motion detection devices. Hoffine Barr described the buildings as short-term guest housing for family, friends and staff.
Satellite images show dozens of buildings on the property that have not yet appeared in public records. Based on bedroom counts in the documents WIRED reviewed, the compound could eventually accommodate more than 100 people.
The seller was the Mary Lucas Trust Estate, whose lands were previously leased to sugar plantations and later restored for cattle grazing. Zuckerberg’s spokesperson Brandi Hoffine Barr confirmed the purchase to WIRED but did not comment on the size or price.
“Mark and Priscilla continue to make a home for their family and grow their ranching, farming, and conservation efforts at Koʻolau Ranch,” said Hoffine Barr.
“The vast majority of the land is dedicated to agriculture — including cattle ranching, organic ginger, macadamia nut, and turmeric farming, native plant restoration, and endangered species protection. After purchasing the ranch, they canceled the previous owner’s plans for 80 luxury homes.”
The couple’s investment now exceeds the $311 million fiscal year 2024 operating budget for the island of Kauai.
A local islander who fished in the area contacted Zuckerberg’s representatives around 10 years ago to inform them that part of the compound housed the remains of his great-grandmother and her brother, according to the report.
Julian Ako negotiated with Zuckerberg’s team for months before finally being able to gain access to the burial site and register the graves with Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources.
According to WIRED, Ako tried unsuccessfully to locate the remains of other ancestor that may be buried on Zuckerberg’s property.
Hawaiian officials told WIRED that they confirmed “the probability (based on oral testimony) of additional burial sites.”
The burial site, first identified in 2015, was “fenced off and maintained” after being discovered, Hoffine Barr told the publication.
She added that workers are “bound by regulations that require reporting of inadvertent discoveries of iwi” — or Hawaiian ancestral bones.
But because workers on the project are bound by strict nondisclosure agreements, local residents fear that any future discovery of iwi could be concealed.
“If all of the workers have signed these nondisclosure agreements, then basically they’re sworn to silence,” Ako told WIRED.
“If they uncover iwi — or bones — it’s going to be a challenge for that to ever become public knowledge, because they’re putting their jobs in jeopardy.”
Zuckerberg began buying land on Kauai in 2014, acquiring 700 acres near the town of Kilauea for roughly $100 million. The purchase included parcels where hundreds of local residents held kuleana rights — traditional Hawaiian legal entitlements whereby descendants of original Native Hawaiian landowners can claim ancestral lands.
In 2016, Zuckerberg filed “quiet title and partition” lawsuits against those residents to clarify ownership. He later dropped the suits after public backlash, but the legal process continued under kuleana descendant Carlos Andrade, who eventually won sole ownership of the land at auction.
In a 2017 op-ed, Zuckerberg wrote that Andrade, who died in 2022, could “continue his quiet title action and pass down the kuleana rights because he had lived on and cared for these lands for more than 40 years.”
By spring 2021, Zuckerberg added more than 560 acres of ranchland, some of it abutting Larsen’s Beach. Later that year, he purchased another 110 acres, including the Kaloko Dam, an earthen reservoir that collapsed in 2006, killing seven people.
Zuckerberg’s presence on the island has drawn both support and skepticism. He has donated millions to local nonprofits, including a charter school and an affordable housing organization near the compound.
His projects have also created well-paying jobs. But many locals remain uneasy about the influence of billionaires on the island’s future.
“If our island has any hope of remaining Hawaii, this kind of activity has got to stop,” Puali‘i Rossi, a professor of Native Hawaiian studies at Kauai Community College, told WIRED.
“Eventually Hawaii isn’t going to look like Hawaii anymore — it’s going to be a resort community. Are we really thinking about 100 years from now, what this island is going to look like?”
The Post has sought comment from Zuckerberg, Ako and the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
