America’s New Most Expensive Listing Will Ask Half a Billion Dollars
I’ve got bad news for you, writers who were working on their “Great Gatsby but 2018” projects. Truth has eclipsed all possible fiction with this $500 million dollar house about to hit the market.
The plans for the house, like the price tag, are equal parts frightful and fantastic—so far from most people’s daily experience as to be some sort of joke. But it’s not and a recent profile from The New York Times offers us a glimpse inside the home and the process of building such a sprawling estate. (Note: the photos above are of the developer’s other property, Opus, in Beverly Hills—currently for sale for a paltry-by-comparison $100 million).
The article starts:
‘Let’s say you’re a super-wealthy single dude who just sold your company,'” said [developer] Nile Niami. “‘You’ve just moved to L.A. and you don’t know anybody, so you hire someone to fill your house with partiers. You want everyone to know who you are, but you don’t want to talk to anybody. So you go sit in your V.I.P. room.’
At 100,000 square feet, the future home—which is on track to finish this spring after five years of development—will be one of the largest in the country. It will contain the aforementioned V.I.P room, a nightclub, beauty salon and five elevators. Including the separate building for the staff, the property will have 20 bedrooms and the master suite will be a generous 5,500 square feet with its own pool and kitchen.
“The One” is designed by architect Paul McClean, who designed Beyonce and Jay-Z’s Bel Air home, and developed by Niami, a former movie producer. Niami bought the home’s lot, which offers an almost 360 degree view of L.A., in 2012. The cushier parts of Bel Air have become a hot bed for uber expensive, fully furnished, tech-forward mansions that cater to billionaires.
Though many experts expect the home to sell for significantly less than its asking price, citing the Playboy Mansion’s ask of $200 million and selling for half, Mr. Niami stands to make a significant profit even if the home comes in for under $500 million.
We’ll have to bide our time to find out who eventually purchases the home and for how much and if the billionare bubble holds. But in the meantime, head over to The New York Times for more on The One.