How on earth could this US$200 million Disneyesque project in Turkey flop?
- Five years after work started, more than 700 villas remain empty and the developer has sought bankruptcy protection
From far away, the Burj Al Babas could be confused for a diorama of miniature villas. The homes all look the same, their blue-grey steeples and Gothic fixtures calling to mind the castles in Disney films.
When the project first began in 2014, its developer, the Sarot Group, hoped the luxury aesthetic would appeal to wealthy foreign buyers. Now the homes sit empty at the base of Turkey’s northwestern mountains.
Though there is still money left in its US$200 million budget, the Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection after buyers failed to come up with the money for the properties.
The problem isn’t confined to Turkey. Around the world, cities, such as New York, Las Vegas, Tokyo, and Burgos, Spain, are riddled with abandoned properties. But none are quite as eerie as the Burj Al Babas’ empty villas, which stand as symbols of the nation’s economic plight.
Take a look at the ghostly spectacle below.
The villas are located near the small town of Mudurnu in Turkey’s northwestern region.
The region’s hot springs provide enough water to heat the homes, the Sarot Group’s CEO Mezher Yerdelen told The New York Times.
“You can drink the waters, and it cures stomach ailments and kidney stones,” Yerdelen said. “If you bathe in it, it heals skin problems, rheumatism, and slipped disks.”