$500,000,000
It doesn’t get much grander than this. Bel Air’s the One isn’t just the most expensive home in the United States—it’s the priciest in the world, and has regularly topped Robb Report‘s “Most Expensive Homes for Sale” list. It’s so in a league of its own, in fact, that it’s risen above the once-esteemed title of mega-mansion and ascended to the giga-mansion moniker—one of the first homes to do so. But what could possibly justify a $500 million price tag?
Developer Nile Niami, a former Hollywood producer whose credits include The Patriot and Point Blank, is banking on sheer magnitude. The home is a whopping 100,000 square feet, and houses 20 bedrooms and 30 bathrooms. Designed by renowned West Coast architect Paul McClean, it sits atop a lofty hill that affords 360-degree views of the city. Then there’s the long list of amenities. The One has a 30-car auto gallery, five swimming pools, an IMAX movie theater, a bowling alley, a night club and more. Not every grand ambition made it to the final product, though—early on, one of the One’s many headline-grabbing perks included a jellyfish room: A lounge where jellyfish would swim around you and surround you. Niami eventually scrapped the idea because it was too much work but promises something “even better” in its stead, as per a recent interview with Bloomberg. Time will tell whether that list of super amenities will be enough to convince anyone to throw down half a billion on a home.