When 'The One' is Wrong

Is it really a home if it has a nightclub in it? A 10,000-bottle wine cellar? A beauty salon and juice bar?

Yeah, no.

Anna Bahney at CNN Business reported on this mega-mansion in her article of September 15, 2021. Ten years in the making, it still isn’t quite finished. Originally valued at $500 million (valued on what? The idea? The cost to build?), you may soon be able to get it at a steal, like for maybe $400 million.

This is ridiculous, of course. Billed as ‘The One,’ this monstrosity is meant to be the largest personal residence / urban property in the world. As if that’s what the world needs right now.

It’s not the seven pools or 20 bedrooms, the four-lane bowling alley, tennis court, or putting green. It’s not even the 50-seat movie theatre that declares this colossal mistake to not be a home. It’s the nightclub and 50-car parking lot.

Entertaining friends is one thing. And I’ve seen plenty of huge places with way too much wasted space just in the spirit of entertaining friends that are flown in on private planes. But a nightclub? No. Entertaining friends at your nightclub is a night out - that’s not a night at home.

At least, that’s my opinion. What do you think?

You can take a virtual tour of this place here on YouTube. Note, if you watch it, how the developer says several times that he did certain things to make the place comfortable and warm. Like suede wallpaper (which is a light grey). And designing the main living room after The Plaza hotel in New York. You tell me – does this 105,000 square foot mansion feel warm to you?

And then there’s the problem of how this was built on a hilltop in Bel Air. Dear Mother Earth, this is wrong in so many ways.

Ok, your turn. I want to know what you think. Does this place actually deserve to be called a home? Does it feel warm? Would you feel comfortable living in it? What would it take to make this place feel like home?