Celebrity plastic surgeon Raj Kanodia, beloved by Hollywood stars like Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Aniston, has set his massive and glamorous Bel Air mansion on the market for $120million after struggling to flip the extravagant home for a profit.
He started to build the modern 34,000-square-foot Los Angeles mansion in 2015 and listed it for $180million in 2018.
But after a year of languishing on the market despite having interested buyers, Kanodia is now accepting offers $120million or more to purchase the lavish home – marking a whopping $60million price cut.
The mansion is also now being offered for rent at $1.5million a month.
The lavish estate has earned itself the nickname the ‘glass palace’ for its ceiling-to-floor glass walls and windows with stunning views of the snowcapped mountains of the Angeles forest, the offshore oasis of Catalin, and the breathtaking cityscape.
The mega mansion boasts nine bedrooms, a Portuguese-limestone facade, a spa, theater, 2,000-bottle wine room, three kitchens and fully loaded gym designed by celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak.
Kanodia, who loves gardening, flew in exotic plants and trees from India and outfitted the grounds with green lawns and lush hanging gardens.
Kanodia is a renown surgeon most distinguished and beloved by celebrities for his scarless ‘closed rhinoplasty’ nose jobs and artistry. He says that he approached building and perfecting the Bel Air mansion with the same attention to detail that he applies to his work.
‘The house is built with the same millimeter precision of the beauty I like to create,’ he said to CNBC. ‘I like to create beauty, it’s a sense of euphoria for me.’
But now he’s facing a financial challenge after struggling to sell the home.
Los Angeles brokers say that many builders with little real estate experience such as Kanodia – a surgeon who immigrated to the U.S. from India – are now at a loss after they were pulled into the business, lured by the quick profits made in 2014 and 2015.
Kanodia’s place is one of many nearly identical white, glass box homes designed by architect Paul McClean.
In fact, the house right next door to Kanodia’s property was built by fashion magnate Bruce Makowsky and was listed for $250million in 2017 but the price has since been cut to $150million.
Overall the high-end real estate market is suffering following the 2014-15 boom which led to a building spree of sprawling, pricey homes. Bel Air happens to be the capital of the luxury building boom.
But with less foreign buyers and tax changes, it’s now more expensive to live in high-tax states.
Kanodia reveals his friends warned him against building the lavish home.
‘They said, “You’re way out of your league,” Kanodia said.
‘They told me, “You’ll run out of money and you’ll be forced to sell it to service your debts.”‘
Now he’s performing as many plastic surgeries as possible to pay back the millions of dollars in loans the astronomical costs of maintaining the empty house and grounds.
‘In Las Vegas, terms it’s called “all in,”‘ he said. ‘I’m all in times a million.’
Kanodia has lived in Bel Air in a Mediterranean-style mansion for over 20 years.
In 2011 he purchased the property next door for $6.8million and it eventually became the glass palace.
