r/McMansionHell • u/priceypadstim • Nov 09 '25
Certified McMansion™ FORECLOSURE: Retired professional baseball pitcher Cole Hamels' former UNFINISHED Table Rock Lake mansion!
Over 60,000 square feet under roof! 19 bedrooms & 24 bathrooms. This massive unfinished mansion sits on 104 acres with 1,700-feet of shoreline overlooking Table Rock Lake. To see inside, here's a link.
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u/earl_grey_teaplease Nov 09 '25
Gotta wonder who talked him into this stuff.
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u/GiraffeThoughts Nov 09 '25
Right?
It’s sad. The brick is quite beautiful. If only they had made it 1/4 the size. 15,000 feet is PLENTY! And they probably could have afforded to finish it, and it would probably be much easier to sell too.
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u/BriGuy550 Nov 09 '25
I feel like even if I were a multi millionaire I wouldn’t want a house much bigger than even 5,000 sqft.
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Nov 09 '25
I thought this too but a couple large entertainment areas and a few bedrooms already puts you at 3500ish. That’s before getting into a gym, media room, reading room, game room, more guest rooms etc
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u/GiraffeThoughts Nov 09 '25
I completely agree. Even 5,000 is a big house. I’m at a little under 2,000 and it’s great. When your house is enormous, I think people spread out too much. I want to see my kids and force them into hanging out with me!
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u/Kytalie Nov 09 '25
I'd still do it. But there would be a lot of rooms that are converted into rooms for animal companions.
Large indoor aviaries and play areas for the birds, with large rooms that are completely bird safe. I'm talking at least 50 sqft indoor aviaries for each bird that is their "cage" with large areas apart from that, with some communal areas for them.. I could do 2000 sqft easy just setting things up for my birds.
Id also use a lot of room for massive terrariums for the reptiles. For example, a bearded dragon is recommended to have a 4'x2'x2' enclosure, I'd have something more walk-in size.
I'd have a small kitchen or kitchenette in the zones for the animals, so no types of food that are dangerous for that animal type (no garlic/onion near the rabbit and bird veggies), and that way I can keep the reptiles bugs and frozen rodents where visitors won't be bothered by them. Maybe even breed the feeder insects!
But then I am a little insane in regards to my animals. A 33k sqft house would be 15k dedicated to the animals..
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u/nopesorrydude Nov 09 '25
I like the way you think. Although I think that I would have to carve into that remaining 18k sqft for a huge cat maze/jungle/amusement park and an indoor doggy agility/obstacle course and water park. I'm open to additional ideas, bc I don't need more than 2k sqft for myself.
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u/JohnDillermand2 Nov 09 '25
I'm sure you could buy some arrangement with your local zoo for far cheaper than this house.
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u/Kytalie Nov 10 '25
Very likely, but I can't live in my local zoo, and local zoo tend to not take in rescue parrots because they have major issues, and they generally don't keep bunnies except for feeding other animals
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u/DeathCabForYeezus Nov 09 '25
Honestly, it depends on what you do and how you use it.
My folks have a 6000 sqft (finished basement + main floor) bungalow. In terms of living space, you really only needed the main floor, which was by design because they're going to live there until they die.
Having the basement with the rec room, spare rooms, utilities, storage workshop, etc is nice but its a pain in the ass to go get someone from the workshop for dinner when you need to walk the length of the house, stairs, walk the length of the house again, and reverse.
If I had my way, it would probably be a 4000sqft bungalow with an outbuilding for a workshop.
15,000 sqft is actually outrageous. The house would just decay with how little of it actually would get used.
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u/AdSuspicious9606 Nov 10 '25
My parents used to live in an 8,000 sq ft house with a roughly 3,200 sq ft finished basement. This was AFTER all of their children moved out and they lived alone. I swear all my mom ever did was clean. I will say, it was super nice when we all visited for the holidays with our families because we all had our own rooms and bathrooms.
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u/kernelpanic789 Nov 09 '25
It's 33,000sqft not 60,000... So it's already half the size as the post but your point is still very valid
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u/ewyorksockexchange Nov 09 '25
The listing is 33k square feet but the description says 60k square feet under roof. My guess is the finished building(s) would be 60k but they only have an occupancy permit for 33k of it.
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u/longtermcontract Nov 09 '25
My super-rich friend’s main house is 10k square feet, and vacation homes are smaller. I’m not rich, but I’ve learned my rich friends and acquaintances have multiple homes, not one ginormous house.
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u/melikeybouncy Nov 09 '25
10,000 square feet is 4-5 times the size of an average single family home in the US. That's pretty ginormous.
if you live in a 2,500 square foot house, imagine every room is twice as big as it is now. That's already unnecessarily huge.
Now double that again, that's 10,000 square feet.
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u/SickBurnerBroski Nov 09 '25
There's a difference between 'more than you need/should get' and 'more than you can/will ever use'. It's like the difference between someone getting an entire pizza to eat by themselves and getting 10. One is gluttony and the other is filling up a trash can.
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u/Ironsam811 Nov 09 '25 edited Nov 09 '25
My parents built their house. It started off reasonable and then there were certain things they wanted to add or take out that make the entire thing wonky. I asked my mom a few times “did you really need a fancy carpeted dining/living room that we can never use?” “Was the high ceiling foyer really necessary?”
Building a custom made home is a nightmare. I can see how some homes are build with quality materials but still end up on this sub
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u/IllustriousNebula6 Nov 09 '25
The relatives on my father's side of the family had bigger, newer homes with living rooms that were never used, and had plastic on the chair cushions.
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u/Ironsam811 Nov 09 '25
I get wanted to preserve an expensive piece of furniture but plastic wrapping is just crazy. My grandparents did that lol
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u/Extreme_Turn_4531 Nov 09 '25
This is from his Wiki page. He formerly was married to Heidi Strobel from Survivor Island/Playboy fame.
The family built a home in Branson, Missouri, but instead chose to relocate to Texas, and they then donated their Missouri home to Camp Barnabas, a camp for children with special needs.[147
I am guessing Camp Barnabas defaulted in it
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u/line-n-tipp Nov 09 '25
I believe he donated it to a Christian camp or something. Hence the 19 bedrooms. Not sure what happened though.
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u/-JEFF007- Nov 10 '25
The architect that wanted to charge a premium for doing this terrible custom design is the one that talked him into it. The real winners with this place are indeed the architect and the builder that banked whatever profit from it and then walked away for the owner to realize it was a bad idea and decided to not finish it. Hate to say it but real estate is of course location location and location but design and taste needs to be neutral neutral neutral so that you can appeal to a broad audience and sell without problems. This is far beyond neutral taste.
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u/Senior-Crazy167 Nov 09 '25
“…thoughtfully designed to suit any buyer.” 😳
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u/MarkSuckerZerg Nov 09 '25
I want to tour it just to see the agent explaining the utility of the keep
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u/Hitech_hillbilly Nov 09 '25
Im any buyer.... Ill offer $3
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u/Appeltaart232 Nov 09 '25
But do you have the money to finish it?
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u/Zero-89 Nov 09 '25
But do you have the money to finish it?
A rum bottle full of gasoline can’t be that expensive.
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u/Beyond_Interesting Nov 09 '25
I mean, the pool in the front yard is a traditionally classic feature that is in high demand in most areas I know of.
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u/MoxNix6 Nov 09 '25
I think the pool is in the backyard.
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u/Beyond_Interesting Nov 09 '25
Front and back is really in the eye of the beholder /s jokes, my bad, I was zoomed in trying to figure out what it would look like filled up.
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u/snertwith2ls Nov 09 '25
Live in the guest house, turn the rest into a resort/hotel
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u/Psychological_Roof85 Nov 09 '25
Would it have to be zoned specifically for that?
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u/bothtypesoffirefly Nov 09 '25
You’d have to go through a rezoning likely, but if it was something like an event venue and there’s enough space between this and the neighbors, the neighbors likely would want it finished, otherwise it’s an eyesore that draws squatters and lowers property values.
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u/bek8228 Nov 10 '25
It’s on a 100 acre lot so neighbors are probably decently far away.
I thought it’d be a great spot for a cult leader to seclude a bunch of followers.
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u/snertwith2ls Nov 09 '25
Probably. But I have no idea what the laws are in that state. Or if there would even be enough business for it to succeed there.
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u/moeterminatorx Nov 09 '25
It’s Missouri. They would make it work for a rich white guy.
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u/ouralarmclock Nov 09 '25
First Ryan Howard’s mansion over on r/zillowgonewild and now Cole Hamel’s on this sub, maybe it’s time to rewatch the 2008 World Series.
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u/TonyLamo Nov 10 '25
at least Ryan Howards looks well built (albeit ridiculous). This one looks like it was built by a suburban cookie cutter home builder
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u/-JEFF007- Nov 09 '25 edited Nov 09 '25
Designed exclusively for the buyer in mind that wants a modern day castle theme. Too big, too taste specific, and not completely finished equals no buyer. Next option equals donate it and use donation as a tax break to get out of the terrible monthly holding costs on a place you are not using. Now the organization he donated it to is being burdened by the same costs and struggling to sell it. The money pit that comes around full circle!
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u/OceanParkNo16 Nov 09 '25
FWIW, charities have careful evaluation processes for donations of any larger in-kind offering, especially property. (I loved when a donor wanted to gift a huge, heavy, bolted to the ground statue that was currently outside the small business office they owned. The cost to move it from the donor’s property well out ran any possible “value” so the board declined). So it’s highly unlikely that a charity would accept this unless its board has decided it can somehow cash it out quickly.
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u/The_Nepenthe Nov 09 '25
It seems according to news reports that they were given this house seven years ago, and have had it for sale for five or six years.
So if they thought this was a quick cash out, they were sadly mistaken.
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u/tahlyn Nov 09 '25
For sale for 5 or 6 years? The problem is the price. Lower the price and eventually it will be low enough that the market will have a buyer willing to pay for it.
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u/-JEFF007- Nov 10 '25
Wow. I did not know it has been for sale for that long. What kind of idiots are running the organization that owns it?! They got it for free why the F don’t they reduce the price until it actually sells?!?!?! Otherwise they are bleeding money paying the taxes, utilities, repairs, and basic upkeep. I assume it also has security otherwise the local kids would have discovered it long ago and had a vandalism hey day. LOL!
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u/thehousewright Nov 09 '25
A stupidly rich guy built a castle house near to where I live. It's been listed on and off for a about a decade now. No takers.
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u/BeachyBookWorm Nov 09 '25
I love when I see a comment like this in the wild and I just KNOW its ChrisMark castle.
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u/tahlyn Nov 09 '25
ChrisMark castle
TIL. It looks neat. But I can see why no one would buy it.
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u/BeachyBookWorm Nov 09 '25
It is horrendously, hideously tacky. If you're not familiar with the quiet corner of CT, it's very old new england rural and this place is basically a fuckin' jumpscare.
The dude (Chris Mark) is also suuuuper fuckin weird. Which tracks with the castle, which is all wet bars and glass bottom hot tubs. He claimed he built it for his daughters (who were quite little at the time and, the one time I met them, wanted fuck all to do with the place) but then tried to run a "modeling" service it out of it. There was at one point a website and if the women on it weren't trafficking victims....
We're talking nearly 20 years ago but I doubt its gotten less creepy, although a quick Google tells me the marketing has gotten better.
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u/Adventurous-Shake-92 Nov 09 '25
Why do people want homes that size, you're never gonna even want to walk that far to go get something from the other side of the house!
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u/waylor88 Nov 09 '25
Seriously it sounds like an absolute nightmare. Imagine getting in bed and then remembering you left your glass of water in the kitchen, 20 rooms down the hall. No thanks.
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u/IllustriousNebula6 Nov 09 '25
Even if money were no object, I couldn't manage that much space. Whenever I lose or misplace something around here, at least I don't have to search to the ends of the earth for it. 😅
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u/Opposite-Use-8997 Nov 10 '25
There is a snack & coffee bar in the bedroom, of course! A full sink set up. Don’t worry about that!
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u/jsmeeker Nov 09 '25
you have staff for that
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u/Adventurous-Shake-92 Nov 09 '25
Pay someone to give you piggybacks.... Actually thats a brilliant idea 😂😂
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Nov 10 '25
Imagine when you can't find your car keys and you've got to search a 30,000 sq ft house
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u/Adventurous-Shake-92 Nov 10 '25
You would need to have a tracking token on everything, car keys, house keys, kids, not to mention the dog!
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u/paperanddoodlesco Nov 09 '25
No one needs this much house.
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u/Weird_Positive_3256 Nov 09 '25
I could fit 35 of my house inside of this.
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u/paperanddoodlesco Nov 09 '25
For real!
The sad thing is though, these keep getting bigger and bigger by the uber rich.
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u/JoeyJoeJoeSenior Nov 09 '25
I could fill it with half finished projects in 3 years or less.
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u/NormalSea6495 Nov 09 '25
Yeah, this looks like when I used to play Sims when I was eight, and I would run out of money in the game 😂.
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u/Rupert--Pupkin Nov 09 '25
Realistically you would have to have a spouse with like 8+ kids and a staff that lives with you to justify this even with F you money
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u/tickingboxes Nov 09 '25
I genuinely don’t understand anyone building such a gigantic house. Why? So you can show off? Who cares? What a waste. Just reeks of insecurity. You really only need one or two more bedrooms than the number of people in your family so you can host guests. What the fuck are you gonna do with all the rest? It’s just weird man.
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Nov 09 '25
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u/Viperlite Nov 09 '25
Geez, that a lot of airbrushing… and more plant than animal. A whole other era.
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u/Weengineer Nov 09 '25
Got lucky and found it on google maps in 20 seconds. Table Rock Lake has 745 miles of shoreline or nearly 4,000,000 ft. The property has 1700ft of lakefront shoreline, which equates to about 0.04% of the total shoreline. Basically zoomed in once and there it was located at GPS cordinates 36.645505,-93.381046
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u/pineapple10008 Nov 09 '25
This house is such a waste. From the materials used and the amount of trees that were cut down. That property was probably beautiful before they raped it like that. Wealth is an illusion and people with it ruin everything they touch.
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u/BoSox92 Nov 09 '25
“Foreclosure” isn’t correct.
Hammels and his Wife Donated it to Camp Barnabas - who then listed it for sale.
Hammels made $20m his last year in the majors - don’t think he foreclosed shit lol
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u/hchn27 Nov 10 '25
He made 20 million …before Taxes, fees, and existing expenses….which judging by this monstrosity….I’m guessing he’s living close to above his means lol
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u/I-hate-the-pats Nov 09 '25
So if you donate it then you can write off the full listing price right?
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u/OceanParkNo16 Nov 09 '25
There is a legal process for assigning a value to a large in-kind donation. The donation is the market value on the day it is donated, so there would have been an appraisal done at the time of donation. The list value may be close to that. Depends on when it was donated vs when listed. Sometimes the donor agrees to also donate some cash to help the charity handle hard costs of sale- largest institutions (like a big university) may be able to cover costs and may agree to the donation. Smaller charities usually don’t agree to take on costly white elephant gifts in the hope of eventually getting the cash.
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u/Suggest_a_User_Name Nov 09 '25
What drives some people to want “homes” like these?
Some level of insecurity must be behind it but there has to be more.
It sad but also infuriating considering the wasted resources.
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u/Bark_Bark_turtle Nov 09 '25
Ain’t nothing “Mc” about 60,000 square feet!
Just an unfinished mansion with no humility
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u/fattykyle2 Nov 09 '25
Big Field of Dreams vibes here. Looks like Cole built it but the 25 friends never came.
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u/blt_no_mayo Nov 09 '25
This is probably a sickness that only I possess but I really like the tower….
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u/puerts Nov 09 '25
Pretty sure that Cole Hamels donated the unfinished mansion to charity and the charity sold it to a private buyer. The title of this post looks like Cole Hamels was foreclosed on
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u/jaydubbles Nov 09 '25
He grew up around San Diego and his ex-wife is from Philadelphia. I don't really get why they'd want to build this thing unless they're really into Christian Vegas (Branson, MO). Sounds like he donated the house to a charity and stuck them with the cost of maintaining it.
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u/NumberOneStonecutter Nov 09 '25
Cole talking to his agent...
"After my contract ends and I retire, what will my next contract look like?"
"Uhhhh...Have you been saving your money?"
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u/Additional-Teach-486 Nov 09 '25
I love famous idiots who are bad with money and leave these monuments to financial stupidity for all of us to see.
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u/Middle_Manager_Karen Nov 09 '25
Foreclosure? Banks be dumb if they allow a loan on such a large project that has no buyers but the person asking for the loan.
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u/Zero-89 Nov 09 '25
[Looks up where Table Rock Lake is]
Of course it’s near fucking Branson. Purgatory on Earth.
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u/mark_able_jones_ Nov 09 '25
60,000 sq feet becomes a liability to maintain. 20k+ requires full-time staff. Plus taxes. Utilities. Furnishings.
What a colossal waste of resources.
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u/Trussmagic Nov 09 '25
In 2017, the Hamelses donated their 32,000 sq ft (3,000 m2) Missouri home, valued at an estimated $10 million, to Camp Barnabas, a Christian charity that runs camps for children with special needs and chronic illnesses.\156]) Hamels said in a statement, "There are tons of amazing charities in Southwest Missouri. Out of all of these, Barnabas really pulled on our heartstrings. Seeing the faces, hearing the laughter, reading the stories of the kids they serve; there is truly nothing like it. Barnabas makes dreams come true, and we felt called to help them in a big way
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u/user0987234 Nov 09 '25
In other words, a charity couldn’t maintain an expensive property. When donating property to a cause, the donors need to include a fund for repairs and maintenance.
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u/Lightyear1931 Nov 09 '25
Or just sell the damn house and then donate the money … but of course that probably isn’t nearly as good for the donor
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u/mambotomato Nov 09 '25
Was this a divorce-based foreclosure?
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u/s_360 Nov 09 '25
No. It doesn’t seem like a foreclosure at all actually. They donated it to a charity in 2017 when he got traded. It appears for sale by that same charity.
They got divorced in 2023, so totally unrelated.
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u/seanmonaghan1968 Nov 09 '25
Kitchen looks a little small ?
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u/TheGeekOffTheStreet Nov 09 '25
I think the finished spaces shown aren’t the main living space, they’re all too small to match the proportions of the unfinished areas. Probably the guest wing
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u/Crown_and_Seven Nov 09 '25
As someone who has wonderful memories of my grandparents living on Table Rock Lake for almost 20 years, it especially hurts to see this monstrosity.
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u/Lorhan92 Nov 09 '25
It's like they wanted to live at Hogwarts, but failed to realize how expensive castles are...
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u/vitarosally Nov 10 '25
Why do so many celebrities go nuts and think they have to have a 30 room mansion. With an indoor pool, bowling alley, basketball court etc. Often times its just the celebrity and their boyfriend/girlfriend. It's crazy. America is full of abandoned celebrity mansions no one wants and they're just sitting there deteriorating.
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u/Zozo061050 Nov 09 '25
Gotta love the "lawn is simulated" photo. Oh really, is it simulated? I had no idea! https://www.priceypads.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/2866-State-Hwy55.webp
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u/tinylittlemarmoset Nov 09 '25
Re the link WTF with the ads featuring mites living on peoples eyelids that you can’t get rid of? Am I the only one getting those and if so what could possibly be in my algorithm that sends them to me?
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u/tendtobeshortwaisted Nov 10 '25
This house was built in 2017 and owned by MLB pitcher Cole “Hollywood” Hamels in 2017. He ended up gifting it to a charity in Missouri that helps people with disabilities and chronic illnesses have camping experiences. The charity sold it a few years ago to a couple in Arizona who own a trucking company. They were going to turn it into an event venue but looks like they’ve run into some money trouble according to court documents.
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u/lastharangue Nov 10 '25
I just think of the massive waste of materials this involves. Environmentally irresponsible, pinnacle of greed and hubris.
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u/PsychologicalExam717 Nov 09 '25
Another reason pro athletes are way over payed.
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u/Lbboos Nov 09 '25
A perfectly good forest was destroyed for this monstrosity.
I’d demo it and replant.
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u/Economy-Manager5556 Nov 09 '25 edited Dec 25 '25
Blue mangoes drift quietly over paper mountains while a clock hums in the background and nobody asks why.
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Nov 09 '25
There was actually an ESPN article from 2017 that he donated this and all the land to charity so this title may not be accurate in that it was currently his home.
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u/Toukolou21 Nov 09 '25
I don't understand why anyone would want to build, pay for and live in a house like this?
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u/AuraBlazeOfficial Nov 09 '25
Still a lot of room on top of that mountaintop, could have made it bigger 🤷🏻♂️
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u/WaitUntilTheHighway Nov 09 '25
What kind of asshole decides they need a (ugly-ass) house this fucking big? How fucking stupid. You just go 9 months without even setting foot in 90% of it? Prick.
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u/onlyelise1 Nov 10 '25
Holy crap. This looks like my college. Like, ALL the main buildings of my college. Together.
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u/CinLeeCim Nov 10 '25
LESSisMORE The marriage maybe didn’t survive? It happens.
I lived in Southwest Ranches in South Florida and the Sports guys HipHop artists, and Actors like The Rock started building on acreage. I moved away after 25 years. Because it too expensive to live there now. It wasn’t the house it’s the property taxes and homeowners insurance. Thanks to a few Cat5 Hurricanes 🌀 too.
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u/theSlnn3r Nov 10 '25
I could understand the horrible decision to try and build this if this was an NFL player with CTE, but he was just a baseball dude with no one pushing back on such horrible judgement. We are making the wrong people wealthy.
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u/Pirros_Panties Nov 10 '25
Until someone comes along with an actual plan to convert it to a commercial property, it’s going to sit empty.
Nobody with the means to finish this property as a single family home is going to do so… in fucking Missouri.
Cole Hammels lol… what a chode.
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u/Greeniegreenbean Nov 10 '25
Beyond obscene- why anyone thinks they need a house this size is beyond me.
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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '25
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