Newsmax Talker of Day: Saudi Prince Agrees to Reduce Mansion — From Wal-Mart Size to 60,000 Feet

A Saudi prince has agreed to reduce his “Wal-Mart sized” Los Angeles home by a massive 27,000 square feet, after complaints from neighbors. But the megamansion still will be 60,000 square feet if he gets his way, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The average Wal-Mart store, not a supercenter, runs around 90,000 square feet — although some estimates range upwards of a tad over 100,000). The prince scaled his back from 87,000 square feet to 60,000. (Getty Images Photo)

Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud claims that the revised plans “address key neighborhood concerns about the project’s size and environmental effects,” reports the Times.

“These are important changes,” his attorney, Ben Reznick, said.

The huge house planned for the Benedict Canyon area has caused outrage among neighbors who say it would be out of proportion to others in the area.

Objectors also note that the prince, who is King Abdullah’s son, filed this week just before new regulations go into effect on Monday limiting the size of houses that can be built on hillsides in L.A.

“It's clear that the applicant is working with the Department of Building and Safety to beat the deadline for the Hillside Mansionization Ordinance,” said Benedict Canyon resident Michael Eisenberg. “It’s outrageous that the city would help this landowner put a structure the size of a Wal-Mart in a steep, hillside residential neighborhood.”