This $65 million Beverly Hills mansion rose from a multimillion-dollar teardown

The mansion at 1108 Wallace Ridge in Beverly Hills, California is 18,000 square feet and unfolds over two levels.

It took six years for this $65 million megahome to rise up on a ridge in Los Angeles.

Back in 2014, an outdated mansion sat on the half-acre lot at 1108 Wallace Ridge. It was on the market with an asking price of $18 million. Like many of the potential buyers who saw the Beverly Hills listing, developer Michael Chen loved the site, but he saw no value in the 6,300-square-foot house on the property. “It was a tear-down,” Chen said.

Nonetheless, the developer and his investor were drawn to it. The property is in the exclusive Trousdale Estates section of the 90210 ZIP code — an area Chen was betting would see a dramatic increase in value. So Chen and his partner pulled the trigger and bought the property for $15 million. They paid almost $2,400 per square foot for a four-bedroom home they planned to bulldoze.

Floor-to-ceiling windows in the great room disappear into the wall to reveal the residence’s “front-row view” of Century City.

“The main decision-making to buy this lot was that it was a front-row view property with one of the only daylight basements in Trousdale,” Chen said.

The entertainment and pool area located in the residence’s sun-drenched lower-level.

The opportunity to rebuild with a sun-drenched basement was important, Chen said, because in this part of Beverly Hills, home heights are strictly limited to 14 feet.

While he couldn’t build above the height restriction, he said, he was clear to build below ground level. And since the site sits on an elevated ridge overlooking Century City, the basement could have a wall of windows and impressive views of the skyline. In other words, the new basement level wouldn’t look or feel like a basement at all.

The pool is located on the lower level of the home, which is partially subterranean. Building a much larger lower level could add valuable square footage — and millions of dollars in value — to the new residence. The objective with the redesign was to maximize the new home’s views, square footage and curb appeal. A stone walkway extends across a water feature and leads to the home’s entryway. Tens of millions of dollars later, the new residence is a whopping 18,000 square feet — almost three times the size of the original home. Its ultra-luxe modern design is a symphony of glass, stone and vertical louvers with seven bedrooms and 14 baths. The owner’s suite includes an outdoor terrace and hot tub. Chen originally built the home for his investor and himself to enjoy as a vacation property for a few years and eventually sell when the timing was right. The bath in the owner’s suite is clad in book-matched white marble with an oval tub. Mark Angeles “If we were building as spec, we wouldn’t have spent as much money as we did,” said Chen. The developer won’t reveal exactly how much it cost to build, but he claims it’s […]

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