The eerie ghost town full of Disney-inspired mansions that were never finished
The firm behind the development went bankrupt.
Photos show an eerie ghost town, where rows of Disney-style houses sit empty after the company behind the development went bankrupt.
The mansions, in Turkey’s northwestern Bolu region on the Black Sea coast, are part of a £160 million project that came to an abrupt end in 2019.
Building work had started five years earlier and some of the homes were completed but have never been lived in, while others remain half finished.
The development, in Burj Al Babas, was overseen by Sarot Properties Group, which also planned to build a waterpark on the 250-acre site, complete with indoor and outdoor pools, slides, Turkish baths, steam rooms and saunas.
The homes themselves, surrounded by forest and all featuring towers with pointy rooves, look like something you might find at a Disneyland resort and not in rural Turkey.
It had been hoped the properties would be popular with wealthy Arab investors, but only 350 out of 732 of the homes were sold.
And in the end only two thirds of the mansions were completed before Sarot Properties Group ran out of money, according to The Sun.
The firm was reportedly left with a debt of £21 million and, caught up in Turkey’s financial turmoil at the time, filed for bankruptcy.
It had also faced criticisms and legal action from local residents for allegedly destroying trees.
People living in the area also felt the properties looked out of place among the area’s Ottoman-era architecture and had a negative impact on the environment.
It’s not clear whether the development will be finished, but building materials remain at the site.
For now it sits empty apart from the odd visit from curious tourists.
Meanwhile, in the UK, an urban explorer shared photos of an abandoned zoo, which had also been hit by financial difficulties.
Daniel Sims, known online as Bearded Reality, took a look around the former Rutland Sanctuary Zoo in Oakham, East Midlands.
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