'Garage Mahals' Are Driving Neighbors Nuts
CHANHASSEN, Minn.—With his three-car garage in this Minneapolis suburb already full, Bret Bailey had to keep his racing Porsche in a trailer outside through brutal Minnesota winters. Then one March, as he prepared for a race, Bailey discovered the wheels of the trailer had frozen to the ground. “For two weeks, I’m throwing salt out there,” said the 64-year-old retired IT manager.
Now, Bailey is part of a man-cave-meets-Storage Wars revolution spreading across the country.
He keeps his two Porsches, Ferrari, custom Harley, dune buggy and racing trailer in a nearly 2,700-square-foot space outfitted like a sleek European car dealership. It sports a tequila bar, heated floors, bathroom with a shower, giant TV, leather sofa, stack of racing tires and a car lift. He’s among 100 owners in a complex of garage condos called Chanhassen AutoPlex whose car shows attract thousands of people on summer weekends.
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But sometimes one homeowner’s dream garage is another’s backyard nightmare, sparking lawsuits, zoning battles and moratoria on mammoth man caves. In Victoria, Minn., on Lake Minnetonka near the Twin Cities, dozens of neighbors signed a petition to reverse city approval for a plan for a five-bedroom house with a 6,000-square-foot garage—big enough to hold at least 20 cars and maybe a pickleball court.
The crux of the debate is whether the garage is free-standing, which would limit its size under city rules, or attached—by means of a covered walkway. One Iowa court saw such contrivances as a clear effort to “circumvent, frustrate and subterfuge applicable zoning ordinances,” according to testimony by an attorney for some of the neighbors.
The planning commission rejected the appeal.
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Another high-profile dispute in the Twin Cities area involves a yearslong legal battle over a waterfront home in Wayzata that includes what a judge called a “garage mahal,” a more than 1,600-square-foot detached structure large enough to hold a tour-bus-style RV and other vehicles. “It’s a big deal,” the judge said in a 2022 hearing. “It’s not like the little squatty garage I have at the edge of my property where I park my Honda.” The neighbors, who must pass the garage every day via their shared driveway, sued, alleging the project violated city codes and environmental regulations.
The plaintiffs lost their battle against the now-finished project but are considering an appeal, said their attorney, Jack Perry.
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