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A member of America's fourth-richest family has caused confusion after buying 10 neighborhood homes and calling them 'pieces of crap'.
Kathy Cargill, manager of North Shore LS, LLC, is the wife of billionaire James Cargill II - one of the heirs to Cargill Inc., a global food corporation based in Minnesota.
She's purchased 10 homes in Park Point over the last year - a picturesque neighborhood that sits beside Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota - but has referred to them as 'crap'.
However, her purchases have left neighbors in the area concerned and, according to the StarTribune in Duluth, she's spent around $2 million above the estimated market value for the properties.
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93-year-old Brooks Anderson opened up to the Duluth News Tribune about his worries over Park Point becoming a 'part-time playground for rich folks'.
Cargill told the same news outlet: "The homes that we bought were pieces of crap, I couldn't imagine living in any of them."
Some of the properties are around 100 years old and hold a lot of history for the area.
However, Danny O'Neil, a longtime resident of the area, received a whopping $825,000 from North Shore in exchange for his home, despite it having only been appraised at $370,000.
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Though he was thrilled by the huge payment, he was hurt by the phrasing used by Cargill to describe his childhood home.
“That was my house,” he said.
“It’s a family home that is an old beach house. That [remark] made me feel bad. No doubt, she is trying to justify tearing them down. But give me a break.”
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Homeowners are currently in the dark about what's going to happen to their neighborhood.
83-year-old Park Point resident Coral McDonnel told The New York Post: "We wish we knew what was going to happen.
“They purchased lots next to our house, and they tore down three houses and two big garages.”
She and others fear that the quaint lakefront community might be compromised by a change in atmosphere caused by the new developments.
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They're also concerned about potential erosion caused by the disturbance to the ground.
“They tore down a lot of trees, and that is sad. We need the trees to keep sand [on grounds along the lake] from coming up in big blows,” McDonnel added.
“I feel worried about our community and neighborhood.”
Cargill has not said what is planned for the properties and, when contacted by Pioneer Press in December, emphasized that the properties belonged to her and her entity, North Shore LS, not the Cargill family.
Topics: US News