$250 Million Mega-Mansion Incorporates Spectacular Display Technologies in Creating the Ultimate Luxury Home
In the exclusive Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, the luxury home market reached new heights with the listing of a newly-built $250 million residential home—by far the most expensive to ever hit the U.S. real estate market. Each aspect and detail of the four-story, 38,000-square-foot mansion was carefully chosen with the idea to make jaws drop with every turn of the head by offering the most opulent amenities that can possibly be imagined in a home today.Developer Bruce Makowsky, founder of BAM Luxury Development, built the mansion on spec, targeting the elite, ultra-high-end market where only the world's billionaires represent potential buyers.
Makowsky is familiar with this market, having previously sold a Beverly Hills mansion in 2016 to Swedish video game billionaire Markus Persson for $70 million, the highest price ever paid for a Beverly Hills home. Makowsky justifies the extraordinary $250 million asking price for his Bel Air mansion by pointing to the luxury superyacht market, where the mega rich will drop upwards of $500 million for a boat. So why not spend that much for a home?
Mind-Blowing Amenities
The sprawling, 12-bedroom, 21-bath Bel Air mansion includes three gourmet kitchens, five bars, seven full-time staffers, two commercial elevators (one lined with alligator skin), a wellness spa and a fitness center. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
"I went around the world to source the materials for this home, whether it be the finest stones found anywhere or the most luxurious furniture," Makowsky said. "Every single inch of the house—inside and out—was meticulously curated. Everything had to be the very best."
More of the incredible amenities of the home include a four-lane bowling alley, a James Bond-themed movie theatre, two cellars stocked with a multi-million-dollar wine collection, a handcrafted $2-million-dollar steel staircase and an extensive art collection of over 100 carefully selected pieces including an oversized Leica camera sculpture created by Chinese artist Liao Yibai, with an estimated value of $1 million.
On the home's lower level is an extensive entertainment space and an auto gallery featuring 12 rare cars. The auto collection (which comes with the home) is valued at over $30 million and features a Bugatti Veyron, a Ferrari 488, a Rolls-Royce Dawn, a Pagani Huayra and a 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K.
The exterior features 17,000 square-feet of entertainment decks and an 85-foot Italian glass infinity pool with a swim-up bar. The decks offer 270-degree views of L.A. and perched on a rooftop helipad is a deactivated helicopter from the 1980's television series Airwolf, renovated into an art piece.
Igniting the Senses with Stunning Video Display Technologies
In designing his mansion, Makowsky placed special emphasis on home entertainment. Much in the same style as the home's other impressive features, his intent was to incorporate the most cutting-edge and stunning audio and video technology to "absolutely blow people away," he said. This led to a collaboration with Planar. "We worked with Planar to create some of the most incredible installations that could be conceived in a residential home," Makowsky said.
The most dramatic of these installations is a 4x4 Clarity® Matrix® High Bright LCD Video Wall that is configured to a $2-million hydraulic lift, which, at the press of a button, rises into view from behind the 85-foot infinity pool. "We dug down 25-feet into the ground to engineer the spiral lift system," Makowsky said. "The resolution of the screen is perfect during the day, and at night it transforms the deck environment into an amazing outdoor theater."
Designed for challenging, bright ambient light conditions, the Clarity Matrix High Bright video wall delivers outstanding brightness performance—representing an optimized solution for the sunny, Southern California outdoor environment of the Bel Air mansion.
In the mansion's interior, installed above a 22-seat bar on the lower entertainment floor is a 28-feet-long, 7-feet-high Planar® DirectLight® LED Video Wall System, which Makowsky believes is the largest video wall display to ever be installed inside a U.S. home. Featuring a fine pitch of 2.5mm, the black resin LEDs of Planar DirectLight deliver a crisp, high-contrast image and the Planar@ MicroGrid Shader™ enables the deepest levels of black. Combined, these features produce stunning, crystal clear images. Additionally, the revolutionary Planar® EasyAlign™ Mounting System enables less than a 4-inch depth when mounted, providing a truly seamless and thin profile display solution.
Makowsky also selected Planar® UltraRes™ Series 98-inch 4K LCD displays for inclusion in the mansion's interior, installing a total of 56 Planar UltraRes Series displays throughout various rooms and locations. Offering Ultra HD resolution (3840 x 2160), exceptional 4K clarity and a sleek and elegant ultra-slim profile, Planar UltraRes Series is an ideal choice for the home's luxury interior style.
"There's a lot of important parts to this house but home technology is clearly one of the most important," Makowsky said. "We choose Planar because the color, quality and reliability are unparalleled. It was vital to have the best of everything in this home and with Planar displays, the clarity is just perfection. Planar have been an incredible partner and we will use them with all our houses moving forward."
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
