Is a ‘mega mansion’ being built in Olympia? City says it has no record of such a project
A Sunday Olympian print advertisement touting the future construction of a 19,000-square-foot home called the “A & A Mega Mansion” has accomplished what every ad seeks to do: generate some buzz.
However, in the case of the ad that appeared Oct. 17, it has left many calling and emailing The Olympian asking, “Is this really happening?”
A reporter for The Olympian newsroom, which operates independently from the advertising department, called the city after the ad was published looking for more information. Leonard Bauer, deputy director for community planning and development, checked with his staff and came up with nothing.
“We confirmed that we do not have any permit application in our system at all that even closely resembles this,” Bauer said. “Not sure if there’s something the county has, but there’s definitely not one in the city.”
A check of Thurston County documents also revealed nothing, said Brett Bures, the county’s building and development manager.
The ad also mentions city architect Melissa White (Olympia doesn’t have one), a department of architecture (Olympia doesn’t have that either) and an engineering department (another department the city doesn’t have).
Even odder is the proposal itself and those involved. The owner of the mansion is simply identified as “Dr. Ali, a well-known neurosurgeon and entrepreneur, originally coming from a well-known family in the oil field business in Dubai.”
In addition to the text for the ad, there also are pictures of a mansion with a watermark image for a business called Luxury Antonovich Design.
That business has an office in Doral, Florida, but is headquartered in Dubai, said Lisandra Matos, a project manager. When contacted by The Olympian, she confirmed that the images were theirs but said she had no knowledge of the mansion project.
The Olympian’s parent company, McClatchy, issued a statement apologizing for the concern the ad has raised.
“The ad in question appears to contain false information and should not have been approved for publication,” said Tony Berg, McClatchy’s Senior Vice President for Advertising. “We’re reviewing our policies to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. We apologize for the confusion that it has caused in the community.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
