It seems like there has been a fierce competition among sellers lately in Los Angeles’ luxury homes market to claim the crown as having the most expensive property on sale in the U.S.
First Hugh Hefner listed the Playboy mansion with a $200 million price tag (it eventually sold for $100 million), while Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone also subsequently put her opulent L.A. home that once belonged to Aaron Spelling on the market for $200 million.
Then a newly built 38,000-square-foot Bel-Air, Calif., mega-mansion with 21 bathrooms, five bars, a 40-seat theater, a four-lane bowling alley and a helipad was listed by a property developer for $250 million.
All of these have now been blown out of the water by the latest offering to hit the market, which at a whopping $350 million is officially the most expensive home for sale in the U.S.
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The home is Chartwell in Bel-Air and belonged for three decades to billionaire media mogul Jerry Perenchio, who had an estimated $2.7 billion fortune after turning around struggling Spanish language channel Univision and selling it for $13.5 billion. He died in May at the age of 86.
Built in 1933 by architect Sumner Spaulding and set on more than 10 acres of land, the residence, which once featured in the “The Beverly Hillbillies” sitcom, was enhanced and restored under the direction of Perenchio, after he purchased the estate in 1986.
He hired renowned designer Henri Samuel, known for his work on estates owned by the Vanderbilts, Rothschilds and Valentino, to redesign Chartwell and snapped up adjacent properties over the next 30 years to expand the estate, including a Wallace Neff guesthouse and a long private driveway.
The 18th-century French Neoclassical-style main residence has an impressive 25,000 square feet of living space, with features including a limestone facade, a ballroom, a wine cellar, a formal salon and a period-paneled dining room. The grounds, meanwhile, encompass manicured gardens, a tennis court, covered parking for 40 cars, a 75-foot pool and pool house.
An army of L.A.’s top brokers have been hired to try to sell the property. They are Jeff Hyland, Drew Fenton and Gary Gold of Hilton & Hyland; Joyce Rey, Jade Mills and Alexandra Allen of Coldwell Banker Global Luxury, and Drew and Susan Gitlin of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services.