Aerospace industry giant Kent Kresa, the former chief executive of Northrop Grumman Corp., recently sold his five-bedroom, 7.5-bath Beverly Hills home for $13 million.
You tell me: Which is the greater accomplishment? Taking an obscure military contractor from the brink of extinction and turning it into a $28 billion-a-year venture employing 120,000 workers – or selling a house in this market? Tough call. Kresa left Northrop Grumman in 2003 after 13 years. In March, he was named interim head of General Motor’s board after the feds forced out Rick Wagoner. Another tough job for a tough guy. Kresa has been a GM director since 2003.
Kresa is also director and nonexecutive chairman of the board at Avery Dennison Corp., which manufactures and distributes pressure-sensitive adhesive materials, office products and various paper products. It is headquartered in Pasadena. Kresa previously was a director at Fluor Corp. and MannKind Corp.
The Mediterranean home was built in 2008. It has five bedroom suites, including a master suite with two bathrooms and multiple balconies. There is a family room, media room, gym, game room, wine room and a state-of-the-art home automation system. The landscaped grounds include winding pathways through a citrus grove.
Judy Cycon of Prudential/John Aaroe, Beverly Hills, had the listing.
Leaving Bel-Air
One of the Web’s earliest pioneers in the New World Order of social networking, e-commerce and user-generated content has listed his Bel-Air home for $18.9 million. The house belongs to David Bohnett, who co-founded Geocities.com in 1994, which was sold to Yahoo for $3.6 billion in 1999.
Much to the good fortune of Los Angeles, Bohnett took his own good fortune and became a major philanthropist. Today, he is chairman of the L.A. Philharmonic and a trustee of both the Foundation for AIDS Research and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Other beneficiaries of his generosity include the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Wildlife Alliance. Bohnett generally supports animal rights groups, social activists, the arts and charities that deliver direct services to those in need. Let’s hope he isn’t moving too far.
Geocities is considered the precursor to Facebook. Bohnett’s other online ventures include LowerMyBills; NetZero; and OVGuide, which is a search engine for online video properties including TV shows and films.
Bohnett’s 5,721-square-foot home was designed by A. Quincy Jones and built around 1954. Located in Holmby Hills, the one-story residence has four bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms. Gary Cooper, star of “High Noon,” was the original owner, and he lived there until his death in 1961.
The home, significantly remodeled since Cooper’s residency, has high ceilings, terrazzo floors and a raised stone fireplace. The kitchen has two butler pantries and a center work island. The room opens out onto the terrace and pool area. The property has a number of water features and a covered pergola with views of the canyon below.
Bohnett owns at least three properties in Los Angeles and New York, and splits his time among them.
Linda May, Coldwell Banker Beverly Hills, is the listing agent.
Preservation Pricing
The Ennis House just had a price reduction from $15 million to $10.5 million. The home, a creation of world-renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, was built in 1924 for Mabel and Charles Ennis. It is considered one of the most outstanding and architecturally significant residential structures in the United States. The Los Feliz home sustained damage in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake and 2004-2005 winter floods, but has been repaired.
It is owned now by the Ennis House Foundation, which has placed it on the market for sale to a private owner. The house has a conservation easement protecting it from demolition or insensitive alteration, and to guide future restoration efforts.
Jeffrey Hyland, Rick Hilton and Aaron Kirman of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, share the listing with Ray Hayes and Mark Dilbeck of Dilbeck Realtors. Hyland is the author of the “Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills.”
Ann Brenoff can be reached at [email protected].
