From CBS2 in Los Angeles:
Bel Air Mega-Mansion, ‘The One,’ Sells For Record-Setting $126M, Less Than Half Asking Price
By CBSLA Staff March 3, 2022BEL AIR (CBSLA) — A Bel Air mega-mansion marketed as the most expensive home in America was sold at auction Thursday, for less than half the asking price, and less than a quarter of the intended value.
The property, dubbed “The One” by its developer Niales Niami, sold for a record-setting price of $126 million – the highest amount ever spent at a home auction.
… still a considerable drop from the $295 million asking price prior to the auction. The buying price is also well-short of the $190 million in debt that the property’s creditors carried at the time of the auction.
The buyer’s identity has yet to be revealed. The auction opened online Monday, and only a few offers were made until the final minutes.
Niami once referred to the property’s worth as $500 million, but several delays, complications in the construction and default on more than $100 million in loans reduced the suggested price by a staggering amount.
Production on the home began more than a decade ago, and includes an incredible list of amenities across the property’s four acres, including: 21 bedrooms, 42 full bathrooms and seven half-bathrooms …
It has five swimming pools and a moat. I believe the Trix-colored bowling balls are included in the price:
Judging from photos, the whole thing seems kind of ugly.
In general, the south sides of the Hollywood Hills are sun-blasted and brown about 9 months of the year. That doesn’t stop rich people from all over the world from moving there, but it’s not terribly scenic.
Nor is it terribly convenient unless you travel everywhere by helicopter. (I don’t think private helicopter transit is common in L.A. the way it is in, say, Sao Paulo. I saw the President’s helicopter fly overhead once on his way to George Clooney’s house, but that was rare enough to stick in my mind.) It’s easy to get stuck in a traffic jam on the way to the nearest restaurant.
(In contrast, I met a Ukrainian defense consultant who owned about a six acre private canyon on the shadier north side of the Hollywood Hills, conveniently just above the flatlands, full of indigenous sycamores and oaks. That was nice. I suspect there’s a really interesting story about how he could afford it, but I never heard it.)
“The One” was probably never destined to sell anywhere near asking price, but the 58% discount likely has something to do with the intended customers — Russian oligarchs — being suddenly financially inconvenienced in the hours before the auction began.
