Add The New York Post on Google He’s looking to “seas” the day.
Billionaire pharmaceutical heir Frank Binder is lifting the anchor on his dazzling Lenny Kravitz-designed Hollywood Hills mansion as he prepares to build the world’s largest yacht.
Binder listed the cliffside estate for $35 million late last week, a 10,700-square-foot combination of rock-and-roll swagger, and unparalleled views extending from Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean.
Simultaneously, Binder is launching construction of his Nimitz-sized “residential yacht,” a more than $2 billion project that will offer ocean adventures and permanent digs to the ultra-wealthy.
Back in LA, the home comes with plenty of Kravitz flavor.
The four-consecutive Grammy winner, not surprisingly crafted a killer sound system and installed a 12-foot-long digital video wall and a floor-to-ceiling TV.
Binder reportedly spent $2 million for retractable doors throughout the mansion’s three levels that contain four bedrooms and seven bathrooms, all perched just above the storied Sunset Strip.
Living areas feature deep crimsons, amber glow lines and smoky accent mirrors that reflect the neon lights of los Angeles.
Getting into the home is half the adventure. Heavy bronze entry gates lead to the front door through a walkway bored through a massive wall of raw Hawaiian lava rock.
A 12,000-pound granite boulder has a firepit as its center and a 15-foot-wide gas fireplace sits in the home’s upper living level. Twenty-one-foot-high ceilings frame retractable glass walls that open onto a cantilevered balcony overlooking Los Angeles. A 70-foot-wide half-moon infinity pool faces that way as well.
In addition to its very high-end sound system, the home’s subterranean night club takes a “space themed retro” approach, while a climate-controlled wine cellar capable of 1,200 bottles is nearby.
An unobtrusive air-conditioned five-car garage conceals autos by using a hydraulic lift, and there are additional spaces nearby.
Binder, who holds the Hollywood Hills home through a shell company, paid $33 million for it in 2018. The mansion was offered at $38 million through a private listing.
It’s not clear whether Binder will keep the adjacent 4.5-acre parcel at 1 Electra Ct. that he holds through a separate corporate vehicle. He won that property for $29.5 million at auction in 2018 as part of the dissolution of Woodbridge Group of Companies. The development company was implicated and liquidated on the heels of an alleged $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 8,400 people. The Electra Court home, which Binder tore down, was owned by Larry Ellison’s daughter Megan Ellison before that.
By listing the main house for just $2 million more than he paid for it six years ago, Binder may be among the first to accept the deflated reality of selling a mega-mansion in the Los Angeles area. He is also looking at a $1.92 million haircut based on the 5.5% mansion tax that Los Angeles City levies on residential sales.
“The owner is being realistic in this marketplace,” said Branden Williams of the Beverly Hills Estates, who has the listing with Mauricio Umansky of the Agency.
Umansky and Kravitz are also part of the team for Binder’s residence-on-the-sea Ulyssia, with the former launching the craft’s marketing campaign on his “Buying Beverly Hills” Netflix show and the latter lending his design hand.
The Ulyssia is expected to cost more than $2 billion to build and be 1,060 feet long — about the length of modern US Navy aircraft carrier. The ship will have 15 decks with 122 private residences and 22 guest suites.
High-rolling residents will pay between $10 million and $90 million for rooms that will range in size from 1,184 square feet for a one-bedroom to 10,258 square feet for a six-bedroom penthouse. Outdoor terraces are included.
The ship will sail under the Swiss flag year-round and provide access to helicopters, two submarines, a school for residents’ children, a hospital and a dental facility.
Binder has told boating publications he already has more than $1 billion in commitments. He will be aboard as owner of the ship’s largest unit, a 10,700-square-foot top deck penthouse.
Binder expects to begin calling “Ahoy,” to those mateys in 2031.
Most landlubbers will have to stay behind, though. “We will, of course, select [the residents] and it’ll be the most exclusive club in the world,” he told Forbes.
