Meet Your Neighbors: Billionaires From NZ Buy Malibu Beachfront Land To Install Factory Houses From China, Customized By AI

A newspaper in New Zealand has discovered that two brothers – the richest men in New Zealand – plan to build AI-engineered houses in China, and install them on 13 pieces of beachfront land in Malibu.

Nick Mowbray and Mat Mowbray revealed their plans to shatter the way houses are built around the world – designed by computers that have used AI to scrape local zoning and building codes from around the world … and produce houses from a centralized factory in China.

The Mowbray brothers have used profits from factories that make toys for their company in China to fund the Malibu real estate investments.  And they are behind the company called Zuru Tech US LLC.

The nine Malibu beachfront burned-out houses were snapped up for 65 million dollars.  And the New Zealand World says they plan to buy four more. 

And the newspaper says its sources the brothers “plan to redevelop them with like-for-like houses to help the rebuild in LA”.

But just how those houses will be built may raise some eyebrows. 

Nick Mowbray unveiled his plans at the China Business Summit in Auckland New Zealand last month. 

There … he said building 12 or so properties to redevelop the wildfire-destroyed Malibu beachfront would be one of Zuru Tech’s first projects, Mowbray told those at the Auckland summit.

He says they are … and we quote … “optimising everything from design, compliance, manufacturing, all the way through to assembly.”

Everything fully automated. 

The company … Zuru Tech .. has offices around the world … including one near LAX.

Zuru Tech has a seven acre factory in China … where the brothers say they have perfected a way to mass produce structures that are individually customizable.

The company is already cranking out full-scale test houses using its in-house building information modeling and construction software, named Dreamcatcher.

Dreamcatcher lets a client design a house anywhere in the world.

The computer program uses AI to learn every single zoning rule and construction code.

Design your house online … customize it … press the checkout button .. pay the bill … and wait for the house to arrive in shipping containers. 

Seriously.  

The IT people are in Milan.

The customer relations team is in Kolkata, India. 

The factory is in China. 

The lot is in Malibu.

How can a house built like that possibly meet the building codes in notoriously picky Malibu California?

Zuru tech says their houses will be inspected in the factory with AI-powered vision systems to reduce manufacturing errors and accurately control the quality of each unique component. 

Says the company … by applying machine learning algorithms, they can detect errors and correct them immediately.

The company brags that its factory workers are not even aware of what part or process is being produced at each station, ruling out any type of manual quality control.

How will that go down in California?

Manufactured houses in California do have to meet local city planning and zoning rules. 

But manufactured houses in California are exempt from local building rules and inspections.

It’s the State of California that regulates manufactured houses … just like it does mobile homes.

And the state has to approve blueprints … construction plans … and they have to travel to the factories to inspect the work.

So… to summarize… We have two billionaires from New Zealand … who made a killing in plastic toys made in China … planning to use robots programmed in Italy … with customer relations teams in Kolkata India … to build houses that are not inspected by humans … that are shipped to the oceanfront in Malibu … for plug and play installation along PCH.

The New Zealand World newspaper says the Mowbray brothers are the richest people in their nation. … worth 20 billion dollars. 

And they plan to increase their initial purchase of nine plots to 14.

And they plan to redevelop 14 burned down lots with like-for-like houses.

“To help the rebuild in LA” … they told the newspaper down under. 

City Council Takes Microscope To ‘Like For Like’ Fire Rebuilds

Malibu city Council met for six hours yesterday to go over just how the city should handle specific issues about rebuilding houses that burn down.

Nuts and bolts questions and answers.

Questions like …can people add basements and underground garages as part of the like for like plus 10 percent replacement allowance?

Can a 10 percent addition jump over setback lines? 

Should a water tank be counted as developed area … if the tank is required by the fire department?

Architects and trades people … not to mention landowners … need to know what they can build.

City, planners and construction officials need to know exactly what to enforce.

Council member Doug Stewart said he understood why builders want top know how far they can go.

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“I appreciate the fact that everybody wants to push, to see what they can get, and that’s that’s the role of the professional. See what you can see what you can stretch.

“But like for like means getting people back in the home they had before. 

“Do you want to build a better home or different home or whatever suit your face?  That’s a CDP.”

A CDP is a coastal development permit … story poles… notifying the neighbors… public hearings… time and money.

Fire victims can bypass all that and get their plans rubber stamped… If the plans are for a house that is like what used to be there… Or like what used to be there +10%. 

Over and over again yesterday … the issue was refining just how far the fire rebuilds can push the envelope … unlike for like rebuilds.

Issues like rooftop decks … 

What if a rooftop deck had been illegally installed years before the fire … can it be replaced with another rooftop deck that does not meet city planning codes???

Assistant city planner Tyler Eaton says his staff has been trying to make homebuilders happy … but also keep neighbors who want to see the ocean in mind as well.

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“We’re gonna facilitate rooftop decks where we can if you’re proposing one.

“But we’re gonna put some conditions on them so that people know … you know … you can’t have furniture above the railing height.

“We might prohibit their use after 10 PM. 

“We might have some extra restrictions on lighting and music …. just to make sure you’re being neighborly.”

Good luck with that … the message from councilman Bruce Silverstein, 

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“I guarantee every single thing we do to accommodate rebuilds, in a way that makes them large, is going to aggravate someone in the neighborhood. 

“Either an existing home or that’s in another built yet that’s gonna be built yet.

“They are going to find that the property next to them … or in front of them … is going to be different materially than it was before the fire.”

For all morning and most of the afternoon … the council went down issue after issue. 

Builders seemed to be happy. 

Architect Arno Declerq:

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“Staff has been criticized in the past for making rebuild difficult.

“And what I’m seeing tonight and looking through documents is that  you are clearing the path. 

“You have fantastic ideas that we love and support.

“One is the water tanks, one is the rooftop decks, and there are more to come.”

The proposed changes are only for houses that burned down… where the owner wants speed it up approval to build a lake for like replacement house.

Understate law… That replacement house can include a 10% addition.

And that may mean a complete redesign of what used to be there.

In some cases … a shocking redesign. 

Councilman Steve Uhring pointed to the billionaires buying up beachfront lots … at La Costa Beach 

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“No one comes to me to tell the future, but I’m not gonna tell, you had better get your compliance people in place.

“Because the story I’m getting: the people were buying there lots (are) short term rentals. OK?

“And the people in short term rentals don’t care about our policies.

“I’m just so just make sure you got compliance program ready to go because they’re gonna keep them busy.”

And the prospect of a wall of short term rental units along Pacific Coast Highway between the road and the beach … that’s also worrying Bruce Silverstein.

He thinks that the Governor’s order … suspending Coastal Commission regulations in the fire zone … could be used to ban short term rentals there.

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“The Coastal Act is suspended for rebuilds. 

“I suspect we could add a condition to all rebuild permits that they can’t be short term rentalled, because we’re not subject to coastal commission telling us we can’t do that.

“Just throwing that put there  …something to think about going forward for the beach.”

UHRING: “And I think that’s something that I have thought about.

“This push for short term rentals for this property on the beach, I think they’ve all got signs in their eyes.”

SMMUSD Reminds Parents And Kids Of Cell Phone Rules

With the school shooting yesterday in Minneapolis … so many questions.

One of them … are school kids in Malibu allowed to keep their cellular phones with them?

High school kids… sort of.

Middle school kids and elementary school kids … no … they have to hand them over to the teacher at the beginning of the day. 

School district officials in Santa Monica have sent out a memo to parents reminding them of the school’s policies.

At Malibu High … students must ensure devices are on silent mode and place them into the teacher’s designated classroom storage. 

During class: Devices remain stored unless the teacher authorizes their use for instruction. 

At the end of class: Students may retrieve their own device only after the teacher dismisses class. 

The general expectation is that devices remain on silent mode while on campus; students must follow staff directions regarding storage and use.

https://www.smmusd.org/cms/lib/CA50000164/Centricity/Domain/2978/CommunityMemo.pdf

City Of LA Bans Tour Buses In Palisades, Asks Caltrans To Ban Them On PCH

Tour buses in Pacific Palisades were banned by the City of Los Angeles yesterday.

The LA city council yesterday banned tour buses from operating in the Palisades Fire area …But city officials note that Caltrans controls PCH … and it’s up to the state to decide ion your bans should be banned on the state highway.

Los Angeles is asking Caltrans to do exactly that … ban your buses own about two miles of highways of PCH between Malibu and Santa Monica. 

The resolution states the restrictions are needed to “preserve public safety in an area within a declared emergency while construction activities continue to repair roadways, stabilize hillside slopes, repair utilities, reconstruct homes … et cetera.”

In Pacific Palisades … tour buses have now been banned on Chautauqua Boulevard between Pacific Coast Highway and Sunset Boulevard.

And enforcement of there ban will be up to LAPD … which is almost never seen patrolling on PCH.

State Farm Loses Two Rounds Before Judge Over Rate Hike And Slow Payouts

State Farm Insurance lost several important rulings in a California courtroom yesterday.

The decisions come as State Farm seeks a $1.19 billion rate increase for homeowners insurance.

That request has drawn heavy criticisms from consumer advocates and policyholders.

An administrative law judge yesterday denied a request from the state Department of Insurance to move pre-hearing matters out of public view. 

For some reason  … the state Insurance Department took the same view as State Farm on an issue of public access to hearings that could prove embarrassing to the state;’s largest insurance company.

The court also rejected the department’s effort to postpone consideration of State Farm’s wildfire claims-handling practices until after a decision on the rate increase.

Correction: Coastal Commission Is In 2 Weeks

A correction to make.

In earlier broadcasts …. we reported that the California Coastal Commission will consider a request by the MRCA to scrape the steep side of a canyon just north of Sycamore park.

This is for a new hiking trail that will zig-zag up the hill … to link PCH to Ramirez Falls. 

That meeting is in two weeks … September 11th …