When billionaire real estate investor Jeff Greene bought an unfinished 25-acre Beverly Hills estate out of receivership in 2007 for $35 million from Saudi businessman Mishaal K. Adham he had big plans to create an epic, ultra-luxe domain fit for royalty. And with the help of nowadays legally and financially beleaguered mega-mansion developer Mohamed Hadid, late mega-mansion architect Bob Ray Offenhauser, and late Paris-based interior designer Alberto Pinto, he did.
Dubbed Palazzo di Amore after Greene and his wife, Mei Sze Greene, were married there in 2007 — Mike Tyson served as the best man! — the result of the huge effort and mountain of money is indeed an unabashedly palatial spread that’s more akin to a boutique resort or royal residence than what mere financial mortals think of as a cozy private home.
Altogether, there are 12 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms, plus seven more powder rooms, throughout 53,000 square feet of lavishly appointed living space across the compound’s various buildings that include the massive Mediterranean-inspired main house, gigantic guest house and 15,000-square-foot entertainment pavilion.
Alas, it wasn’t long before Greene’s taste for the Brobdingnagian estate soured — he told Mansion Global in 2019 that he doesn’t even like to stay there because it’s “too big” — and he and his family traded southern California for south Florida, where like a lot of other billionaires, they make their primary residence Palm Beach.
Palazzo di Amore has subsequently been up for sale several times; in 2014, it was saddled with an unrealistic price of $195 million, and most recently, in 2019, it carried a still too rosy ask of $129 million. The property has also been made available many times as a rental. At one point the estate was reportedly listed at a staggering $475,000 per month, but the jaw-dropping property is currently available with all its liberally tasseled, elaborately carved and otherwise bedazzled furnishings with much lower but still sky-high price of $295,000 per month.
The property is available through “Million Dollar Listing” star Josh Flagg of Douglas Elliman.
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Image Credit: Douglas Elliman A triple-gated quarter-mile drive winds up the hillside, past six-acres of vineyards, to a huge motor court and 24-car garage.
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Image Credit: Douglas Elliman Ringed in mature palm trees, the motor court has a towering fountain at its center.
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Image Credit: Douglas Elliman Beyond the double-height entrance hall are baronial public rooms with inlaid marble floors.
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Image Credit: Douglas Elliman Equally baronial private spaces include the primary bedroom, which all by itself spans about 5,000 square feet, with dual bathrooms and a Turkish hammam.
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Image Credit: Douglas Elliman Crimson and gold brocade drapes puddle on the parquet de Versaille floors in a wood-paneled salon with carved stone fireplace, coffered ceiling and wet bar.
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Image Credit: Douglas Elliman The multi-level entertainment complex houses a 50-seat home theater, a two-lane bowling alley, and a ballroom complete with DJ booth, revolving dance floor and laser-light system.
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Image Credit: Douglas Elliman Other notable features include a 10,000-bottle wine cellar and tasting room, and an olive tree shaded glass walkway that spans a shallow reflecting pool.
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Image Credit: Douglas Elliman With canyon-framed city views, the vast grounds encompass huge terraces lined with stone balustrades, a zero-edge swimming pool and spa, a barbecue area, and a lighted tennis court with viewing pavilion.
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Image Credit: Douglas Elliman Formal gardens include a 128-foot reflecting pool and a gazebo.
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Image Credit: Douglas Elliman A millionaire by the time he earned an MBA from Harvard, Greene became a billionaire by betting against risky mortgages in 2006. He now presides over a fortune of about $7.2 billion according to the bean counters at Forbes.
And though he finds Palazzo di Amore “too big” to be comfortable, he doesn’t exactly live humbly in Palm Beach or in the Hamptons. In 2009 he shelled out $24 million for La Bellucia, an oceanfront estate just down the road from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago — he’s recently received the initial approvals necessary to expand the 1920s Addison Mizner-designed mansion — and for the last few years he’s been building a brand-new mansion on the 55-acre spread in the Hamptons that he purchased in 2011 for a widely reported $36 million.
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Image Credit: Douglas Elliman