The United Estates of
Gates
MEDINA, Wash. (UPI) -- The world's richest man is spending big to create a residential buffer around his own five-acre spread near Seattle, Wash., the Seattle Times reported. Over the last decade Bill Gates quietly has spent $14 million buying 11 residential properties near his 48,000-square-foot Medina estate, which he occupied in 1997.
"There's not too many non-Gates property owners left here," said Herb Schwartz, a former insurance executive who moved into the Medina neighborhood 13 years ago. The properties, totaling 4.2 acres, were acquired by a representative for the Microsoft co-founder between 1994 and 2003 at a cost of nearly $14.4 million, according to property records. "This is a family that holds privacy very dearly to them," said family spokesman Joe Cerrell. "The properties create a buffer around the Gates home."
The purchases are common knowledge among neighbors such as Schwartz, who say Gates employees occupy a number of the homes. At least two of the homes are still occupied by people who sold their property to a Gates representative in 2003.
MEDINA, Wash. (UPI) -- The world's richest man is spending big to create a residential buffer around his own five-acre spread near Seattle, Wash., the Seattle Times reported. Over the last decade Bill Gates quietly has spent $14 million buying 11 residential properties near his 48,000-square-foot Medina estate, which he occupied in 1997.
"There's not too many non-Gates property owners left here," said Herb Schwartz, a former insurance executive who moved into the Medina neighborhood 13 years ago. The properties, totaling 4.2 acres, were acquired by a representative for the Microsoft co-founder between 1994 and 2003 at a cost of nearly $14.4 million, according to property records. "This is a family that holds privacy very dearly to them," said family spokesman Joe Cerrell. "The properties create a buffer around the Gates home."
The purchases are common knowledge among neighbors such as Schwartz, who say Gates employees occupy a number of the homes. At least two of the homes are still occupied by people who sold their property to a Gates representative in 2003.
Charles Mims
There's nothing new under the sun, but there are lots of old things we don't know. - Ambrose Bierce
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