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The amenities sound more like a hotel than a home.
- Beyoncé and Jay-Z bought an $88 million estate in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles in 2017.
- The architect who designed that home also designed "The One," a mega-mansion set to hit the market this spring for $500 million.
- The 100,000-square-foot home has 360-degree views, a casino, jellyfish tank, beauty salon, and a nightclub with VIP seating.
The most expensive private home in America will hit the market this spring in Los Angeles for a cool $500 million.
The Bel Air mansion was designed by Paul McClean, the same architect who built the $88 million estate Beyoncé and Jay-Z bought in 2017. McClean's contemporary homes have also sold to the Winklevoss twins, Calvin Klein, and Swedish DJ Avicii.
Los Angeles real estate developer Nile Niami bought the hilltop property in 2012 for $28 million and gutted the original 10,000 square-foot house to make room for the mega-mansion, which he dubbed "The One," according to the New York Times.
At 100,000 square-feet, the house will also be one of the largest private residences in the US - but the amenities sound more like a hotel than a home.
Within floor-to-ceiling glass walls, there's a casino, a jellyfish tank, a beauty salon, a nightclub with VIP seating, plus two indoor swimming pools and two spa pools, and an infinity edge moat surrounding the property.
Niami told the Times he included the Gatsby-like amenities "because it's cool."
"Let's say you're a super-wealthy single dude who just sold your company. You've just moved to LA and you don't know anybody, so you hire someone to fill your house with partiers," Niami told the Times. "You want everyone to know who you are, but you don't want to talk to anybody. So you go sit in your VIP room."
Niami expects the eventual buyer will purchase the mansion as a fifth or sixth home and use it like a private hotel when they're in town. The home has 20 bedrooms, seven of which are in a separate building for staff. The master suite measures 5,500 square feet and includes a separate pool, kitchen, and office.
Although McClean is no stranger to designing mansions - over half of his homes are larger than 8,000 square feet - "The One" was a challenge, he told the Orange County Register.
"There are very few homes this size," McClean said. "We had to think of it in a different manner than other homes. We looked at hotels. We even looked at palaces because that's what this is, a modern-day palace."
The most expensive home ever sold to date in the US went for $137 million, while the most expensive home in the world, a chateau in France, sold for $300 million.
Many real estate experts cited by the Times are skeptical Niami will find a buyer willing to shell out anywhere near $500 million for "The One."
But even if the mega-mansion sells for half the listing price, Niami would likely still walk away with a huge profit - and perhaps lifelong bragging rights.