Burj Al Babas: Turkey's Abandoned 'Disney Village'
Of all the abandoned places around the world, perhaps one of the most interesting — and eerie — is Burj Al Babas, a housing development in Turkey made up of hundreds of Disney-like castles.
Found near the village of Mudurnu between Istanbul and Ankara, Burj Al Babas was planned as a luxury village for foreign buyers.
Sarot Property Group, a development company from Dubai, began building the village in 2014. It had plans to make 732 castle-like houses, as well as a shopping and entertainment center, Turkish baths and more.
The total budget for the project was about $200 million, and 587 houses were completed, all looking the same. Prices started at $310,000.
According to the New York Post, about 350 houses were sold. But in 2018 the company started having financial problems, and the project was abandoned before it could be completed.
Although Mezher Yerdelen from Sarot Property Group told Hurriyet Daily News in 2019 that the development would be finished in 2021, Burj Al Babas is still abandoned today. The eerie Disney-like village has instead become an attraction for tourists.
Hurriyet Daily News reported in 2018 that Sarot Group had been sued for damaging forestland and cutting down trees to build the housing development.
Many locals also don't like the project because the castle homes look nothing like traditional houses in the area.
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