Billionaire bidders will pass judgment this week. The Bel-Air property may be the ultimate trophy home - or a giant white elephant clad in marble and glass. Whoever buys it may soon have a mega-headache

He’s got people willing to pay $50,000 a day just to do commercials and films,” Hankey said.įor Subscribers ‘The One’ mega-mansion is up for auction. “The guy who bought it just got a great deal. He said the sale should allow him to recover the cash he put into the project, but added that he was surprised at how low the final price was. Hankey, who previously said he might bid for the property if it was severely underpriced at the auction, said he did not make an offer. The lender is owed more than $130 million in secured debt, including money he provided in bankruptcy to repair and spiff up the property for sale. The largest single creditor is Los Angeles billionaire Don Hankey, who lent $106 million to the dream project of developer Nile Niami. That means many creditors will take losses - even though most of the auction house’s 12% fee will be returned to the bankrupt estate, which is not a typical arrangement.

The amount of debt attached to the property originally totaled about $180 million but has since grown to $256 million as more creditors have made claims, according to a March 2 court filing. “The buyer pool for this is very small, and with everything happening in Russia, all of a sudden those Russian billionaires who may have been your best bet to buy it are pulling out,” he said. He also wondered if the timing was off given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Agent Brent Chang of Compass said the results were a cautionary tale and might prompt builders to think smaller, given that multiple huge mansions have gone into bankruptcy in the last few years.

The One & Only by Emily Giffin