Thread: In Fla., another bin Laden mansion sits empty

In Fla., another bin Laden mansion sits empty

By Tamara Lush, Associated Press
Updated 31m ago |

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For sale: a five-bedroom, Mediterranean-style mansion with a red, barrel-tiled roof and arched doorways and windows. It even comes with some notoriety as it was once owned by one of Osama bin Laden's brothers.

Khalil bin Laden, one of the terrorist mastermind's 54 siblings, bought the home in 1980 for $1.6 million, but the wealthy businessman and his family fled their vacation spot under police escort shortly after 9/11, fearing they might be targeted because of the terrorist attacks. The 1920s-era mansion has sat empty ever since.

The home is in Oakland, Fla., a quiet small town about 20 miles west of Orlando. There's a pool, horse stables and a four-car detached garage. It has fallen into a bit of disrepair due to vandals and humid Florida weather, but the real estate agent in charge of selling the property said it can easily be restored to its previous grandeur.

Asking price: $1,999,000.

Khalil bin Laden's children used to run up and down the stairs, playing near the quiet lake in the back when the bin Laden name meant wealth and prestige. Then came Sept. 11, 2001.

Eventually, boards covered windows that overlooked the 1,200 feet of private lake shoreline.

In February 2006, at the height of Florida's housing boom, Khalil bin Laden sold the property for $4 million, property records show, to a businessman who later went bankrupt and was sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud.

The home was eventually foreclosed on, said Autumn Norris-Makin, the Florida real estate agent who has been trying to sell the property for over a year. It was recently named by Forbes as one of the "creepiest abandoned mansions" in the U.S.

Norris-Makin said she's had a lot of interest despite the asking price. One person was thinking about turning the property into a bed and breakfast.

"It's an amazing property," she said Wednesday. "But not a lot of people have that kind of money right now. It would sell in a second if everyone knew the economy would turn around."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/h ... sion_n.htm

This home was bought when the bin ladens were buisness partners with George Bush sr.Their buisness desolved after 9 11.

Originally Posted by duckman

This home was bought when the bin ladens were buisness partners with George Bush sr.Their buisness desolved after 9 11.

Osama bin Laden's Bush Family Business Connections
FTW - Money connections between Bush Republicans and Osama bin Laden go way back ... a new manifestation of a decades-long partnership in the heroin trade. ...
www.copvcia.com/free/ww3/09_18_01_bushbin.html

Thats why little Bush was not going after bin laden he didnt want to hurt the family buisness.He had him at Tora Bora but was warned by the bin ladens not to touch their son,then he went to iraq instead to revenge his fathers name not because iraq had anything to do with 9 11.Pakastan had more terrorist on the planes than anyone but we had already committed to afganastan and had to go through pakastan to enter.There was not 1 iraq on any plane,but Bush knew his hands were tied to get bin laden so he went else where.A war not needed that we are still fighting and wasting money.If he would have taken out bin laden at Tora Bora we would be out of Afganastan by now.