SO Home Sweet Home
Forget the six-zero set for a minute. When it comes to real estate holdings, the nine-zero crowd — that’s billionaires for the math-challenged — do it big. Think statement-making big!
From imposing mansions and manors, to sprawling estates and luxe high-rise square footage, penny pinching is a dirty expression best left under the rug.
Forbes magazine, the wealthy’s essential bedside reading, recently spotlighted the properties of the well-to-do located in some of the world’s most coveted addresses. Without further ado, SO presents homes of the billion-dollar club.
Promised Land, Montecito, California
Owner: Oprah Winfrey, net worth $2.8 billion
Market Value: $88 million, according to 2012 tax assessments
Purchased in 2001 for nearly $52 million, the media queen’s 23,000 square-foot Georgian-style mansion sits on more than 40 acres, boasting a tea house, more than 600 rose bushes and an upscale outhouse.
Maison de L’Amitie, Palm Beach, Florida
Owner: Dmitry Rybolovlev, net worth $9.1 billion
Purchase Price in 2008: $95 million
Originally listed for $125 million, the sprawling oceanfront, 60,000-square foot compound, Rybolovlev a Russian businessman, investor and owner of the French football club AS Monaco — bought it from real estate billionaire Donald Trump, includes diamond and gold fixtures and a garage with space for nearly 50 cars.
Broken O Ranch, Augusta, Montana
Owner: Stanley Kroenke, worth $5 billion
List Price: $132.5 million
Thanks to state laws, the final sale price of this 124,000-acre operational ranch is undisclosed and unconfirmed. The estate — owned by American business entrepreneur Stanley Kroenke, who fronts Kroenke Sports Enterprises — boasts a 10,000-square foot main house with indoor pool, horse stables, nearly 4,500 heads of cattle, extensive water rights, and substantial agricultural capacity for small grain crops and alfalfa hay.
Mountain Home Road, Woodside, California
Owner: reportedly Masayoshi Son, worth $8.6 billion
Purchase Price: $117.5 million in 2012
Masayohsi Son, founder of Asia’s leading Internet venture, Softbank, purchased the most expensive home sale on record in the United States. The home includes a 9,000-square foot neoclassical house, a 1,117-square foot colonnaded pool house, a detached library, a retreat building, a swimming pool, a tennis court and formal gardens.
Xanadu 2.0, Seattle, Washington
Owner: Bill Gates, worth $67 billion
Market Value: $120.5 million, according to 2012 tax assessments
The high-tech Lake Washington complex owned by the world’s second-richest man boasts a pool with an underwater music system, a 2,500- square foot gym and a library with domed reading room.
Ellison Estate, Woodside, California
Owner: Larry Ellison, worth $43 billion
Value: estimated $200 million to construct
The Oracle founder, arguably the world’s most avid collector of real estate, built his 23-acre Japanese-style estate in 2004 with 10 buildings, a man-made lake, a tea house, a bath house and a koi pond. The property is currently assessed at just over $70 million.
One Hyde Park, London
Owner: Rinat Akhmetov, worth $15.4 billion
Sale Price: $221 million in 2011
The world’s most expensive apartment, located in posh Knightsbridge, was purchased by the Ukraine’s richest man. It boasts a staggering 25,000 square feet, bullet-proof glass and 24-hour hotel concierge service.
Villa Leopolda, Villefranche-sur-mer, France
Owner: Lily Safra, worth $1.2 billion
Price: 500 million euro ($750 million at the time) in 2008
King Leopold II reportedly built a series of waterside homes for his many mistresses. This 20-acre estate was valued at 500 million euros in 2008, when Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov attempted to buy it. He eventually pulled out of the deal, forfeiting a 50 million euro deposit. Villa Leopolda — the second most expensive in the world – is owned by Lily Safra, a Brazilian philanthropist and social figure who attained considerable wealth after four marriages.
Antilia, Mumbai, India
Owner: Mukesh Ambani, worth $21.5 billion
Value: upward of $1 billion
The 27, 400,000-square foot skyscraper residence, named after a mythical island in the Atlantic, has six underground levels of parking, three helicopter pads, a ‘health’ level, and reportedly requires about 600 staff members to run it. Indian business magnate Ambani’s abode is the world’s most expensive home far and away with construction costs topping $1 billion.
Fair Field, Sagaponack, New York
Owner: Ira Rennert, worth $6.5 billion
Property value: about $248 million, according to 2012 tax assessments
American industrial billionaire Ira Rennert’s hulking 29-bedroom, 39-bath Hamptons compound has not one, but three swimming pools, plus its own power plant on premises.