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It’s not often that homes sell in the state of Arizona for much more than $20 million.
In fact, the state’s priciest-ever deal sold for $28.1 million in Scottsdale in June 2022; and before that, another home in the same neighborhood sold for $24.1 million in 2020.
But with the lure of features like a metaverse room, a spa that generates snow and a lazy river, developers in Paradise Valley believe they can get $75 million for an estate that’s still in the process of construction. At that price point, if the property sells close to asking, developer Cullum Homes and agent David Hersh of Wow Luxury Properties will have no trouble shattering previous state records.
The idea is to construct a home that rivals the luxury properties found in traditionally pricier markets, such as California, Hersh told The Wall Street Journal.
“People are moving here at such a fast rate,” Hersh said, noting that buyers coming from more expensive areas outside of Arizona “have a different expectation of luxury, in my opinion, than what is being delivered in the marketplace.”
Hersh purchased two lots across 4.7 acres for $10 million in 2022 and demolished an existing house on the land, which has since been divided up into three different parcels. The parcel on which the $75 million home is being constructed is the largest at about 2.3 acres.
The completed house is expected to span 33,000 square feet across eight bedrooms, including a primary suite that’s nearly 3,000 square feet and holds its own gym. Other amenities throughout the house include an art gallery, a liquor-tasting library and a two-story aquarium that doubles as a lightwell running from the main level to the basement.
The home’s basement will host most of the amenities, Lindsay Cullum-Colwell, co-owner of Cullum Homes, told The WSJ. That level will feature an 800-square-foot home theater/metaverse room, a 2,600-square-foot spa with vitality pools and Himalayan salt sauna, and a snow room to “help with rejuvenation and the regrowth of cells,” Cullum-Colwell said.
A two-lane bowling alley, a shooting range, a golf simulator and a recording studio with a lounge and prep kitchen will also be housed in the basement.
The estate’s outdoor amenities will include a swim-up movie theater, lazy river, putting and chipping green, two outdoor kitchens and a bocce court.
In addition to the main house, the property will also include a four-bedroom conference building and a one-bedroom guardhouse.
If a buyer is secured for the property before construction is complete, they may request to change the home’s specifications. Cullum-Colwell told The WSJ she anticipates the project to take four to five years to complete.
The median sale price of a home in Paradise Valley was $4.2 million in January 2023, up 31.3 percent year over year, according to Redfin. The number of homes sold was down 33.3 percent from the previous year to 22 and the median days on market was down by 4 to 77.
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