Energy Drink Magnate Swallows Steep Price Cut

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We can only imagine how big a swig a mere mortal would need to wash down the taste of slashing his listing price by almost 50 percent.

But Russ Weiner, the Rockstar energy drink magnate, is no mere mortal when it comes to real estate. He owns plenty of homes (and we mean “owns” as in free and clear) including the 18,000-square-foot home that is now listed at $11.9 million, down from its original listing price of $22 million. And luckily, his drink of choice comes in 11 flavors and with a megabolt of caffeine.

Weiner, who created one of the top three energy drinks in the world and sits as founder and chief executive of the Las Vegas-based company that bears its name, has had the Palladian-style home on and off the market since October 2007. He bought it in 2005, paying in the $8 million-$9 million range and has done extensive restoration work.

And there certainly are plenty of play toys that come in this Sunset Strip sandbox: a $1 million resort-style grotto pool, waterfalls and slide that Weiner installed; a north-south tennis court with views of the city to distract your opponent’s game; a three-story indoor racquetball court and gym; a ballroom that used to be a sunken disco and now reflects a more adult palate; and a detached five-bedroom guest house. The home has a 2,000-square-foot master suite that includes a projection screen, a commercial elevator, and a gourmet kitchen that we suspect bachelor Weiner has yet to personally ever use. There are nine bedrooms and 13 bathrooms, and 30-foot ceilings in the living room.

The price cut, even if breathtaking in its scope, has been incremental, said listing agent Michael Eisenberg of Keller Williams Estates, Beverly Hills. Eisenberg said that given the size of the property, its price per square foot is below market. Plus his client has bought another home and is ready to let go of this one.

The Doheny Hills property was previously owned by department store heir Ted Fields and then sold to basketball star Carlos Boozer. Boozer leased it to rock star Prince, but we won’t go there out of respect for the neighbors’ reoccurring nightmares. Weiner, who owns several other homes in Los Angeles and on the East Coast, sold a poured-in-place concrete megalith in the Hollywood Hills in January for $8 million. He was also represented in that sale by Eisenberg, who is the highest-grossing Keller Williams agent in Southern California. Weiner is the son of conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage.


Paparazzi Palace

Speaking of handsome, single young men with well-known daddies, Harry Morton, the twentysomething son of the Hard Rock Cafe’s Peter Morton, has listed his Sierra Towers condo for sale at $2,895,000. He has purchased a home in the Bird Streets.

The one-bedroom, two-bathroom unit has 1,845 square feet and is in a building so chock-full of celebrity residents that the paparazzi may be sent a property tax bill for the sidewalk space they regularly occupy. His unit, on the eighth floor, can be converted into a two-bedroom, which it may have been in a previous incarnation.

Young Morton owns the chi-chi Viper Room nightclub in West Hollywood, and is chief executive of Pink Taco restaurants. His grandfather was Arnie Morton of the Morton’s Steakhouse chain.

The listing agent is Max Shapiro of WEA in Beverly Hills.



Search and Buy

Daniel Yomtobian, co-founder of ABCSearch, one of the leading providers of cost-per-click searches on the Internet, recently bought a $15 million house in the Beverly Hills post office tract.

The house, constructed in 2007, has six bedrooms and nine bathrooms in 15,000 square feet. There are 24-foot ceilings in the contemporary Mediterranean home, which has six fireplaces, an infinity pool, fountains, spa and a patio for entertaining.

Yomtobian, who worked bagging groceries in high school, is a self-taught computer geek who made good very good. His company, formed in 2001, now has a network that gets 2.5 billion hits a month.

Burt Bakman of Coldwell Banker Beverly Hills represented Yomtobian in the purchase. The home was listed by Jade Mills of the same office.


Ann Brenoff can be reached at [email protected].

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