Archinect - News

Owners of Marilyn Monroe's last residence sue Los Angeles for right to demolish it

2024-05-08T18:27:00-04:00

Alleging an "abuse of power" by Los Angeles city officials, the owners of Marilyn Monroe's former Brentwood home are suing the city to block an effort to have the structure declared a historic-culture landmark, which would prevent its demolition. The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit [...] alleges "illegal and unconstitutional conduct" by the city "with respect to the house where Marilyn Monroe occasionally lived for a mere six months before she tragically committed suicide 61 years ago."

The LA Times (which has been reporting on the story since January of this year when the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission recommended landmark status for the former Monroe residence) writes that the lawsuit was filed by billionaire heiress Brinah Milstein and her TV producer husband Roy Bank, who also own the home next door and purchased the contested mansion in 2023 with the intent to demolish it and merge both properties.

The preservation fight involving the Marilyn Monroe house follows the public uproar over the demolition of Craig Ellwood's 1950 Zimmerman House in Los Angeles by its new owners, actor Chris Pratt and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger, last month.

Eric Owen Moss’ first LA home relists for $10.95 million

2024-04-25T18:39:00-04:00

Eric Owen Moss’ first residential design in Los Angeles, the 1991 Constellation 167 home in Brentwood, has hit the market courtesy of Sotheby’s International Realty for a listed price of $10.95 million. The home had previously been listed by Compass and Sotheby’s for $12 million last fall before being put up again for the lower price, held exclusively by the latter.

Photo: Wayne Ford, image courtesy Sotheby's International Realty

The 5,476-square-foot design includes four bedrooms and 5 full baths and sits on just a quarter-acre parcel. It has appeared several times in various television shows (R.I.P. Curb Your Enthusiasm) and is distinctive of Moss’ warped style, which was later repeated in 2022’s A+M House. A “comprehensive” series of upgrades and restorations has been performed since it was commissioned, according to Robb Report.

Photo: Wayne Ford, image courtesy Sotheby's International Realty

Moss, who turns 81 this year, recently completed his (W)RAPPER office tower in Culver Ci...

Flea's Michael Maltzan-designed hillside LA compound drops price from $10M to $7M

2024-04-23T12:41:00-04:00

[...] property in the unincorporated community near Glendale has once again resurfaced for sale, per TMZ, this time asking a speck under $7 million. That’s still a lot more than the $4.3 million Balzary paid contemporary artists Lari Pittman and Roy Dowell for the place in 2018, but it does include an 875-square-foot addition that was installed on the land in 2021, as well as a pool and cabin that were tacked on in 2020.

As we wrote in 2022, the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist listed the property asking $9.8 million, having purchased the property four years previous for $4.3 million. The Michael Maltzan-designed complex contains an outdoor movie pavilion, a redwood cabin, and a smaller two-bedroom house designed by Richard Neutra.

Engel Studios, Cameron Carothers; Associated Press

Artists Lari Pittman and Roy Dowell originally commissioned Maltzan for the single-bedroom addition in 2009, and it has since been featured in several design magazines, in addition to receiving an AIA Award in 2012.

Kanye West relists Tadao Ando-designed Malibu home for $14 million less

2024-04-12T12:04:00-04:00

Kanye 'Ye' West has reportedly reduced the price of his previously listed Tadao Ando-designed home in Malibu, California, to $39 million, according to Realtor.com. The new price is substantially lower than both the original $53 million listing and the $75 million price tag it carried in 2020 before he paid $57.3 million to purchase the home in September of 2021.

The 4,000-square-foot design from 2013 had been previously owned by Richard Sachs. The deprecation might stem from its reported current state, which was affected by a hasty “gut renovation” performed last year and leaving its interior without finishes and (possibly) electricity, light fixtures, or appliances — resulting in a recent lawsuit.

Marmol Radziner served as the executive architect and general contractor for its original construction. Ando is currently working on the design of a vacation home for West's ex-wife Kim Kardashian in the Palm Springs area after seeing his MPavilion10 commission extended by another full y...

Kanye West lists gutted Tadao Ando home for $53 million in Malibu

2023-12-20T12:37:00-05:00

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Tadao Ando, the house features a concrete exterior in keeping with the acclaimed architect’s streamlined brutalist ethos. In the couple of dozen months that Ye has owned the property, the music performer and designer removed the home’s interiors, leaving it essentially gutted. Now, instead of renovating the four-bedroom beachfront house on Malibu Road, Ye has decided to sell it, with a price tag of $53 million (he’s listing it at a loss).

Post-divorce Ye apparently contracted a gut renovation that left Ando’s original 2013 design looking more like “a bomb shelter from the 1910s” in the year leading up to its new listing. That endeavor ended in a $1 million lawsuit brought forth by its project manager over dangerous working conditions that remains unsettled.

The four-bed, 4.5-bathroom home had been purchased for $57.3 million in September of 2021. Jason Oppenheim, the agent in charge of its sale, said the new price “reflect[s] the need for the interior finishes to be replaced” and that he was confident in its ability to be “brought up to 2024 standards.”

Ando is meanwhile working on a brand new Palm Springs abode for its former co-inhabitant Kim.

Undulating balconies define Pininfarina’s 45-story tower in Fort Lauderdale

2023-10-13T11:19:00-04:00

Pininfarina has designed a 45-story oceanside tower in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Developed by Related Group with CFE Architects as the architect of record, the Andare Residences condominium tower contains 163 residential units.

Image credit: Related Group / Pininfarina

The 540-foot-tall tower was inspired by the area’s maritime context, with a flowing, wave-like facade characterized by undulating wraparound balconies. At the base of the tower, meanwhile, a 36-foot arch marks the entrance to the scheme of the pedestrian thoroughfare.

Image credit: Related Group / Pininfarina

At ground level, the tower’s double-height lobby contains floor-to-ceiling windows and displays both artistic and biophilic elements. Above, the residences range from 1,800 to 4,300 square feet, designed with open-concept living areas, floor-to-ceiling glazing, and wraparound balconies.

Image credit: Related Group / Pininfarina

"The unparalleled location of this property, in ...

Jay-Z and Beyoncé buy $200 million Tadao Ando-designed seaside mansion in Malibu

2023-05-24T15:12:00-04:00

In a colossal real estate move, Jay-Z and Beyoncé have purchased an extravagant vacation home in Malibu for a record-breaking $200 million, as reported by Dirt.

The sale price ranks as the most ever paid for a California home and the second-most paid for a U.S. residence, behind the Ken Griffin-owned penthouse at 220 Central Park South in Manhattan.

Image courtesy Google Maps

The 8-acre Brutalist-style estate, designed by celebrated Japanese architect Tadao Ando in collaboration with L.A-based WHY Architects, flaunts unobstructed ocean and coastline views, direct access to a scenic beach, two outdoor pools, and a 40,000-square-foot mansion.

The Carter family's latest acquisition, initially commissioned by soap opera scions Bill and Maria Bell, was completed in 2014, taking 15 years to plan and build.

Courtesy of WHY; Photo by Florian Holzherr

The original listing had the residence at $295 million, representing an insane 1934.48% increase of the original $14.5 million its previous o...

$2 Billion Powerball winner splashes $25.5 million on Hollywood Hills mansion

2023-03-09T13:58:00-05:00

To say the last few months have been life-changing for Edwin Castro would be putting it mildly. In November, he bought a winning Powerball lottery ticket at a Mobil gas station in the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena. Last month, he finally claimed his record-shattering prize, taking home a $997.6 million lump sum before taxes. Less than 30 days later, he’s the proud owner of one of the flashiest new mansions in the star-studded Hollywood Hills.

Castro purchased the mansion for $25.5 million, a discount from the property’s initial ask of $29.95 million. According to the Los Angeles Times, this is the most expensive sale in the Hollywood Hills this year and one of the neighborhood’s priciest ever. The home was built in 2022 by luxury development company Roman James Design.

Hollywood Hills home of Powerball Lotto winner Edwin Castro. Image screen grab via The AgencyRE.

It stands three stories tall, with more than 13,000 square feet of living space, including five bedrooms and six bathrooms. It features a range of extravagant offerings, including a game room, wine cellar, movie theater, gym, sauna, infinity pool, and more.

Video courtesy of The AgencyRE.

Wood and concrete comprise the mansion’s façade. Its interior is defined by open-concept, indoor-outdoor spaces that allow for a seamless connection between the living spaces and the exteriors. This transparency also provides panoramic views of Los Angeles.

...

Joshua Tree’s mirrored Invisible House lists for $18 million

2023-01-20T12:11:00-05:00

An eye-catching new landmark of an architecturally changed community is now up for grabs after designer Tomas Osinski’s Invisible House hit the market in Joshua Tree, California, for $18 million.

Image courtesy Aaron Kirman Group

The mirror-clad 5,490-square-foot home was completed with the help of owners and film producers Chris and Roberta Hanley in 2019 and has since alternated between an Airbnb rental and film location since completion.

Image courtesy Aaron Kirman Group

“The building is more about the desert surroundings than about itself,” Osinski said to Artnet recently, adding that its design “started as a single room and outdoor pool, and organically [became] what it is now.”

Image courtesy Aaron Kirman Group

With a total of three bedrooms and four full baths, the house sits on a 60-acre plot 10 minutes from the town’s unique main drag and is cantilevered on one end with an indoor pool and raw concrete floors encased in the same aviary-friendly bird-proof glass used in commerc...

Central Park Tower penthouse lists for a record $250 million in Manhattan

2022-09-20T14:31:00-04:00

High rollers in the most expensive residential market in the country now have the chance to own its highest-elevated piece of real estate as the penthouse apartment in Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill's record-breaking Central Park Tower is now up for sale in Manhattan.

The asking price for the triplex unit occupying the 129th–131st floors is reportedly $250 million, easily doubling the $169 million listing price that the 96th floor unit in Rafael Viñoly’s troubled 432 Park Avenue tower commanded when it hit the market a year ago and surmounting the $238 million figure hedge funder Ken Griffin paid for his 220 Central Park South penthouse in 2019.

Previously on Archinect: Recent sales at Central Park Tower close below their asking prices reflecting falling values at Billionaires' Row residences

At 1,416 feet, the apartment is the world’s highest private residence and comes complete with 27-foot ceilings, a ballroom, grand salon, and two kitchens. It’s high enough that the curvature of the...

Construction begins on ODA-designed residential tower along Billionaire's Row

2022-08-02T13:55:00-04:00

Construction has begun on an ODA-designed residential tower along New York City’s Billionaire’s Row. The 175,000-square-foot building will sit at 126 East 57th Street, comprising 175 units. Nearly all of the residences will have private outdoor terraces, creating a pixelated effect across the cast-in-place concrete façade with projections and recesses.

The main entrance will be located on 57th Street and guide residents through a copper, mirrored gateway into a six-story-tall atrium with views of a landscaped courtyard. A gallery continues the journey to the lobby. An alternate entrance along 56th Street will feature a porte cochere for car drop-off.

Rendering by Brick Visual

“This building brings a human scale, playfulness, and visual interest to this upscale corridor of 57th Street,” Founder and Executive Director of ODA, Eran Chen, commented on the design. “As New York City slowly transforms Midtown East to a residential destination, we strive to offer a contemporary outlook for...

Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner is vying for a record $225 million with the sale of his enormous oceanfront Malibu estate

2022-04-28T19:55:00-04:00

Michael Eisner is chasing a record on the bluffs of Malibu, listing his prized oceanfront compound for $225 million. If he gets his price, it’ll be the most expensive home sale in California history.

Much of the nine-building compound was designed by one of Eisner’s personal favorites Robert A.M. Stern in the 1990s and would considerably usurp Jeff Bezos’ $165 million Bel Air home acquisition, the $150 million Chartwell Mansion deal from 2019, and a nearby property owned by hedge fund magnate Marc Andreessen, which sold in October for a then-record total of $177 million.

The $225 million listing price is slightly less than the half-a-billion dollar figure originally commanded by Bel Air’s sprawling The One complex, which eventually fell to $295 million before selling for $146 million at a bankruptcy auction in early March.

Celebrity real estate is a constant in the design-savvy enclave, with recent sales of Richard Meier and Tadao Ando creations joining Eisner’s property on a list of high-profile architecture to hit the market recently.

SHoP's 111 West 57th Street supertall tower is one important step closer to completion

2022-04-05T20:00:00-04:00

A milestone development on the way to what is one of the most anticipated new openings of the year as the exteriors have been completed on SHoP’s award-winning 111 West 57th Street supertall tower in Midtown Manhattan.

Once completed, the building will stand as the second-tallest residential structure in the Western Hemisphere and sit atop the landmark Steinway Hall building, which houses 14 of the 60 total full-floor and duplex residences located within the 1,428-foot-tall development.

Video courtesy of SHoP Architects.

The exterior is defined by a stepped design that tapers along the south-facing facade as it reaches ever skyward to create a dramatic visual statement in combination with an east-west oriented terra cotta pilaster cladding system and a 300-foot decorative steel crown.

Photo by Evan Joseph, image courtesy SHoP Architects.

Per the architects: “The intricate façade is designed to be viewed from multiple scales and vantage points: Terra cotta panels with 22 different ...

Bel Air 'The One' megamansion — once aiming for half-billion-dollar listing price — sells at bankruptcy auction

2022-03-07T12:03:00-05:00

The mega-mansion known as “The One” sold Thursday for $126 million at a bankruptcy auction. That’s a huge discount from its $295-million listing price, even with a 12% auction fee bringing the total to about $141 million. Concierge Auctions, which handled the sale, said its auction site drew views from 170 countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy — and generated some 2,800 prospects.

Developer Nile Niami had said during its construction that he hoped to someday see the 105,000-square-foot megamansion sell at a price point around $500 million. The One eventually went into default and was last seen in October when it was placed under receivership by the county.

Previously on Archinect: $500 million Bel Air megamansion defaults on $165 million debt, enters receivership

The LA Times reported that only five bidders from the United States and New Zealand participated in the auction and that the name of the buyer, which could very easily be a limited liability corporation, will be released Tuesday via a required entry before U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge Deborah Salzman. At least one area realtor speculated that the dearth of interested buyers came as an indirect result of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.

“The buyer pool for this is very small,” Compass’ Brent Change told the paper, “and with everything happening in Russia, all of a sudden those Russian billionaires who may...

Miami is now the most expensive housing market in the United States

2022-02-21T18:22:00-05:00

Miami is now number one on a list of the most expensive areas to own a home in the United States according to statistics published in the industry blog The Real Deal.

The city surpassed New York and Los Angeles in the February edition of RealtyHop’s Housing Affordability Index on the wings of a two-year trend that is being driven by an influx of residents from out-of-state and made worse by the stagnation of wages, which remains a nationwide barrier to homeownership in spite of some considerable recent local gains.

New renters have also been a contributing factor, leading to the biggest increases anywhere in the country on average, as per a recent report from the rental index Zumper.

“What we’ve been seeing since the pandemic is Miami is the destination for a lot of out-of-state residents. These people often bring in more money than locals. Miami has become increasingly unaffordable, especially for local residents,” RealtyHop data scientist Shane Lee told TRD before making the com...

Flea lists his Michael Maltzan-designed hillside LA compound (added bonus: Neutra-designed guest house)

2022-02-14T18:00:00-05:00

Michael “Flea” Balzary no longer has any need for his funky architectural digs tucked away in the La Crescenta foothills. The Red Hot Chili Pepper bassist has now officially listed the pedigreed property in the unincorporated community near Glendale, asking a hefty $9.8 million for the one-of-a-kind refuge he picked up for $4.3 million almost four years ago.

Flea purchased the Michael Maltzan-designed complex, which includes an outdoor movie pavilion, redwood cabin, and smaller two-bedroom house Richard Neutra designed for his secretary Dorothy Serulnic, from artists Lari Pittman and Roy Dowell in June of 2018.

Engel Studios, Cameron Carothers; Associated Press

The pair originally commissioned Maltzan for the single bedroom addition in 2009, and it has since been featured in several design magazines in addition to receiving an AIA Award in 2012. Its sale should clear up some overhead for the 59-year-old bassist, who recently spent $14 million on a home overlooking the Hollywood Hills – a long way away from the youthful underworld of squats and drugs dens he described in his 2019 memoir Acid for the Children.

The Sicilian mansion from Godfather III is up for sale

2022-01-13T19:16:00-05:00

The opulent Sicilian castle featured in the third installment of The Godfather franchise has just gone on the market. For a cool €6m prospective buyers can expect 22 bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a wine cellar, an artist’s studio, a library, a private chapel and 2.1 acres of parkland.

The fate of the sizable art collection located inside the house remains an important (and much more valuable) question as so far only the in situ works that exist in the house have been confirmed included in the sale. The manse was commissioned as a collector’s de facto private museum by a Baron at the end of the 19th century. The collection reportedly includes lots of Byzantine artifacts and several paintings by the Baron’s grandson Paul, who was a post-War artist of some repute within the country.

The 43,000-square-foot Neo-Gothic residence has 22 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, a library, small chapel, and wine cellar brought together by a central marble staircase. The property includes a two-acre park and is set amongst a small coastal town overlooking the Ionian Sea.

"It is a property that expresses a strong character and enjoys enormous potential, for its history, its location, its architecture and its spaces," the head of Residential Italy Diletta Giorgolo wrote in an email to Travel...

Lawsuit against Viñoly-designed skinny tower is ‘ill-advised’ claims developer, says building is 'without a doubt safe'

2021-12-23T11:48:00-05:00

The developer behind 432 Park Avenue on New York’s Billionaire’s Row has hit back at a lawsuit alleging design defects. As reported by The Guardian, LA-based CIM Group calls the claims within the lawsuit “vastly exaggerated” in their response filed this week to the New York state supreme court.

As we reported in September, the lawsuit is being brought on behalf of the tower's condo board. The $125 million suit seeks damages for around 1500 alleged design and construction defects, causing multiple floods, faulty elevators, a string of electrical explosions, and an “intolerable” noise caused by the building’s sway.

Speaking to The New York Times at the time of the filing, a lawyer representing the condo board compared the uncovering of defects as “peeling an onion,” hinting that more may be discovered in the future. “This is a work in progress in ascertaining what’s wrong,” he noted.

In their resp...

Frank Gehry's 8 Spruce Street goes up for sale

2021-11-04T18:11:00-04:00

Lower Manhattan’s 8 Spruce Street, the Frank Gehry-designed rental tower instantly recognizable for its one-of-a-kind undulating surface, is for sale with an equally eye-catching price tag.

Owner Brookfield Property Partners and Nuveen, the real estate arm of insurance company TIAA, have put the 76-story building on the market for $850 million. At the time of its opening, the approximately 900-unit tower was the tallest residential building in North America.

The building struggled during the pandemic as residents fled the city, leaving a quarter of its units vacant, according to The Real Deal. However, the building’s occupancy has since reportedly recovered to 94 percent.

Recent sales at Central Park Tower close below their asking prices reflecting falling values at Billionaires' Row residences

2021-11-02T19:30:00-04:00

The supertall Central Park Tower, the latest addition by Extell Development to Midtown Manhattan’s Billionaires’ Row, had more recorded sales in October, including two full-floor aeries. But both of them, like other recent transactions in the new building, closed well below their asking price.

Of all the recent sales at Central Park Tower, just one was made around the asking price. At the Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill-designed luxury skyscraper, which boasts the highest roof in the Western Hemisphere, The New York Times reports three recent apartment sales well below their listed prices. An apartment listed for $78.1 million sold for $48 million; a similar-sized unit listed for $63 million sold for $40.8 million; and another listed for $14.7 million sold for $12.3 million.

This trend according to appraiser Jonathan J. Miller of Miller Samuel is present in other Billionaires’ Row residences, noting that resales at other luxury skyscrapers have not held their value. “Prices in general for Billionaires’ Row peaked in 2015-2016, and since then, they have fallen 25 to 50 percent, depending on the building.”

At the nearby RAMSA-designed 220 Central Park South, however, which sits just outside Billionaires' Row, The New York Times reports a $66 million sale, approximately $15.6 mi...

Ole Scheeren designs luxury condominium tower in Vancouver featuring cantilevered volumes

2021-10-25T16:10:00-04:00

An Ole Scheeren-designed luxury condominium development is taking shape in Vancouver, the architect’s first North American residential building and the only one worldwide where he has designed both the interiors and exteriors.

Developed by Bosa Properties, in partnership with Kingswood Properties, the project was first unveiled in 2015 before being approved by the city council in 2018. Construction is set to commence in 2022.

The tower, named Fifteen Fifteen, will be slotted in Vancouver’s Coal Harbour neighborhood. It will stand 42 stories tall and take a distinctive form, featuring numerous stacked horizontal volumes. The design is based on the idea of what Scheeren describes as “three-dimensional living,” a typology that injects horizontality to high-rise living in order to reconnect architecture with the natural and urban environment.

“Its distinctive silhouette flows from the idea of activation,” said Scheeren. “Fifteen Fifteen is about connectivity—connecting people to each...

Only three of New York's 25 tallest residential buildings have reportedly received a final certificate of occupancy

2021-10-01T19:23:00-04:00

The skyscrapers of New York’s so-called Billionaires’ Row in Midtown Manhattan have something in common besides eye-watering prices: The city still considers them active construction sites, with a range of safety-related requirements that remain incomplete, sometimes years after occupancy.

All of the eight new Billionaires’ Row towers are reportedly missing final signoff from the Department of Buildings on elevators and plumbing, with seven lacking final signoff on fire sprinklers and standpipes. Five are missing approvals from the fire department. According to The New York Times, there are at least hundreds of buildings across New York City that have similarly not received a final certificate of occupancy, with many operating with temporary certificates. The paper reports that only 3 of the 25 tallest residential buildings have obtained the final certificate.

The increased rise of supertall towers in New York, skinnier and more complex than ever, has exposed the gaps in the city’s inspection and enforcement strategy. Engineers, urban planners, and former employees of the Department of Buildings have expressed concerns over the safety risks that arise as a result of these shortcomings.

Previously on Archinect: Residents of NYC's 432 Park Avenue are suing the develope...

Residents of NYC's 432 Park Avenue are suing the developers for $125 million in damages

2021-09-24T16:38:00-04:00

The condo board at the supertall tower 432 Park Avenue, one of the most expensive addresses in the world, is suing the developers for $125 million in damages, citing multiple floods, faulty elevators, “intolerable” noise caused by building sway, and an electrical explosion in June — the second in three years — that knocked out power to residents, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Reports on the shortcomings of the nearly 1,400-foot-tall, Rafael Viñoly Architects-designed luxury tower were initially released in February. Identified by an engineering firm hired by the condo board, damages include the estimated cost to repair around 1,500 construction and design defects in common elements of the building. The damages could continue to rise.

Previously on Archinect: The not entirely untroubled life in supertall luxury towers

As reported by the Times, the decision to go public with the lawsuit was due to the developers’ “band-aid approach” to resolving many of the building’s issues.

Kanye West buys $57.3 million Tadao Ando-designed Malibu home

2021-09-20T18:04:00-04:00

Less than a month after the release of his long-awaited album, “Donda,” Kanye West paid $57 million for a Tadao Ando-designed Malibu beach house, which first listed in May 2020.

West purchased the 4,000-square-foot concrete home in an off-market deal with retired Wall Street financier Richard Sachs. It was initially listed at $75 million in May 2020 before being removed from the market.

The former owner commissioned the home, and it was completed in 2013. It has four bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, and is directly on the beach. According to Dirt, the structure reportedly required 1,200 tons of poured concrete, 200 tons of steel reinforcement, and 12 pylons driven 60 feet into the ground to support the heavy home from sinking into the sand.

Tadao Ando is reportedly one of West’s favorite architects, who described a visit to the art island of Naoshima, Japan, where Ando contributed several building designs, as “life-changing.”

Marmol Radziner was the executive architect and general contractor on this project.

Judge issues final ruling on challenge that would have cut down 200 Amsterdam

2021-09-14T14:25:00-04:00

A zoning battle over the height of a planned residential tower in Manhattan’s Upper West Side has been resolved in the New York Supreme Court, ending a yearslong legal dispute that was seen by some as a potential harbinger for luxury development schemes in the nation’s largest city.

200 Amsterdam came under scrutiny almost immediately after being announced in 2016 from a slate of organizations who claimed the 52-story apartment building was able to exploit a loophole in order to obtain the building permits necessary to put a high-rise development in a neighborhood that has traditionally been residential.

The Elkus Manfredi-designed building saw its initial permit temporarily revoked in 2017 thanks to a challenge filed with the city’s Department of Buildings. The permit was re-issued that September, and what followed was a torrent of lawsuits, reviews, stop-work issues, and an attempt at obtaining a restraining order that was eventually denied.

All the while work continued on the s...

$500 million Bel Air megamansion defaults on $165 million debt, enters receivership

2021-09-09T15:32:00-04:00

A Los Angeles megamansion once expected to list for $500 million has gone into receivership after the owner defaulted on more than $165 million in loans and debt, according to court filings. The 105,000-square-foot Bel Air estate, known as “The One,” was placed into receivership by the Los Angeles County Superior Court and is expected to be relisted at a lower price in the coming months, according to people familiar with the property.

In July, the Los Angeles County Superior Court named Ted Lanes of Lanes Management as receiver, who is now tasked with preparing "The One" for sale and selling it to recoup debts owed to lenders. The megamansion is expected to be listed on the market in the coming months once Lanes secures the proper permits and certificate of occupancy. The price and timing haven’t been determined yet, said Lanes.

Previously on Archinect: The half-billion-dollar Bel Air giga-mansion is still looking for a buyer

“What I would love to see happen is that the house gets completed, the certificate of occupancy is awarded, and we have an orderly sale that maximizes the value,” Lanes shared. “Hopefully, there will be sufficient proceeds from the sale to fund the secured and unsecured creditors and for the equity to realize some value.”

As stated by CNBC, it’s currently unclear whether "The One" will sell at a high enough price to pay off all the debt.

Have empty New York hotels and offices turned into 'perfect targets' for commercial real estate developers?

2021-04-23T13:30:00-04:00

Commercial real estate may have been hit hard this past year due to spikes in remote working and the emergence of "post-COVID ghost towns." However, has the opportunity for converting empty offices and hotels turned into a feeding ground for developers? Must the solution always result in some form of housing option? In a recent New York Times article C.J. Hughes reports on the possible future for offices and hotels that have been empty for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While he opens with the notion of plans for transforming these "eerily empty commercial structures and converting them to housing of some kind and perhaps other uses," who actually benefits from these conversions?

Beyond renovation costs and safety requirements, Hughes provides more details on the growing opportunities within New York commercial real estate. He connected with the managing principal of Metroloft Management, Nathan Berman, who shared, "Covid has expedited the ultimate repurposings," and these em...

100-story Waldorf Astoria skyscraper will be Miami's first supertall tower

2021-04-08T15:23:00-04:00

The developers of Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami, planned as the city’s tallest residential tower at 100 stories, are launching sales, The Real Deal has learned. The luxury project, at 300 Biscayne Boulevard, will be the highest skyscraper south of Manhattan at 1,049 feet tall, the developers said. Property Markets Group, Greybrook Realty Partners and Hilton are partnering on the tower.

The ambitious project first appeared on Archinect as 300 Biscayne back in 2017.

According to The Real Deal, Canada-based Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott designed the 1,049-foot-tall (320 meters) tower, and Sieger Suarez is the architect of record.

A Waldorf Astoria-branded condo doesn't come cheap though — units start at $1 million.

Oppenheim Architecture unveils images of their crystal quartz-inspired luxury towers in Australia

2021-03-04T16:27:00-05:00

The Miami-based architecture, interior design, and planning firm Oppenheim Architecture shared images of their latest luxury mixed-use project, the Jewel. In February 2020, we connected with firm founder Chad Oppenheim for a Studio Snapshot interview. During the interview, we discussed the firm's work and design ethos. "The practice is much more about creating a platform for expression," he shared.

"We started by doing projects in up and coming areas and using architecture as we way to extract the best return on investment for our clients," shared Oppenheim. "Further down, we wanted to see how architecture can be as elemental as possible. Little by little, we were brought onto projects on spectacular sites, and we wanted to make the most out of them – bringing feeling and emotion as part of our ethos."

Archinect Feature: Searching for the Elemental and Straight-Forward With Oppenheim Architecture. The Ayla Golf Academy and Clubhouse in Aqaba, Jordan. Photo by Rory Gardiner.

Staying ...

How did we end up with all these Megamansions?

2021-03-01T16:58:00-05:00

While American single-family home prices have continued to rise in the midst of the pandemic, and we mere mortals hit “fave” on six-digit Zillow listings we’ll never afford, the rich are getting richer—and that includes celebrities who shell out millions on megamansions, an unofficial term traditionally used for any home over 10,000 square feet, and sometimes limited to those over 20,000.

Writing for VICE, Ashley Spencer dives into the history of the garishly large homes of America's 0.1 percent.