TV Hospitable to Exec

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Omar Spahi recently sold a $4.4 million co-op in Santa Monica under the bright camera lights of Bravo’s reality show “Million Dollar Listing.”

“It was definitely intense,” said Spahi, 27, vice president of Ocean Avenue Realty in Santa Monica. An upcoming episode will feature the sale of the 1,700-square-foot co-op, a two-bedroom unit that had been joined with a studio and renovated to emphasize full ocean views.

Spahi, a fan of the show, pitched himself and the property to Bravo and hit it off with host Ryan Serhant.

“The shows are great,” Spahi said. “It takes real estate and adds a personal element to it. There’s nothing more personal to someone than their home.” Spahi knows just how personal the beachside building can be: His father, John Spahi, is a partner in the group that owns the Ocean Towers and Omar lives in the unit there where he grew up.

“My dad thought it would be poetic,” he said.

The senior Spahi built his real estate business from scratch after his family’s successful textile company was taken by the government in his native Egypt.

But real estate isn’t the younger Spahi’s only passion. He also publishes comic books and is working on earning a pilot’s license.

“People constantly tell me that I do too much and should slow down, but this is me,” he said. “We only have one life.”

Under Fire

Bob Kurkjian, executive director of Bob Hope USO Inc., recalls holding a unique post when he was deployed to Baghdad almost 10 years ago while serving with the Navy Reserve.

He was attached to the Defense Logistics Agency and was responsible for handling hazardous material from used oil to yellowcake, the base product to make highly enriched uranium.

Kurkjian, 43, said his missions weren’t always smooth sailing.

“There were times when I was either inside or outside the base and took fire, whether it was small or mortar or rockets,” he said. “You just had to think, OK, they’re lobbing rockets at us, not a whole lot I can do, but when appropriate take shelter.”

Kurkjian said the safest route would have been to not complete the mission but it wasn’t an option.

“The surest way to be safe is to not do the mission,” he said. “But you have to get a mission done. The group I worked with, we put in 16-hour days and we made a difference. It was incredible.”

Staff reporters Daina Beth Solomon and Subrina Hudson contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Jonathan Diamond. He can be reached at [email protected].

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