What exactly does one do with a 43,000-square-foot home in Beverly Hills? Real estate investor Jeff Greene’s answer to that question is this: List it for lease at $250,000 a month.
Greene, who Forbes called “the reluctant billionaire” – please throw me into that briar patch – made his money investing in real estate, and made still more of it buying distressed assets and hoarding cash. He entered the stratosphere of wealth by creating his own virtual hedge fund and buying credit default swaps that increased in value as subprime mortgages tanked. That put him on the Forbes 400 list with a net worth of $1.4 billion.
He splits his time between a 145-foot yacht docked in the Hamptons and five homes, including the Palazzo di Amore that he just listed for lease. He used the mansion to hold his own $1 million wedding, with boxing’s bad boy Mike Tyson as his best man. Director Oliver Stone was also in attendance.
The home has 11 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms and a ballroom that eats up about 6,000 square feet. Six of the 25 acres are vineyards that produce 400 cases of wine a year.
Stacy Gottula and Joyce Rey of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills, share the listing.
Now Hear This
When a property comes on the market with a $65 million price tag, you can expect a buzz. But in this case, the seller may not hear it. He runs the world’s leading business of producing ear-protection devices and it’s safe to say, he can tune out whatever noise he wants to.
Howard S. Leight, who owns several other properties in Malibu including one in the Colony, bought this 37-acre parcel several years ago with an eye toward developing it into his principal residence. But plans and great minds change. The all-but-finished 9,000-square-foot Tuscany-style estate is now for sale. And with the distinction of being the most expensive property on the market in Malibu, it is, indeed, the talk of the town. There are only a handful of more expensive listings in Greater Los Angeles.
Known as the Rocky Oaks Estate, the compound includes a 9,500-vine vineyard that produced its first wines in 2006, and pads for a helicopter landing site, a guesthouse and a guard gate. The hillsides are loaded with more than 100 olive trees, 75 citrus trees, 100 or so avocado trees, and an additional 50 fruit and nut trees. It’s like visiting Italy, right down to the vino.
The five-bedroom, five-bathroom home was designed by architect Bob Easton. When completed, there will be five fireplaces, 32-foot ceilings in the living room with exposed beams, and an elevator to access all three floors. The home will have a 5,000-square-foot Egyptian limestone deck with an infinity pool, spa and outdoor loggia.
Leight is known for developing technologies to prevent occupational noise-induced hearing loss in many fields, and has helped implement stricter protection standards in the mine, aviation and construction fields.
But there just may not be a set of earplugs strong enough to drown out the talk of a $65 million listing.
Sally Forster Jones of the Coldwell Banker Beverly Hills East office has the listing.
Arrowhead Arrangement
Sandra Sanders, one of the South Bay’s real estate sales queens, recently sold her personal vacation home in the Lake Arrowhead area. It had been listed at $749,000, and the property sold for $745,000.
Sanders is the founder and broker-owner of ReMax Palos Verdes Realty & Execs, with six offices and 400 agents. She is also chief executive of Peninsula Escrow, with five South Bay locations. She is a partner-owner of ReMax Commercial, which adds another two offices and 33 agents to her scorecard.
Sanders has been repeatedly listed among the monthly top 100 sales associates in the nation.
The home she sold was built in 1982 and had three bedrooms, three bathrooms. It has a lake view and double dock. It was sold furnished, boat included.
Debra Parkinson of the Parkinson Group Resort Properties in Lake Arrowhead handled the sale.
If You’ve Got It …
Flaunt magazine principals Luis Barajas and Jim Turner have listed their Beachwood Canyon home at $3.18 million. The 4,881-square-foot home has five bedrooms and six bathrooms, with views of downtown, the ocean and the Hollywood sign. It sits on a secluded half-acre with waterfalls, palms, a pool and lush gardens.
Editor-in-chief Barajas and creative director Turner are the masterminds behind Flaunt, a slick magazine known for forecasting trends in fashion, culture and style. They established the publication in 1998; it is now distributed in 29 countries.
One of the magazine’s more memorable covers featured a perforated facemask drawn by David Bowie, allowing readers to become the “Thin White Duke.” In another issue, there was an insert from which readers could build their own version of the popular Eames chair. One edition included a bag of sand to promote the film “Sahara.”
Konstantine Valissarakos of Sotheby’s International Realty, Los Feliz, shares the listing with Vadim Baum, Keller Williams, Larchmont office.
Ann Brenoff can be reached at [email protected]
