Bin Laden estate in Florida goes on the market!
In better times, Osama enjoys the Florida estate!OLDCATMAN
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****Orlando Bin Laden Estate Could Be Bed-And-Breakfast.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Just a short drive out of Orlando on State Road 50 there's vacant mansion just before the Florida Turnpike.
Most eyes wouldn't pick out anything unusual about the estate, other than the fact that it sits empty and abandoned.
No one has lived in the house since September 2001, just days after the 9/11 attacks. But while the mansion, carriage house and barn are hundreds of miles away from ground Zero, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa., that's exactly why the previous owners took off.
Now, almost 10 years later, a realty company is trying to find a buyer for the former home of Khalil bin Laden, Osama's brother.
Khalil bin Laden owned the home for two decades, then fled a week after the terrorist attacks.
The 17-acre estate is now on the market for $2 million.
"The investors who own the property have $4 million in it, so they're taking a 50 percent hit," said Realtor Autumn Norris-Makin.
Norris-Makin says the former owners aren't the only reasons that make it unique.
"There's a lot of architectural detail you don't see in Florida," she said.
Contrast is the key word. Cypress grandeur meets Spanish motif. It's 1928 construction meets appliances and fixtures that appear to be right out of the 1970s.
Khalil bin Laden bought the home for his wife in 1980. The family spent many vacations at the property.
"No one's been negative about the bin Laden affiliation. Surprisingly enough, that has not been the reaction. The reaction has been 'Wow.' And, 'Wow, there's a lot of work to do,'" said Norris-Makin.
Did Osama bin Laden ever visit the property himself?
"No one knows. There's been speculation," she said.
Norris-Makin said she's seen some interest in the property, but financing for the buy has been the sticking point. There are some new prospects, however.
"We have a couple of guys who want to turn this into a bed-and-breakfast," she said.
Copyright 2011 by WESH.COM.
