This story was updated due to the close of the sale of Miramax.
Construction giant Ron Tutor, who has bought Miramax Films and its 611-picture library, has lowered the price on his 10-bedroom Hidden Hills home from $18.9 million to $15.5 million.
Walt Disney Co. has sold the Miramax Films name and library for about $650 million to a group led by Tutor and Colony Capital, a privately held institutional investment firm. Tutor is not expected to be hands-on with the film studio. His business is construction, and for all we know, he’s buying the studio just to annoy Ron Burkle and the Weinstein boys, who also wanted it.
Tutor grew his company from a small local builder into one of the country’s biggest building and civil works construction companies, Tutor Perini Corp. His mansion has been on the market for even longer than the film studio he is expected to buy, which is puzzling because it’s a really nice house if you’re in the market for a 20,000-square-footer. I’ve stayed in smaller hotels.
The property has its own lake, waterfalls, swimming pool and grotto, formal gardens and tennis court. The home in the gated equestrian community in the western San Fernando Valley sits on 3.4 acres and there’s a very cool bridge, which features a large arcade that stretches across to the entertainment wing. There’s a ballroom that can accommodate several hundred guests at a time and the wing has a poker room, bar, gym, guesthouse and two apartments for staff. The master suite has his-and-her closets and there are six more bedroom suites in the main wing.
Tutor’s wealth was recently estimated at $700 million by the Business Journal. He was raised in the Valley and worked his way through USC, where he now sits on the board and has buildings named after him – not to mention the ones he built there.
Tracy Tutor Maltas, an agent with Partner’s Trust, Los Angeles, and the daughter of the contracting mogul, has the listing.
Motivated Seller
I like a guy who sets out to be a millionaire by his 30th birthday and then does it. Real estate company principal and motivational author-speaker Steven Fogel has listed his seven-bedroom Bel-Air home for $13.9 million. And, by George, he is going to sell it! Because he can! Because he will! Because failure is not an option!
Fogel is a principal and co-founder of Westwood Financial Corp., one of the largest owner-operators of retail properties in the country, with a portfolio of more than 93 shopping centers in 23 metropolitan markets worth more than $1 billion. He is a licensed real estate broker and past chairman of the California Arts Council. He also wrote the motivational book “My Mind Is Not Always My Friend: A Guide for How Not to Get in Your Own Way.”
The 8,775-square-foot home he is selling was built in 1929. The gated Montecito-style property includes a main house, projection and game room, and two full staff/guest apartments with a gym. The main house features a sweeping staircase entryway, step-down living room, music room and study. The formal dining room is banquet size, and the huge kitchen has a breakfast area, separate breakfast room, plus staff dining room and service areas. French doors lead to an outdoor living room with a fireplace. Upstairs are five bedroom suites, including a large master with walk-in closets and dual bathrooms with fireplaces, plus a terrace overlooking the grounds that include a pool.
Valerie Fitzgerald of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage is the listing agent for the property.
Allen in Malibu
Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen recently bought an oceanfront house in Malibu through a corporation. The home had been listed at $29.5 million and it is believed Allen paid just above $25 million.
What he really bought was a piece of America’s most expensive beachfront. The white stucco-and-glass house sits on Carbon Beach, where neighbors include media moguls David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, as well as the home that Nancy Daly Riordan occupied until her death in 2009. Oracle’s Larry Ellison also lives there. Carbon Beach – a.k.a. Billionaires’ Beach – is also home to the legendary boulder Deal Rock, thusly named because so many Hollywood deals were struck there with a handshake and a bottle of sun lotion nearby.
Allen’s new digs include a 5,800-square-foot house with five bedrooms, a gym, screening room and deck with a pool.
Allen started Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend Bill Gates. He also owns pro football’s Seattle Seahawks and pro basketball’s Portland Trail Blazers, so no doubt folks along Carbon are hoping for some good floor seats. You know the guy sitting next to Jack Nicholson at Lakers games? That’s Lou Adler, another Carbon Beach resident and producer of – most notably – “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” How’d you like to be collecting royalties on that puppy?
The seller of Allen’s home was Charles Perez, co-founder of Paul Davril Inc., a privately held apparel company founded in 1974 and headquartered in Vernon, with additional offices in Hong Kong and China.
Ann Brenoff can be reached at [email protected]