There are the millions of Americans living in poverty, and then there's Mat Ishbia, the billionaire mortgage lending magnate who recently bought the Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Mercury, and who is building a 60,000-square-foot mansion in Michigan on a 14-acre property that will include, among other things, a trampoline park, multiple sports courts, batting cages, climbing walls, a massive swimming pool complete with a lazy river, a 14-foot waterfall, and whatever an "enchanted forest" is. "He's building an amusement park," is how one neighbor put it, per USA Today. Details of the project came to light at a township meeting of the zoning board of appeals this month.
Ishbia is tearing down his current house, which, at 22,000 square feet, is apparently not quite massive enough, as well as five neighboring houses in the Bloomfield Township subdivision in order to achieve his property dreams, the Detroit Free Press reports. Over a series of meetings related to the project, some of his plans have been rejected while others have been amended to come in line with zoning requirements. He also toned down certain plans after the homeowner's association pushed back. "We added more landscaping, more screening. The neighbors are very happy about it," Ishbia's lawyer said. The requests made at the most recent meeting passed with a unanimous vote. (More Mat Ishbia stories.)