The largest mansion in the world and the most expensive property in America, known as ‘The One’ in Bel Air, is up for sale, listed for a record $500 million USD. The 105,000 square-foot mega-mansion is the personal masterpiece of Nile Niami, LA’s most famous, bombastic developer of ultra-high-end mansions.
The modern-day palace was envisioned by Irish-born architect Paul Mclean, who has designed spec mansions purchased by Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Calvin Klein, and the late Swedish DJ Avicii. The interior was under the creative directorship of Kathryn Rotondi, and together they insisted on clean lines, water features, neutral colours and unobstructed views. Kathryn talk of the design as “The use of black, white, and grey throughout the home was based on Niami’s desire to have a neutral palette that would allow the landscape and panoramas to shine.” It took 8 years to complete and required over 600 workers.
The mansion sprawls a quarter-mile along Stradella Road in Bel Air and is the largest in the world, comprising 21 bedrooms, 42 bathrooms, a 30-vehicle showroom and five swimming pools. Extravagant extras include:
- A four-lane bowling alley
- 30-seat movie theatre
- Hair and beauty salon
- 6,000-square-foot principal suite with dual dressing rooms
- 10,000-square-foot sky deck complete with a putting green
The palatial estate is surrounded on three sides by a moat and a 400-foot-long jogging track. The house was designed to have a room exclusively dedicated to tanks of live jellyfish, storing fresh flowers, a perma-frozen room with an ice bar, and space for candy; some of these expectations were tempered with due to cost and impracticality.
The mega-mansion is set to become the third-largest home in America, landing between Oheka Castle, New York (109,000 square feet) and Arden House, New York (97,000 square feet). The property is almost double the White House, which sits at 55,000 square feet.
The price tag is double the $165 million Jeff Bezos paid last year for an 8acre Beverly Hills estate which was the most expensive home transaction in Californian history. It’s also $100 million more than the country’s most costly home deal of all time, the $238 million Ken Griffin paid for his New York penthouse in 2019. Despite all of this, it hits the market for $160 million less than initially planned.
Giving a house an outrageous price tag well above its market value is a sales tactic known as “aspirational pricing”. But Mr Niami says he is serious about his sticker price, “When you have something as rare as the Mona Lisa, you can command whatever you want for it.”
Branden and Rayni Williams of Williams & Williams Estates Group and Aaron Kirman of Compass will share the listing for The One.