Neighbors surrounding the Montclair, NJ, mansion once occupied by Michael Strahan are trying to sack the former Giant great over a 20-car garage he started building — but never finished.
In 2002, Strahan and then-wife Jean Strahan applied for a permit to build a concrete garage to house his massive car collection. The garage, which was supposed to have windows, was approved to be a maximum of 27 feet tall and house eight vehicles.
Nearly eight years later, however, locals say the garage stands more than 35 feet tall and still isn’t done.
“Everyone around here has started calling it ‘Garage Mahal,’ ” Montclair resident David Greenbaum tells Page Six. “It’s outrageous that this eyesore has been allowed to stand for this long. He received special privilege in exceeding his permits in the first place. This is a residential neighborhood, and he’s basically built an industrial warehouse. Either it needs to be torn down or they should build it to the original specifications,” Greenbaum said.
The Strahans bought the Georgian estate in 2000 for $1.37 million. After the gap-toothed gridiron star and his wife went through an acrimonious split in 2007, Jean stayed for a time at the property with the couple’s twin daughters.
Strahan, who starred in the canceled Fox sitcom “Brothers” and is now a football analyst on Fox, has since moved to California to be with fiancée Nicole Murphy. Jean now lives in North Carolina. The New Jersey house, valued at $3.7 million, is currently on the market.
“The garage is actually making it harder for them to sell it because it’s so hideous,” Greenbaum says. “Yet the town has made no attempts to intervene and fix things.”
Neither Strahan nor the building supervisor of Montclair responded to requests for comment.