Bel Air: Home to the Fresh Prince, and soon, the U.S.’s most expensive house. Movie producer Nile Niami (he’s responsible for The Patriot — the Steven Seagal one, not the Mel Gibson one) is developing the property, which he plans to sell for $500 million. It will include three smaller residences, in addition to the 74,000-square-foot main house. (And we thought that 24,000-square-foot, 3D-printed house was crazy.)
“The house will have almost every amenity available in the world,” he told Bloomberg Business, including a 5,000-square-foot master bedroom, an Imax-style theater, and four swimming pools. The garage will have room for 30 cars, and the property will feature an 8,500-square-foot nightclub.
The buildings will sit upon four acres of hilltop, offering views of the Pacific Ocean. With California’s drought on, the 20,000 square feet of grass could be synthetic, Niami said. Architect Paul McClean tells Bloomberg that the house’s main focus is luxury and not conservation, though: “I can’t tell you that it’s a green and energy-efficient house.” He also imagines its owners using it more for entertaining and events, rather than as a truly domestic dwelling.
The house is still under construction and will be for almost two more years. When completed, it will be bigger than 90,000-square-foot chateau in Windermere, Florida, profiled in The Queen of Versailles. Whether or not the home and its accoutrements will get Niami’s proposed $500 million asking price remains to be seen.
“I’m skeptical,” Jonathan Miller, president of appraiser Miller Samuel Inc., told Bloomberg. “My first reaction is laughter. But we’re in this perpetual state of surprise as new thresholds are broken.”
Thus far, the record for most-expensive U.S. home ever sold is held by a Hamptons residence, which went for $147 million in May 2014, while the world record goes to a $221 million penthouse in London.
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