Bernard Charles Ecclestone who is better known to the motorsports world as Bernie is the President and CEO of Formula One Management that conducts the Formula One races across the world. Bernie is credited with making the thrilling races into a money spinner and has boosted his own net worth to a respectable 1.5 billion. Petra Ecclestone is the daughter of Bernie. It is obvious that the father loves the daughter a lot as she seems to have access to all his wealth. Petra is the 22-year-old heiress to a Formula One racing fortune. Â She could be another foreigner to give a boost to the US real estate market which has sunk low to the 2002 levels as the demand is not strong enough to push the prices upwards. Earlier this year, Russian investor Yuri Milner bought a Silicon Valley home for $100 million, the highest-known price paid for a single-family home in the U.S. There have been other instances of Russians buying high end property in the US.
Petra Ecclestone has recently bought what could be the most expensive house in the United States. The luxury home called ‘The Manor’ is spread on a five acre plot. The house was originally listed for $150 million. It is a mansion on the Holmby Hills. It is a 57,000 square foot property which boasts of a bowling alley, salon and 100-car garage. The mansion was built by the late TV Producer Aaron Spelling. He along with his wife had bought the property in the early 1980s. They tore down the existing house to make way for the French chateau-style home in 1991. It was considered to be the largest house in Los Angeles when it was built.  After his death his wife shifted to a smaller place and took up a 15,500 square foot condo. The Holmby Hills mansion has been shown since 2008 and was officially listed way back in 2009 but the asking price of $150 million perhaps seemed way too much during the recessionary times.
The price was never scaled down assuming those who could afford a mansion of this size were not affected by the downturn. But the owners were obviously open to negotiation as Petra had first made an offer of $75 million. The deal is in escrow but the actual sale price has not been disclosed by either party. The mansion boasts of a flower-cutting room, a china room, a “Prince Charles suite,” named after its one-time royal guest, and a library in which Ms. Spelling bound her husband’s scripts. Â Petra plans to use the grand mansion as her Los Angeles home base. The purchase seems to be in preparation for her planned August wedding to entrepreneur James Stunt. It is evident that she loves fancy and lavishly done homes. She also owns a six-story London home, which cost $90.9 million and she will be splitting time between London and Los Angeles. You never know, she might go in for a fancy house in all the places where the formula one races are held.
Via: autoblog, online.wsj
