An Australian family may’ve put up a fight against the land developers but the suburb was built anyway and with dramatic results
A family turned down a $50 million offer from land developers, however their house ended up surrounded.
When land developers swooped in on an area just 40 minutes away from the centre of Sydney, Australia, they had one problem – a family with an impressively large property and 650-foot driveway.
Despite being offered a staggering AUD $50 million from the developers, the family stood strong.
However, the land developers carried on too and despite being unable to take over the house or land the family’s home remained on, simply constructed a suburb around the entire property instead.
The Zammit family had lived in their home on Hambledon road for years and had no plans to change that despite the developers’ plans.
Their property looks like a castle, with a view of the Blue Mountains and five acres of lands – which equates to two-hectares of area.
The developers pressed on, building the suburb around the family’s land and a 30-second time-lapse video shows how they completely restructured the area around the house, creating a very odd-looking neighborhood in the process.
Before the developers got to work, the property was surrounded by lots of open green space, but now there are rows of regular, suburban homes.
And, to the surprise of no one, the humongous mansion and its lengthy garden could have essentially become an entire street if developers could have had their way.
When the majority of the neighboring houses were sold in 2012 to make way for developers, the house that stayed would have been valued at approximately AUD$4.75 million.
The Aussie family refused a $50 million offer from developers who constructed a suburb around their entire property. (7News)
However, in May last year, experts believed the house could be worth a whopping AUD $50 million.
Amid the bustling new-build development in The Ponds area near Quakers Hill, Taylor Bredin, a real estate agent with Ray White Quakers Hill, told 7News: “The fact that most people sold out years and years ago, these guys have held on. All credit to them.”
Bredin also suggested that the land has the capacity to accommodate around 50 houses, and if subdivided into 3,200-square-foot blocks, each could potentially be valued at a whopping one million dollars.
However, the homeowners denied revealing their plans about selling the property, 7News reported.
While you expect the majority of people to just up roots and leave when properly developers come calling, this story is a perfect example of standing your ground – despite the money that may be on offer.