Facbook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have nearly doubled their controversial land holdings in Hawaii.
The couple, who already own a 700-acre beachfront estate in Kauai purchased a neighboring 600 acre plot for $53 million in a move which is likely to further enrage his island critics.
Zuckerberg, who began buying up chunks of the island in September 2014, added the additional land on March 19, according to Pacific Business News.
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The move follows a million-person petition which demands a ban on his ‘colonization’ of the paradise island.
Breitbart reports: The purchase, which includes land fronting Larsen’s Beach, does not include the beach access road, which is owned by the county, and remains open to the public.
The Facebook CEO bought the land through an LLC registered in Delaware whose member is San Francisco-based Square Seven Management LLC. Square Seven is managed by wealth manager Iconiq Capital LLC, of which Zuckerberg is a client.
The report added that Zuckerberg began amassing the Kauai estate in 2014 when he bought the 357-acre Kahuaina Plantation from California investment firm Falko Partners. After that, the Facebook CEO bought another 384 acres from the late Hawaii auto dealer James Pflueger, and then added more in 2018 for a total of nearly 750 acres.
Zuckerberg’s entities also acquired titles to dozens of smaller lots within the larger parcels that were known as kuleana lands, the report adds.
The couple has reportedly been building residential and agricultural structures on the properties, which are being used for ranching.
Building permits — which total to more than $83 million — show that the largest permit was the 2018 application for a 57,059-square-foot single-family home, which includes a connected accessory building or dwelling with a total of eight bedrooms, nine full baths, and 16 half baths.
“The decision provides Waioli with the financial ability to be able to continue our critical conservation and historical work and ensure that Kauai’s cultural history continues to be shared in the community for years to come,” said Waioli Corp. president Sam Pratt.
Waioli is a nonprofit organization established by members of Kauai’s kamaaina Wilcox family, who are descended from missionary schoolteachers Abner and Lucy Wilcox, from the Kingdom of Hawaii era.
Pratt added that Waioli chose Zuckerberg and Chan after seeing their “dedication over the years to land conservation, protecting native species and working to preserve the natural beauty of Kauai.”
“We know that this land will remain in their trusted hands and that Mark and Priscilla will act as responsible stewards of Lepeuli today and in the future,” he said.
