Most expensive home offered for sale in California

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House has its own water treatment system, mini-mall with elaborate movie theater, diner/malt shop, bowling alley and jewelry store/museum. Also on site is a gymnasium, automotive museum, and wine cellar. Main house has three pools, 2 spas, water slide, 8 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, a 2-story grotto. 22,000 square feet with 300 feet of oceanfront (3 lots were combined). The beach in front of it is not a private beach, though. It is located in Corona del Mar, one of the most expensive sections of Orange County, California. The asking price is $75 million, and if it sells for that price it will become the most expensive residential home sold in the United States so far. It was built over a five-year period by Frank Pritt III, founder of software company "Attachmate Corporation."









More pictures and video tour at: http://www.johnmcmonigle.com/
Click on "The Portabello Estate" at the upper right for more pictures and more details

[terrya]

1. I know I'm supposed to "ooh and ahh" over this...

but Jesus. 3 pools??

I just don't get this kind of completely over the top conspicuous consumption.

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4. That's why I posted it...

...as an example of the excesses of the wealthy

[LibraLiz1973]

2. It's like John Edwards house West Coast style

KIDDING


Eeek, that house is ugly!!!! Going to take the tour....

[EstimatedProphet]

3. I could get used to that kitchen

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5. Could you get used to cleaning it?

[EstimatedProphet]

21. With the kind of money it would take to own that house

cleaning it could be contracted out, I'm sure...

[dropkickpa]

6. Oh, what I would give

for counter space in my kitchen!! I have one 3 ft cart with a butcher block top and that's it for counter space.

[DS1]

7. 3 feet?

LUXURY!

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. Of course, we 'ad it tough

We 'ad to do all our cooking on a rolled-up newspaper.

[DS1]

11. The best we could manage was to suck on a damp cloth

[Oeditpus Rex]

17. We 'ad to go cook in a lake

[DS1]

19. You were lucky to be living in a lake!

There 150 of us, living in a shoe box in the middle of the road

[Oeditpus Rex]

20. Cardboard box?

You were lucky! We lived for three months in a rolled-up newspaper in a septic tank! We used to have to get up every morning at six o'clock and clean the newspaper, go to work down the mill, 14 hours a day, week in, week out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home, our dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!

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23. Luxury.

[trof]

12. You 'ad NEWSPAPERS? Bleedin' ROYALTY, you was.

WE 'ad to steal the tyres from moving cars to burn for fuel.

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36. Lucky chap

[Midlodemocrat]

40. I'm with you. We're getting ready to do an 'update'

and I really wish I had more space for cabinets and counters.

It's adequate, but just barely. :(

[dropkickpa]

48. I wish I could do that

I'm a renter. Here's my copious counter top space (angle of pic makes kitchen look bigger than it is).

[Midlodemocrat]

51. We've lived in this house for 16 years, so it is long overdue.

When I was renting, one of my apartments had NO counter space at all. I had to prepare things on a table for two that my Nana gave me.

We're not doing anything too extreme. Just changing the cabinet color and putting in Corian counter tops.

Costco does the counters, which is a HUGH savings, but since I only have about 4 feet of counters, I could make them from diamonds and it would still be cheap.

I'm just looking forward to a new paint job and some more storage. For our family of five, there just isn't room for the toaster and the coffee maker, etc.

I would KILL for a real gourmet kitchen, because I would love how to really cook one day. At this point, I satisfy my culinary urge by reading cookbooks.

[Fenris]

9. It's not a house, it's a mall this asshole happens to live in.

By the way, if you want an example of horrible, horrible taste, take a gander at 22 Cypress Point in Big Canyon on their site. It's appropriately called Villa Faberge.

[Hosnon]

10. Excuse me while I barf.

I understand the difference between want and need but I don't understand extremely unnecessary want.

Build a fucking school if you don't know what to do with your money.

[terrya]

13. Thank you

Can you imagine how much public good you could do for $75 million?

Sickening.

[Hosnon]

14. Yeah...a nice endowment for the struggling schools in the area would be

a good use of that money, ya know?

The interest off of $75 million could build a great school every year.

[terrya]

16. Yep.

Or a scholarship to some college or university. For underprivileged kids.

Many, many possibilities for good.

[Hosnon]

28. Yep. But then again,

why should s/he have to help anyone else? I mean, what has society ever done for him/her (besides merely provide the very means to acquire such wealth)?

[terrya]

31. Noblesse Oblige seems to be in short supply these days.

Very, very sad.

[Hosnon]

32. I read that Bush 1 had a deep commitment to it...perhaps another barf moment...

But yeah, I have no problem with the super rich, as long as they realize that they got all of their money from everyone else - they don't poop dollar bills.

[Kajsa]

15. I've seen the back of this house from the

street level. The roof looks like a large, concrete wave rolling over the house.

This is located 4 miles from where I live. Corona del Mar is one the most opulence
places on the West Coast. Excess rules there.

Too bad common sense took a back seat.
Floor to ceiling glass walls in earthquake country is not smart.

I always thought the beach there was private.
There are gates, they are locked, and you need a key
to enter them.
There is no public access to that beach.

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22. I was just going by this article

http://www.luxist.com/2006/05/17/portabello-estate-could-set-record/

which states that the beach is not private. In Calfornia, all beaches are public property up to the mean high tide line. The owner of the property can hire a surveyor to determine the mean high tide line, and above that they can do whatever they want, but below that line it is public property and anyone can go there. In most places they are required to provide public access easements. I guess Corona del Mar isn't one of those places that cares about public access. There have been major battles in Malibu over public access in recent years. I guess Corona del Mar doesn't have enough of "those awful dirty people" that want to "spoil or views and our privacy."

[Kajsa]

43. You are right, Bob.

The public has a right to beach access up to the high tide line.
But as you can see in Malibu, (Carbon Beach, right?) the property owners
have been hiring private patrol officers to shoo away the "undesirables".
It's illegal and the public has been fighting it.Even David Geffen, who owns
an estate in that area, opened a gate to public beach access.

Corona del Mar is light years away from realizing that law and adhering to it.

Believe me, I TRIED to access that beach, beach bum that I am.
But I was warned not to "trespass" into private property by several
security guards. I tried to remind them that the beach at the waterline
was public, but they would not hear of it. They were very eager to have
something to do, so I refrained from giving in to their desires. Those
dudes are BORED guarding Cameo Shores!

Nope, this" lowly"teacher from Costa Mesa, with her '92 Volvo isn't
going to give them the satisfaction.

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44. If I were you I would write to the California Coastal Commimssion about it.

They need to know that this stuff is going on.

http://www.coastal.ca.gov/access/accndx.html

[Kajsa]

49. I will.

You've given me the incentive to do it!

:hi:

[LaraMN]

18. So what? It doesn't have a Cinnabon.

OR a racetrack for flying cars.

We are not impressed.

:P

[ForrestGump]

24. I kinda like it,

despite myself.

Though, if I had the money handy (my 75 mil is tied up in Beanie Babies), I'd ditch the inexplicable jewelry store and minimall and convert a third of it to a youth hostel and another third to a marine lab, or something similar.

It is a tad excessive, I admit.

[ruiner4u]

25. Oooo its time for Real World XXXIV: Corona del Mar

[Initech]

26. Who the fuck needs their own private jewelry shop?

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38. To clarify that...

...the entire "mini-mall" part of the house is underground, and it was designed to remind the owner of his hometown (if I recall correctly Charleston, West Virginia). The movie theater is called the "Rialto" and the jewelry store is a "Kay Jewelers" and the diner/malt shop is a duplicate of the one he grew up around, the bowling alley etc, all of it is designed to remind him of his hometown. The "Kay Jewelers" is not actually a shop that sells anything, although it looks like a shop, it is really just a room to house his wife's huge collection of jewelry and their antiques and heirlooms, and everything is displayed like almost like a museum. The movie theater is incredibly plush and ornate. What I don't understand about this is... he spent 2 years negotiating the purchase of the land and getting the 3 lots legally combined into one, then almost 5 years getting the house built, and now 5 years after the house is finished he wants to sell it...

[flvegan]

27. $75 million to live 6 feet away from your neighbor

At least, that's how the pic looks.

[MissB]

29. The *master suite* has two bedrooms and two baths.

:rofl:

[MissB]

30. Leather floors in the office?

:rofl:

Full automative shop?

:rofl:

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39. It was on a TV show this morning about ultra-expensive homes,

and the owner is an avid car collector. Part of the underground "mall" is an automotive museum, almost the size of an average dealer showroom, with cars displayed at different levels with track lighting, etc. There is also a complete auto shop where almost any mechanical work can be performed. I'll bet you Jay Leno would love this house.

[fortyfeetunder]

33. All eight digit properties

I didn't see a need to drool when I saw the prices....I couldn't afford to pay attention!

[pagerbear]

34. OK, I'm not one to defend obscene conspicuous consumption, but

...here are some things to think about.

Criticizing someone who has obscene amounts of wealth for how he spends his own money is no different from criticizing someone who has modest resources for how s/he spends his/her money. It's his money. If he hadn't put his money into this house, you still would have no say in how he spent it.

If you want to address the economic inequities that gave him that kind of money and not you, that's a different topic entirely. Yes, there are people in this country who don't have food or shelter, and there are schools that can't afford to pay enough teachers, and there are great numbers of other worthy causes crying out for support, but beyond whatever taxes Mr. Pritt pays for owning that castle or for earning his obscene millions or for employing what must be a huge staff or for buying what must be tremendous amounts of goods and services, this rich man is under no obligation to solve those problems. In fact, you don't know that he hasn't put huge amounts into charitable organizations of his choosing. You don't know that whoever buys the house hasn't put huge amounts into charitable organizations of his/her choosing, either.

Further, if you have any idea of Mr. Pritt's political leanings, you haven't cited any references. Or is it just as simple as the notion that anyone who does or says or is something you don't like must be a Republican, or a conservative, or a Freeper, or a troll, or whatever other label you choose for attacking people?

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37. Is that directed at me?

[pagerbear]

41. A collective you, not a singular you.

[baldguy]

35. That last pic...

Isn't that Arsenio Hall's old set?

[Redstone]

42. Built by a guy whose company I've never even HEARD of...but I guess that's

the magic (or whatever name you want to attach to it) of the "dot-com" revolution / bubble / whatever name you want to attach to it.

No matter the label, the house is revolting. Or disgusting, or whatever word your want to use.

I am NO Communist, or Socialist, but there should be a law that prevents any one person from having that much money.

Redstone

[pagerbear]

54. I used to work with an Attachmate software product.

[Kajsa]

45. I forgot to mention- It's been on the market

for years, now.

It's not moving and he's not dropping the price.

The consensus with the realtors in this area is
that it won't sell unless he comes down on the
price- way down!

[VLC]

46. If that were my house

it would be a for sale by owner. Can you imagine the COMMISSION for selling that?!?

[Lady President]

47. Apparently I like straight lines

I never thought about it, but this 'everything is rounded' business is just ugly. It reminds me of something an architecture student would design for a school project (and receive a C).

The views are beautiful though.

Do real estate agents still make 6%? Because this guy would make $4.5 selling this monstrosity.

[zanne]

50. Do the Jetsons live here? nt

[Arugula Latte]

52. That kind of excess just sickens me to no end.

x(

[KitchenWitch]

53. I never thought I would ever see myself type these words but...

Damn, that is TOO much kitchen.

[greatauntoftriplets]

55. It looks like an airport terminal....

in a good location. My condo may have less kitchen counter space, but it does have great windows.

:D

[snailly]

56. All that AND you can peep in your neighbor's windows

6 inches away!
I want that kitchen though.

[jmowreader]

57. Rezone this commercial and I'm in

Okay, I'm about $75 million shy of the asking price, but someone with a very broad worldview and a LOT of cash could convert this into a very exclusive hotel.