Aerial views of the $ 500 million mansion called “The One” in Bel Air, California.
Google Earth
A Los Angeles megamansion, which was expected to be listed for $ 500 million, went to court after the homeowner defaulted on more than $ 165 million in loans and debts, according to court statements.
The 105,000-square-foot Bel Air estate, known as “The One,” was put in court by the Los Angeles County Superior Court and is expected to be listed at a lower price in the coming months, according to people familiar with the property. .
The judicial administration is an impressive investment for “The One” and its striking developer, Nile Niami, who often promoted the property as its “vital mission” and “the largest and most expensive house in the urban world.”
Expected to hit the market in 2017 at a price of $ 500 million, “The One” has been the subject of repeated delays, funding problems and changing strategies. The house stretches out like an ultramodern mansion of more than eight acres on a hill overlooking Los Angeles. It has nine bedrooms, several kitchens, a nightclub, a four-lane bowling alley, lounge, gym, 50-seat theater, a running track and an underground garage for 50 cars, with two automatic turntables. Its seven aquatic features include multiple swimming pools, a jacuzzi and a moat surrounding the house. The master bedroom suite is 4,000 square feet. All the doors of the house are electric and all the toilets. Niami had planned a “jellyfish room” and an ice bar, but both were too expensive.
“There are a lot of people with a lot of money: they want something that no one can have,” Niami told CNBC in 2017. “That’s all.”
Still, “The One” was one of dozens of special mansions that rose from the hills of Bel Air and Beverly Hills after 2014, when fashion mogul Bruce Makowsky sold a specialty mansion in Beverly Hills. for $ 70 million and started new real estate in California. gold fever. The rise of the building – an arms race of infinity pools, candy walls, car galleries and party halls – caused an excess of real estate. Many Los Angeles megahomes, including several built by Niami, ended up selling for far less than their asking prices.
Even as prices went down, Niami was charging debts to finish and promote “The One”. Over the past four years, Niami and its related company, Crestlloyd, have lent more than $ 165 million to build and sell “The One,” according to property documents.
The main lender is Hankey Capital, founded by Los Angeles billionaire Don Hankey, which has more than $ 115 million in property loans. Yogi Securities Holdings, led by real estate investor Dr. Joseph Englanoff, has lent “The One” more than $ 36 million. Two other entities, Inferno Realty and Maybach Corporation Holdings, have provided loans of $ 7 million each.
“The One” also has more than a million dollars in unpaid taxes and debts from specific companies, air conditioning and tool companies.
Hankey served Niami with a notice of default in March. In July, the Los Angeles County Superior Court ordered the property to remain in judicial review and appointed Ted Lanes, of Lanes Management, as receiver. In the case of a home manager, a property that has been omitted is handed over to a court-appointed receiver, who prepares the property for sale. In complex or large real estate projects, foreclosures are often preferable to a foreclosure, where the lender or bank confiscates the property.
Instead of taking over the property and liabilities, which can be added to the risks and delays, the receiver obtains the necessary permits, completes the necessary construction works, compiles a list of creditors and prepares the house for the sale to pay the lenders. A court award also provides a notice period when lenders, creditors, and unpaid contractors can file their case.
Once he gets the proper permits and certificate of employment for “The One,” he will appear on the list, Lanes said. The price and schedule have not yet been determined, he said.
“What I would like to see happen is for the house to be finished, the certificate of occupancy to be granted and for us to have an orderly sale that maximizes value,” he said. “Hopefully, there will be enough revenue from the sale to finance secured and unsecured creditors and for equity to get some value.”
Niami has been marketing “The One,” for years, with interviews and photos in the media and a special video tour in April featuring YouTube personality Michael Blakey, who promoted the “$ 500 million property” as “the house the world’s largest and most expensive. ”Niami also talked about plans to turn the house into a media scene and a commercial enterprise, using it to host a potential Netflix show, events and emerging businesses.
Niami put its West Hollywood home in bankruptcy last year and a specific mansion in Beverly Hills, which had been marketed for $ 100 million and sold for $ 38 million to Englanoff, which was one of the lenders of the owned by California.
Niami had a listing deal for “The One” with Los Angeles runners Aaron Kirman and Rayni and Branden Williams of the Williams & Williams Estates Group. Lanes said the listing agreement plan had been to market the property for $ 288 million, but the final listing price has not been set.
It is unclear whether the property will be sold at a price high enough to pay off all the debt. The most expensive home ever sold in Los Angeles was the former Warner Estate in Beverly Hills, sold last year to Jeff Bezos for $ 165 million. While the real estate market in Los Angeles has bounced back after Covid, especially in the high end, “The One” can be hard to sell at the sale price.
“It’s not an easy property to set the price,” Lanes said. “It’s really unique.”