Swiss pharmaceutical heir Frank Binder is selling his 10,700-square-foot Hollywood Hills mansion for $35M. He wants a $2B floating city

A Swiss pharmaceutical heir who owns a sprawling mansion overlooking Los Angeles is preparing to trade one extraordinary home for another — except his next residence could spend much of its life at sea.

Frank Binder has listed his Hollywood Hills mansion for $35 million, eight years after purchasing the property for $33 million in 2018. The sale comes as Binder devotes increasing attention to Ulyssia, his proposed $2 billion mega-yacht designed not simply as a luxury vessel, but as a floating residential community for some of the world's wealthiest people.

A mid-century mansion above the Sunset Strip

Built in 1964, the roughly 10,700-square-foot mansion sits behind private security gates on a hill overlooking the Sunset Strip. Its position gives residents sweeping views across the Los Angeles basin, with sightlines extending toward the ocean.


Before Binder acquired it, the house underwent a major multi-year renovation led by musician and designer Lenny Kravitz through his design firm, Kravitz Design.

The renovation leaned heavily into mid-century modernism while introducing contemporary luxury. Textured stone walls, custom wood paneling and floor-to-ceiling glass were used throughout the home, with the extensive glazing designed to bring natural light inside while making the Los Angeles skyline part of the interior experience.

The home has four bedrooms and seven bathrooms spread across multiple levels.

Among its features are a commercial-grade kitchen with custom cabinetry, a temperature-controlled wine cellar and a screening room. The primary suite opens directly onto private terraces overlooking the city.

Outside, the property is designed as much for entertaining as for living, with a cantilevered infinity-edge pool, outdoor kitchen, fire pits and multiple covered lounge areas.

But Binder's next project makes even this mansion look relatively conventional.

His next home could be a 323-metre yacht

Binder founded Ulyssia Residences AG to develop Ulyssia, a 15-deck, 323-metre vessel conceived as a permanent residential community at sea.

The project is being developed with China Merchants Cruise Shipbuilding, marine design company Deltamarin and naval architect Espen Øino, with the vessel expected to begin sailing in 2030.

Rather than selling conventional hotel-style suites, Ulyssia is planned to contain 122 permanent residences ranging from about 110 to 1,600 square metres.

The price tags are equally extraordinary: residences are planned to cost between €10 million and €100 million.

There is also a financial threshold for anyone hoping to join the community. Prospective residents are expected to have a minimum net worth of $30 million.

The idea is essentially to combine the privacy of an ultra-luxury home with the amenities of a private resort — while constantly moving around the world.

Ulyssia is planned to include seven restaurants, two padel courts, a medical and wellness centre operated by Swiss wellness company Chenot, a school and a fully equipped marina bay.

The vessel is also expected to carry two helicopters and submersibles, giving residents access to both the destinations it visits and the waters surrounding it.

Binder himself isn't planning to give up luxury real estate entirely.

He intends to retain a 1,000-square-metre penthouse on Ulyssia's top deck, which is expected to become his primary global residence.

In other words, selling his Hollywood Hills mansion isn't necessarily a retreat from extravagant living. It could be part of a shift from owning an extraordinary house on land to creating an extraordinary home that moves around the planet.

Why sell the mansion now?

Binder's Hollywood Hills listing arrives at a time when Los Angeles' ultra-luxury property market continues to command enormous prices, particularly for homes combining privacy, architectural pedigree and unobstructed views.

The $35 million asking price is only modestly above the $33 million Binder paid in 2018. A sale close to that figure would nevertheless put the property among the more significant Hollywood Hills transactions of 2026.

The listing is being handled by Branden and Rayni Williams of The Beverly Hills Estates and Carl Gambino of Compass.

For Binder, however, the real story may not be the mansion's price.

It is what he plans to do after leaving it behind.

From one extraordinary residence to another

There is something striking about the contrast.

On one side is a private, glass-filled mid-century mansion overlooking Los Angeles — complete with an infinity pool, wine cellar, screening room and panoramic views.

On the other is a proposed $2 billion, 323-metre floating residential community where apartments can cost as much as €100 million.

Ulyssia is an unusually ambitious bet on how ultra-wealthy people might want to live in the future: not necessarily tied to one city, country or even continent, but surrounded by the amenities of a private luxury resort while travelling continuously around the world.

And Binder appears willing to make that vision his own home.

The Hollywood Hills mansion may simply be the house he is leaving behind for something considerably harder to find on a real-estate listing: a home that can sail away.