Bernie Ecclestone isn't a fan of understatement. The F1 Supremo has admitted a fondness for Hitler and for $2.9 million watches (though in his private collection, he prefers more modest, £200,000 affairs). So it shouldn't surprise anyone that Ecclestone has put in a bid for LA's most expensive piece of real estate, also the most expensive house in the U.S. -- or that he's buying it for his daughter.
The property in question is the mansion built by the late TV legend Aaron Spelling and his wife, Candy. At 57,000 square-feet, it's got roughly an acre of interior floor space, if you include the bowling alley and several rooms dedicated solely to gift-wrapping. (Not kidding.) That's enough space for over 100 rooms, including 14 bedrooms.
Candy put the property on the market in March 2009 at an asking price of $150 million, but given the global economy, she hadn't had much luck unloading it -- until now. TMZ reports that Ecclestone's 22-year-old daughter, Petra, put in a bid for the pad at $75 million (nearly all of it daddy's money, we assume), and apparently Candy has taken the bait. No word on the final price, but the deal is now in escrow.
It's hard to imagine what a stunning, single heiress will do in a house that large all by herself. She's a fashion designer (well, sort of), so maybe some of the space will be converted to sewing rooms. Dad will probably drop by now and then -- given the mansion's parking for 100 cars, he might even bring a few friends. And who knows? Given Petra's tendency toward hypochondria, maybe she'll just pull a Howard Hughes and shut herself off from the world.
