International Homes

Image Source: Getty / Chris McGrath
This deserted residential development, called “Burj Al Babas”, is located near the Turkish town of Mudurnu. It features over 700 3-story castle-like homes that currently sit abandoned. Construction of the 250 acre luxury home community began in 2014, but has been abandoned since 2019 after the developers filed for bankruptcy with a debt of $27 million.
From Wikipedia:
Original concept:
The Burj Al Babas project involved the construction of 732 three-story luxury villas, all very similar to each other and characterised by elements of Gothic, English and American architecture. Meanwhile, the cylindrical towers with dormer windows and the square towers with balustrades were inspired in particular by the Galata Tower in Istanbul, built in the late Middle Ages by the Genoese, and by the so-called Maiden’s Tower, located on an island in the Bosphorus Strait, a few hundred metres from the city.
According to the original brochure, the centre of the complex was to include a domed structure containing a shopping centre, health and beauty facilities such as Turkish baths, a mosque, a movie theatre, and other facilities open to residents.
The houses were on sale for between $370,000 and $530,000.
Aiming for the Arab market, the partners named the development the Burj Al Babas Thermal Tourism Company and began marketing the houses through their real estate agency in Kuwait.[2] More