Villa Firenze, a massive mansion in a gated community within Beverly Hills, is on the market before for $160 million—one of the world’s most expensive offerings at the moment—but it’s been on the market since last January, with bidding beginning on January 26. The property, which consists of a main house and three guest cottages, flaunts over 20,000 square feet of living space, 13 bedrooms, 17 full baths, and eight half baths. It is situated on more than nine acres of prime Beverly Park real estate, with a running trail running around the perimeter.
In Beverly Park, a glass-half-full, glass-half-empty auction recently concluded, with an Italian-inspired mansion called Villa Firenze selling for $60 million. The sale makes it the most expensive home ever auctioned, but it’s still more than $100 million less than its original asking price of $165 million.
So, let’s take a look at this magnificent Villa Firenze!
The Villa Firenze
Billionaire Steven Udvar-hazy owns the Mediterranean mansion
Steven Udvar-Hazy is a $4 billion-dollar American entrepreneur of Hungarian descent. Steven (Hungarian: István) Ferencz Udvar-Hazy, the godfather of the airplane leasing industry, was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1946. The Udvar-Hazy family immigrated to the United States in 1958 to escape the Soviet occupation of Hungary. Udvar-Hazy founded his own commuter airline after graduating from the University of California. But, as he struggled to stay on track, he realized that the money was in leasing airplanes to airlines, not in operating airlines.
He founded International Lease Finance Corporation with two partners in 1973. He sold the company to insurance behemoth AIG for $1.2 billion in 1990.His second company, Air Lease Corporation, was founded in 2010. Air Lease is now a publicly traded company with a market capitalization of more than $5 billion.
Udvar-Hazy donated $66 million to the Smithsonian Institution, allowing the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center annex at Washington Dulles International Airport to be built. He also contributed to the opening of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Christine and Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Library and Learning Center.
In 1998, Steven and his wife Christine purchased several undeveloped plots of land in Beverly Park, a gated community high in the Beverly Hills. They then proceeded to construct a 30,000-square-foot mansion in the midst of 9 manicured acres. The Hazys listed the mansion, called “Villa Firenze,” for $165 million in 2018.
Steven and Christine are also the owners of two other Beverly Hills mansions. They are Mormons and have been called the world’s wealthiest Mormons.
Hungarian-born billionaire Steven Udvar-Hazy recently sold his Beverly Hills house, Villa Firenze, at auction for roughly $60 million.
That’s a 64 percent decrease from the estate’s original $165 million asking price in 2018. Despite the lower sale price, Concierge Auctions CEO Laura Brady told the Journal that Villa Firenze beat the record for the most expensive residence ever sold at auction. A mansion in Florida that sold for $42.5 million in 2018, also through Concierge Auctions, previously held the record.
The previous auction record was achieved in late 2018, when a mansion in Hillsboro Beach, Florida, designed after France’s Palace of Versailles, sold to the highest bidder for approximately $42.5 million, according to Mansion Global at the time. It was also a record sale for Broward County, despite the fact that the final sale price was far below the home’s original $159 million asking price.
A 20,000-square-foot mansion, three guest buildings, a resort-style swimming pool, tennis courts, and formal gardens and fountains are all part of the 10-acre estate.
When the January sale was announced in December, Udvar-Hazy told Mansion Global, “Many of the world’s most desirable, coveted items are sold at auction — and like these, Villa Firenze is also a work of art in itself,”
Udvar-Hazy put the current estate on the market in 2018 for $165 million after assembling it from three separate lots. Villa Firenze was most recently advertised for $160 million through Hilton & Hyland. Udvar-Hazy put the estate up for auction in January through Concierge Auctions, a digital auction business that has auctioned off properties such as villas in Phuket, a historic inn in The Hamptons, and a Malibu beachfront ranch.
Udvar-Hazy was forced to accept the highest offer because the estate was auctioned with no minimum price. Insider reached out to Udvar-company Hazy’s for comment on the sale, but no one responded right enough. Villa Firenze’s new owner will have their own private retreat. According to the listing, the estate has its own private street. The gates lead to a courtyard with space for 30 automobiles.
The home provides its owners “impeccable privacy,” according to Rick Hilton, cofounder of Hilton & Hyland, which previously listed the property. According to Forbes, the neighborhood is only accessible through two secured checkpoints, and the houses are all situated on enormous pieces of land surrounded by gates.
He purchased the property in 1993, and architect William Hablinski completed the spectacular estate five years later. It combines three lots in North Beverly Park, a gated enclave with $3,000 monthly HOA dues noted for its enormous homes and high-profile residents like Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington, and Sylvester Stallone, who is currently seeking to sell his home for $110 million in the neighborhood.
Private gates lead to a verdant courtyard with parking for 30 automobiles and 40-foot palm trees. Inside, arched entrances, dramatic columns, high ceilings, custom fireplaces, and marble, brick, and stone flooring mix to create formal living spaces. There are 13 bedrooms and 21 bathrooms between the main house and the two-story guesthouse. Trails go through the well-kept grounds, passing a four-acre backyard, a resort-style pool, jacuzzi, pool house, and tennis court.
What goes into a stunning property like Villa Firenze?
Now, you’re probably asking (rightly so) what kinds of amenities and how many rooms a property can offer to justify this spectacular property. Simply said, the answer is a lot!
Villa Firenze is reached by the property’s own street, which leads to a large courtyard (surrounded by palm trees) with parking for 30 cars. There are 13 bedrooms and 17 full, plus 8 half-bathrooms in the villa, all with marble and stone flooring, arched doors, and many fireplaces. The 20,000-square-foot mansion’s interiors are as lavish as its palace-like appearance, with paneled ceilings, expensive chandeliers, beautiful wood-carved furnishings, and tufted chairs reminiscent of old-world royal homes.
With marble flooring and massive columns reaching to cathedral ceilings, the entrance is no less spectacular. The home’s name is reflected in the Italianate, Mediterranean architecture. Architect William Hablinski added trademark details like vaulted ceilings, carved moldings, and more to the home when it was first completed in 1998 (it took five years). Both public and private rooms benefit from fireplaces. The main suite has all of the expected features, such as multiple walk-in closets and a dressing area.
A craft room, video game room, spacious gym, 1,000-square-foot mezzanine storage area, in-law suite, and a separate 3-bedroom apartment that may serve as guest or maid housing are all included in the main house.
A resort-style swimming pool with jacuzzi/spa, a pool house with an ADA-equipped living space (and a designated bedroom for a caretaker), a lighted tennis court, its own basketball court, and a cabana with kitchen are among the many outdoor attractions on the property. There are three (!) formal fountains and a 4-acre lawn, and the pool and tennis court have their own outside restroom facilities (so guests don’t have to go all the way back into the house).
As you might expect, the estate has 24-hour security patrols as well as a new digital camera security system that surrounds the whole exterior, entrance, and perimeter zones of the property, keeping inhabitants and their valuables secure.
While I’m sure there are many other features that didn’t fit (or weren’t deemed important enough to include) in the listing description, the dedicated jogging path (though admittedly, walking from one end of the estate to the other is more than enough exercise) and formal gardens were the last two that caught our eye (you know, to bring the whole built for royalty angle to a close).
It’s all about the location.
Villa Firenze, as impressive as it is, would not have been able to justify its high price without its privileged location. The property is in North Beverly Park, one of Los Angeles’ most affluent neighborhoods, a heavily guarded enclave only 25 minutes from downtown — and which attracts a slew of well-known residents (with deep pockets) including Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy, Sylvester Stallone, Rod Stewart, and Kimora Lee Simmons.
Billionaire Media Mogul Haim Saban, Billionaire Business Baron Steve Udvar–házy, Norman Zada, and Several Properties Rumored to Be Owned by the Saudi Royal Family are among the other wealthy residents of Beverly Park.
The wealthy North Beverly Park is filled with huge, gated houses and is nestled between famed Sunset Boulevard and Mulholland Drive in the hills above Los Angeles. There are few, though, that are as vast and spectacular as Villa Firenze (despite the fact that many of them have been envisioned by the same architect, William Hablinski).
