‘The One’: for US$500 million, this could be America’s most expensive home ever
- Seven years in the making, this California mega mansion will test ultra-luxury appetite
- It comes with a nightclub, four swimming pools, a bowling alley and 360-degree vistas of Southern California
America’s priciest home is finally getting its finishing touches.
Seven years after he started working on “The One”, a 100,000 sq ft mansion in Bel-Air, movie producer turned developer Nile Niami says he’s just about ready to test the market with his ballyhooed US$500 million asking price.
Replete with a nightclub, four swimming pools, bowling alley and 360-degree vistas of sun-dappled Southern California, the symbol of America’s latest gilded age has generated a flood of media coverage since the price was announced in 2015.
And while permitting problems, construction delays and financing issues have exposed the struggles of building luxury homes on speculation, and raised questions about whether the project high above Los Angeles would ever be finished, Niami says he’s almost done. And he’s not backing off the lofty price tag, which would make the house the most expensive in America.
“When you have something that’s as rare as the Mona Lisa, you can command whatever you want for it,” Niami said in an interview, arguing that recent nine-figure property deals in Los Angeles and elsewhere are proof that his pricing strategy was not just about generating press.