Publisher Asks $6.4 Million for Palisades Property

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You’ve got to love a guy who names his publishing company by taking his daughter’s initials and translating them into Roman numerals. Here’s to you, Marissa Claire Vitale, and your dad, Neal Vitale, founder of 1105 Media Inc.

Neal Vitale, a diehard Boston Red Sox fan, seasoned dealmaker and publishing veteran, has listed his Pacific Palisades home for sale at $6.4 million.

The five-bedroom, 6.5-bath Tudor-style home has more than 7,000 square feet and was built in 1935. It has a large entertainment area, a formal living room, and two family rooms that open to a garden. There is also a pool, playhouse and a wood-paneled library.

Vitale formed 1105 Media in 2006, when he and his private equity backers – Nautic Partners and Alta Communications – acquired 101 Communications and Stevens Publishing. The company publishes Federal Computer Week, Campus Technology, Redmond Magazine and Recharger. It also produces large tradeshows.

Vitale, with a Harvard M.B.A., held positions at New York Times Co. Magazine Group, was finance director of Viare Publishing and associate publisher of Art & Antiques. In 1984, he became a partner at McNamee Consulting Co. Inc., a management and consulting firm that specializes in publishing and direct marketing.

From 1989 to 1996, Vitale worked at what was then Cahners Publishing Co. and is now Reed Business Information.

Later, Vitale became president and chief executive of integrated marketing and promotions firm Aspen Marketing Group, and helped the company increase revenue from $140 million to $300 million. He left Aspen in 2001 and joined forces with Nautic and Alta.

MaryAnn Musico of Sotheby’s International Realty, Beverly Hills, and Brenda Chandler Cooke of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, share the listing.

Channel Success

The economy got your business down? Don’t bother singing the blues around Alicia Celmer, whose ChannelWorks company is doing quite well, thank you very much. Well enough that she has listed her Woodland Hills home at $1.31 million and expects to be moving to fancier Westside digs. Celmer bought the residence five years ago.

As for what ChannelWorks does, here’s what she says about the company she founded in 1997: “We are business consultants who basically help companies sell their technology products and services through channels of distribution – online, retail stores, resellers.”

Clients range from long-established Fortune 500 companies to startups. As director at startup notebook manufacturer Fujitsu PC Corp., Celmer built a channel-marketing organization that was able to support and contribute to $160 million in first-year revenue.

The 3,217-square-foot home she is selling was built in 1955 and has a pool to die for. The open floor plan and high ceilings contribute to a light, bright airy feeling. There is a circular driveway of paving stones and a large gourmet cook’s kitchen. The backyard has a gated pool, grassy area and a covered patio with a ceiling fan. The home is wired both inside and out for music.

Broker Joan Santagata of RE/Max Grand Central in Tarzana is the listing agent.

Style Sale

Fashion critic Steven Cojocaru has listed his Hollywood Hills home for sale. Since I’m a cheap jeans kind of gal, I’ve never crossed paths with Cojocaru, who goes by the nickname Cojo – which makes me think of “Cujo,” that movie about a rabid St. Bernard. I’m sure Cojo doesn’t bite, although I might feel differently if I made his worst-dressed list. He listed it at $3.4 million, about a half-million less than he paid for it two and a half years ago. Ouch. Talk about getting chomped.

The 3,850-square-foot midcentury modern home in the Hollywood Hills was built in 1955 and has three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. It has a stacked stone fireplace, hardwood floors, a pitched and beamed wood ceiling in the living room, and a kitchen befitting the price. The MLS indicates he would also consider leasing it for $20,000 a month.

Cojocaru was the West Coast fashion editor for People Magazine before joining the “Today” show as style correspondent. His criticism these days can be found on “Entertainment Tonight,” “Access Hollywood” and the E channel. He has also authored “Red Carpet Diaries: Confessions of a Glamour Boy” and “Glamour, Interrupted.”

Judy Feder of Nourmand & Associates in Beverly Hills has the listing.

Ann Brenoff can be reached at [email protected]

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