Cozy is not a word one would use to describe a 39,000-square-foot mansion, nor is ordinary neighbor a term you would use for Joseph Jacobs. Jacobs, of hedge fund Wexford Capital, wants to build the behemoth in well-heeled Greenwich, Conn., but some of his potential neighbors are livid over the plans. According to The New York Times, Jacobs wants to construct an estate that would be twice the size of pop star Michael Jackson‘s Neverland Ranch in California. In addition to the main house, the estate in the tony Conyers Farms gated community, there would be ancillary structures, like a pool house. Though another hedgie, Steven Cohen, has his own 31,000-square-foot abode in town, some say the Jacobs plan is a “huge departure” from what is acceptable in Greenwich (where average homes are only 10,000 square feet). Jacobs and his wife already have downsized their plans somewhat, but apparently it’s still not neighborly enough. One fear is that there is not enough foliage to mask the manse. For his part, Jacobs is surprised over the hubbub. “I’m a perfectly, decent, menschy guy,” he told the Times. “The whole thing makes no sense. I think that what this is about is simply that people are used to looking at that lot, and they’d rather not have a house built on it.”
