In Los Angeles, a Nimby Battle Pits Millionaires vs. Billionaires
LOS ANGELES At the end of a narrow, twisting side street not far from the Hotel Bel-Air rises a knoll that until recently was largely covered with scrub brush and Algerian ivy. Now the hilltop is sheared and graded, girded by caissons sprouting exposed rebar. They took 50- or 60,000 cubic yards of dirt out of the place, said Fred Rosen, a neighbor, glowering at the site from behind the wheel of his Cadillac Escalade on a sunny October afternoon.
Mr. Rosen, who used to run Ticketmaster, has lately devoted himself to the homeowners alliance he helped form shortly after this construction project was approved. When it is finished, a modern compound of glass and steel will rise two stories, encompass several structures and span wait for it some 90,000 square feet.
In an article titled Here Comes L.A.'s Biggest Residence, The Los Angeles Business Journal announced in June that the house, conceived by Nile Niami, a film producer turned developer, with an estimated sale price in the $150 million range, will feature a cantilevered tennis court and five swimming pools. Were talking 200 construction trucks a day, fumed Mr. Rosen. Then multiply that by all the other giant projects. More than a million cubic yards of this hillside have been taken out. What happens when the next earthquake comes? How nuts is all this?
By all this, he means not just the house with five swimming pools but the ever-expanding number of houses the size of Hyatt resorts rising in the most expensive precincts of Los Angeles. Built for the most part on spec, bestowed with names as assuming as their dimensions, these behemoths are transforming once leafy and placid neighborhoods into dusty enclaves carved by retaining walls and overrun by dirt haulers and cement mixers. Twenty-thousand-square-foot homes have become teardowns for people who want to build 70-, 80-, and 90,000-square-foot homes, Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz said. So long, megamansion. Say hello to the gigamansion.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/style/in-los-angeles-a-nimby-battle-pits-millionaires-vs-billionaires.html?_r=0&referrer=
Wow...So now millionaires are getting gentrified...
Sparhawk60
(359 posts)Trying...so hard to care. Nope, not going to happen.
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)alcina
(602 posts)Since the OP, the house is now slated to sell for $500M -- four times the price anticipated in December. It will also have a 5000 square foot master bedroom. Yup. The bedroom alone is bigger than most houses. I'm honestly stumped by the idea. What would one do in a 5000 sf bedroom that they couldn't do in, say, a 1000 sf bedroom? Ahh -- I see: The ginormous bedroom will have one of the compound's 4 swimming pools.
In addition to enough swimming pools for a small community, this homeowner's dream will also boast a theatre, nightclub, bowling alley, spa, servants' quarters, a "Monte-Carlo-style casino" (mais oui!), and -- I'm sure this will come as no surprise to anyone acquainted with the mountaintop residences of bond villains -- jellyfish tanks cover(ing) three walls and the ceiling of a room where shifting lights illuminate the undersea creatures. Zoning probably requires they publish this as built for jellyfish, but I see killer shark tank written all over it.
Oh. My. God. Twenty-first century palaces. The waste and excess makes me physically ill.
http://www.thestar.com/business/2015/05/26/la-mansion-will-feature-30-car-garage-monaco-style-casino-and-record-500m-price-tag.html