The One: Bel Air’s ‘$500 million home’ to go to auction in March without a reserve price

The most expensive home in America, once predicted to achieve a sale price of $500 million (£369 million), is set to go to auction as part of bankruptcy proceedings.

Called ‘The One’ by film producer-turned-property developer Nile Niami, the Bel Air home has been 10 years in the making after Niami’s company Crestlloyd paid $28 million (£20.7 million) for the eight-acre plot in 2012. It is now valued at $295 million (£217 million).

Perched on a hilltop overlooking Los Angeles, The One is one of the largest private homes ever built, with a colossal 105,000sq ft of living space.

That’s almost twice the size of The White House – or nearly an eighth of Buckingham Palace should that be your primary reference point.

But The One is still around 12 months of work — an estimated $1 million — from completion after the developer defaulted on loans thought to be upwards of $165 million (£12m).

The kind of bank balance that makes our own Grand Designs’ Devon lighthouse — the TV show’s “most emotional ever episode” — and debts of £6 million seem smooth running.

The One house is now for sale for $295 million and is due to go to online auction on March 3. That’s an impressive $205 million (£151m) discount if you consider the original estimate, albeit one predicted by Niami himself back in 2015.

If a sale achieves even near to the revised price in March it will be the most expensive home sold at auction and likely set a new US house purchase record — eclipsing that of hedge fund tycoon Ken Griffin’s $238 million (then £183m) New York penthouse buy in 2019.

Agents Williams & Williams at The Beverly Hills Estates and Aaron Kirman of Aaron Kirman Group at Compass are partnering with Concierge Auctions to market the “paradise beyond compare” property.

An auction buyer will have to put down an immediate deposit of £250,000 for the 21-bedroom home which is being offered with the guide price of $295 million but without a reserve.

There will also be a buyer’s premium payable direct to the auction house, so were The One house to sell for the guide price an additional $35.4 million (£26m) would be due immediately.

Developer owner Nile Niami released a video last month in which he asked investors to back his plan to create ‘The One Coin’ cryptocurrency that would allow him to pay off his lenders and finish the home. Niami said the mega mansion would then be rented out for global launches and events, and those investors would share in the profits.

It had been announced previously that the home would be finished before being sold by its administrators. Now it is being sold “as is”.

The One house is surrounded by a moat on three sides, with 360-degree views of the Pacific Ocean and Los Angeles.

There are five vast swimming pools, a nightclub, salon and spa, sky deck, outdoor running track and private theatre among amenities.

The main house has 42 bathrooms, a 50-car garage, four-lane bowling alley and a six-hole putting green on the roof.

In London, the most expensive flat sale in recent months was an apartment at One Hyde Park in the heart of Knightsbridge that sold for £111 million.

While, currently on the market is F1 heiress Petra Ecclestone’s £170 million home in Chelsea.