9505 Lania Lane Beverly Hills: Palazzo di Amore

Article Updated Saturday, January 16, 2021

The Property

At the end of a quarter-mile private driveway sits a mansion named Palazzo di Amore, one of the most expensive homes in Los Angeles.

9505 Lania Lane sits on a private 25-acre knoll high above Beverly Hills in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. The property overlooks the city lights of Beverly Hills, the Los Angeles basin, and the Pacific Ocean.

The 53,000 square foot compound comes complete with a 35,000 square foot main house, a guesthouse, private drivers' quarters, 12 bedrooms, 23 bathrooms, a reflecting pool and fountain, a swimming pool, a tennis court, formal gardens, two wine cellars, a 15,000 square foot entertainment complex with revolving dance floor and DJ booth, a 50-seat state-of-the-art movie theater, a bowling alley, and a game room. The garage holds up to 27 cars.

The home can accommodate 250 guests for a relatively intimate dinner or 1000 guests for large events, thus on-site parking for 150 vehicles. This home has everything a billionaire requires, and it comes with perhaps the most important feature: a world-famous 90210 zip code. Although the home sits within the Los Angeles neighborhood known as Beverly Crest (a.k.a. Beverly Hills Post Office), and the mailing address is written:

9505 Lania Lane
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Palazzo di Amore’s History

In 2007, billionaire real estate investor Jeff Greene paid $35 million for 9505 Lania Lane’s shell (unfinished structure) constructed by prolific mega-mansion developer Mohamed Hadid. Greene then spent another $25 million to turn the blank-slate project into his dream home. Greene was married in the house (hence the Palace of Love moniker).

Not long thereafter, Greene decided to leave California. In 2009, the home was put on the market as a rental for the princely sum of $250,000 per month. Soon after that, lease terms increased $475,000 a month. His next move? Put it up for sale.

Greene decided to take advantage of a string of blockbuster real estate sales in Los Angeles and listed the home for sale for $195 million.

The thinking at the time, based on property trends in Los Angeles, was that the home would likely to find a foreign buyer among Chinese business titans and the royal families from an oil-producing country or a billionaire already living in Los Angeles.

While the price could have been viewed as an outlandish ploy to draw attention to the listing (which is a frequently-used tactic for uber Mansions in Los Angeles), the recent sale of Fleur de Lys in Holmby Hills supported it, a home with 19 fewer acres, 15,000 fewer square feet, and no views. Here were some other comps at the time:

• Petra Ecclestone was quietly shopping The Manor for $150 million after purchasing it from Candy Spelling in 2011 for $85 million. Rumors suggested she would sell for less, as long as it sold for more than the $102 million paid for Fleur de Lys, a home she nearly bought before walking away from the deal.
• Owlwood, a home with notable architecture and provenance, The 10-acre Holmby Hills property had a $150 million price tag as an off-market listing.
• Beverly House in Beverly Hills was also available as a pocket listing for $150 million. This property's history includes home to William Randolph Hurst and Marion Davies, honeymoon hideout of John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy, and The Godfather and The Bodyguard's filming location.

The initial price would have made 9505 Lania Lane the most expensive home in Los Angeles and the highest-priced listing in the United States, but it did not sell. Greene later reduced the price to $129 million, and then the listing was pulled altogether.

The Future

When 9505 Lania Lane was first marketed, it would have been the first single family home in the United States to fetch over $100 million. That record has long since been shattered.

Most homes commanding that price per square foot or higher tend to have a pedigree (historic architecture, famous residents, some notoriety, or a combination of all three) or are beach front homes in Malibu. But since this home has hard-to-find characteristics in the 90201 zip code (50,000 square feet on 25 acres, newer construction, and a working vineyard), one assumes it will eventually garner a $100M+ price.