Pricey prince of Bel-Air
Sale of chateau highest in U.S.
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/06/2010 (5914 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
LOS ANGELES — A mammoth French chateau on 2.2 acres in Los Angeles’ Bel-Air neighbourhood has been sold for the highest price of any U.S. residence so far this year.
Although he wouldn’t release the sale price, seller Mohamed Hadid confirmed it was in excess of the previous sale price of more than US$46.5 million this spring in Colorado, falling between US$50 million and the asking price of US$72 million. In Los Angeles County, sale prices can take more than a month to appear on the public record.
Designer-developer Hadid had listed the walled and gated estate 15 months ago at $85 million.
The 48,000-square-foot estate, called Le Belvedere, was bought in the name of a limited liability company, not an individual. “Even I don’t know who bought it,” said Hadid, who has built Ritz-Carlton hotels, office buildings and king-size estates nationwide during his 30-year-plus career. The mansion, built in 2006, has 19 fireplaces, 10 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms and a three-flight elevator.
There’s a 5,000-bottle wine cellar and tasting room, a grand ballroom, a commercial kitchen, a screening room, a gym, a Turkish steam bath and a game room. The garage can hold 10 to 12 cars, and a motor court provides outdoor parking. A swan pond, fountains and rose gardens grace the manicured grounds.
The exterior uses more than 30,000 pieces of limestone mined in France. The entry, living room, library and master bedroom are gilded with 24-karat gold. The average room size is about 1,100 square feet, bigger than entire homes in less fancy neighborhoods. Lighting includes 90 sconces and 120 chandeliers made in France.
The sale is the first among a handful of ultra-expensive Los Angeles-area homes that have been patiently sitting at the top of the real estate market, weathering the down cycle. They include Candy Spelling’s $150-million Manor in Holmby Hills, listed in March 2009, and the $125-million Fleur de Lys, also in Holmby Hills, on the market more than three years.
Last year, the highest-priced local deal was DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg’s purchase of a 6.3-acre estate in Beverly Hills for $35 million. The most pricey home transaction ever in California was the 2000 sale of an eight-acre estate in Bel-Air to financial executive Gary Winnick for $95 million.
“I think it did put L.A. back on the map,” Hadid said of setting the 2010 record.
— Los Angeles Times