Beverly Hills' Palazzo di Amore, a 25-acre compound and long-haul project of real estate investor Jeff Greene, is officially on the market for $195M, making it the most expensive listing in the country. The estate, which comes with 53,000 square feet of living space, 23 bathrooms, and a driveway that goes on for a quarter-mile, clobbers the house that yesterday held the No. 1 slot on America's list of most expensive listings, flicking Florida's $139M unfinished beacon of tastelessness into the No. 2 position.
The estate comes with a 35,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style (a.k.a. the style of every bloated, expensive new build in SoCal) "villa," which in turn houses a Turkish spa, a 15,000-square-foot "entertainment center" (yes there's a bowling alley; it's embarrassing you even had to ask), a theater for you and 49 of your closest friends (who all apparently love the Rock in Hercules, if the listing photos are to be taken as gospel), and a disco/ballroom with a "state-of-the-art laser light system and revolving dance floor."
Brokerbabble calls the place "lavish in proportion" (true) and a "palatial property" (also true), and that architect Bob Ray Offenhauser and designer Alberto Pinto have created an eden that "embodies elegance, optimum grace and sophistication" (see: "revolving dance floor," above).
Luxury oozes from every corner of the property. If one were to take a proper tour, one would enter through the double gates, drive past the security hut, power on through the tree-lined drive, check out the vineyards, nod appreciatively at the waterfall, gaze upon the "precisely manicured" hillside, and then stare at the doors. Walk inside and there's a marbled, two-story entry with two staircases, "sculpted hearths," and, now the listing literally says this, "rooms too numerous to name." Too numerous to name!
Also worth mentioning: the 3,000-bottle wine cellar, the loggias, the breakfast room, the walk-in refrigerator, the gallery, the silk upholstery, and about 5,539 other ornate things that rich people really really like.
As for Greene, he's just a reflecting pool-loving guy who made beaucoup bucks "betting against subprime mortgages," the Journal writes. He spent nearly eight years fixing this place up, having bought it as an unfinished "shell" from a Saudi businessman in 2007 for $35M. That year, Greene married his wife at this "palace of love" (Mike Tyson, duh, was the best man) but no amount of sentimentality could separate a man and his profit margins, and Greene admits the place was always an investment.
He's not quick to glamorize the eight-year process to fix it up, either. "In hindsight, I never would have done this," he told the WSJ.
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· Jeff Greene's 'Palazzo di Amore' to List for $195M [WSJ]
· Once in a Lifetime in Beverly Hills [Joy Cerey]
· The Most Expensive Home for Sale in the United States: Palazzo di Amore [Coldwell Banker Blog]
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