Private island with peculiar unfinished villa lists for $72M in Montana. Check it out
An estate that looks like it belongs in the enchanted opening of a Disney movie has hit the real estate market in Dayton, Montana, for a whopping $72 million.
There’s a catch, however.
Despite the aesthetic wonderment of lake views and the feeling of blissful privacy on its 348 acres, the estate on Cromwell Island, which overlooks Wild Horse Island, is unfinished.
And despite its striking exterior, the abandoned construction inside is slightly haunting.
In a really cool fashion.
“I loathe to use the term one-of-a-kind, but it means something in this case,” real estate agent Bill McDavid told NBC Montana.
And one-of-a-kind it truly is. According to the listing on Realtor.com, the 45,000-square-foot home on the island, perched on the crystal blue waters of Flathead Lake, was an unfinished product of an automobile collector named Robert M. Lee, who died in 2016, and his wife, Anne.
The couple purchased the island in the 1980s and intended to “create a nature reserve” but instead decided to build a five-bedroom home, Robb Report said. After only the outer part of the villa was finished, the couple moved to Lake Tahoe in the late 1990s.
And though the inside is unfinished, it holds the same peculiar “mystique” that surrounds the island itself, the listing describes.
While this property could be someone’s dream home, local folks aren’t so sure about the future of the villa, NBC Montana reported.
“I just think it’s crazy that somebody can come in and buy something like that. I think the state of Montana should be able to buy it just like Wild Horse, we can go out there and enjoy it,” Dale Keller told the outlet.
Wild Horse Island is a Montana landmark where the Kootenai Indians “historically swam their horses to keep them safe from rival tribes,” the listing says.
“The amount of money someone would have to have to just not care or think twice, and then just, ‘Sure, I’ll sell it and not even live here,’ it’s just beyond me,” Rich McGillen said to NBC.
Cromwell Island is about 248 miles northwest of Great Falls.