Malibu is filing suit against the state of California, the city of Los Angeles, L.A. County and additional public entities. Saying the seaside enclave’s “entire character” was changed by the Palisades fire, the city is seeking damages for the loss of property, business and city revenue.
Malibu officials confirmed Wednesday that the city had filed a civil complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court with a list of defendants that included the California Department of Parks and Recreation, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.
Malibu officials said the decision was necessary to try to recoup losses that affect “the long-term fiscal implications for Malibu and its taxpayers,” according to a news release. The complaint does not list a specific dollar amount the city is seeking in damages.
“The lawsuit seeks accountability for the extraordinary losses suffered by our community while recognizing that Malibu must continue to work collaboratively with our regional partners going forward,” Mayor Bruce Silverstein said in a statement.
The city’s “entire character changed” on Jan. 7, 2025, when the defendants’ “unlawful conduct caused the Palisades Fire to ignite,” according to the complaint.
The ensuing blaze killed 12 people, half of whom were Malibu residents, according to the city. Roughly 700 Malibu homes and dozens of businesses also were destroyed, the complaint states.
Those businesses included restaurants that were local institutions, such as Moonshadows, the Reel Inn and Rosenthal Wine Bar & Patio.
Malibu “is still reeling from the destruction” of the fire, “a hollowed out community, burned and destroyed buildings and homes, a shrinking tax base, emotionally and physically scarred citizens, and untold environmental damage,” the complaint states.
Malibu claims that the fire was “not an accident” but a “foreseeable and proximate result of unlawful conduct” by the defendants.
Each of the entities was blamed for its role in the fire, including not properly addressing the burn scar from the Lachman fire, which rekindled to become the Palisades fire; leaving “reservoirs empty for over a year”; and failing to ensure “essential firefighting infrastructure,” according to the complaint.
“This decision was not made lightly,” Silverstein said. “The city has an obligation to act in the best interests of our residents and taxpayers.”
The charred remains of the historic Pacific Palisades Business Block cast a shadow over a once-bustling shopping district along West Sunset Boulevard.
Empty lots littered with debris and ash line the street where houses and small businesses once stood. A year since the Palisades fire roared through the neighborhood, only a handful of businesses have reopened.
The Starbucks, Bank of America, and other businesses that used to operate in the century-old Business Block are gone. All that remains of the Spanish Colonial Revival building are some arches surrounding what used to be a busy retail space. The burned-out, rusty remnants of a walk-in vault squat in the center of the structure.
Nearby, the Shade Store, the Free-est clothing store, Skin Local spa, a Hastens mattress store, Sweet Laurel Bakery and the Hydration Room are among the many stores still shuttered. Local barbershop Gornik & Drucker doesn’t know if it can reopen.
“We have been going back and forth on what it would take to survive,” co-owner Leslie Gornik said. “If we open, we have to start over from scratch.”
Hundreds gathered around Business Block on the anniversary of the fire on Wednesday to witness a military-style white-glove ceremony to pay respects to the families who lost loved ones. Photos of those killed from the neighborhood were placed at the Palisades Village Green next door.
The Palisades fire burned for 24 days, destroying more than 6,800 structures, damaging countless others and forcing most of the neighborhood’s residents to move elsewhere. About 30 miles northeast, the Eaton fire burned more than 9,400 structures. Combined, the fires killed 31 people.
Remnants of the the Pacific Palisades Business Block, which was completed in 1924 and burned in the Palisades fire.
The few businesses that are back in Palisades serve as a beacon of hope for the community, but owners and managers say business is down and customers haven’t returned.
Ruby Nails & Spa, located near the Business Block, was closed for eight months before reopening in September. Now business is only half of what it was before the fires, owner Ruby Hong-Tran said.
“People come back to support but they live far away now,” she said. “All my clients, their houses burned.”
Ruby Hong-Tran, owner of Ruby Nails & Spa in Pacific Palisades, says her business is half of what it was since reopening.
It took months to clean all the smoke damage from her shop. The front is still being fixed to cover up burn damage.
The firestorms destroyed swaths of other neighborhoods, including Malibu, Topanga, Sierra Madre and Altadena, where businesses and homeowners also are struggling to build back.
Some are figuring out whether it is worth rebuilding. Some have given up.
The Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation estimated last year that more than 1,800 small businesses were in the burn zones in Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena, impacting more than 11,000 jobs.
Businesses say they often have been on their own. The Federal Emergency Management Agency tasked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to clean up debris at private residences, some public buildings and places of worship — but not commercial properties.
Business owners had to clean up the charred debris and toxic waste on their properties. Many had to navigate complicated insurance claims and apply for emergency loans to stay afloat.
Rosie Maravilla, general manager of Anawalt’s Palisades Hardware, said damage to her store was limited, and insurance covered the cleaning, so she was able to open quickly. The store reopened just one month after the fire.
Rosie Maravilla, general manager of Anawalt Palisades Hardware, in front of of the store in Pacific Palisades.
Still, sales are 35% lower than what they used to be.
“In the early days, it was bad. We weren’t making anything,” Maravilla said. “We’re lucky the company kept us employed.”
The customer base has changed. Instead of homeowners working on personal projects, the store is serving contractors working on rebuilding in the area.
An archival image of the area in Pacific Palisades hangs over the aisles in Anawalt Palisades Hardware, where business is down despite a customer base of contractors who are rebuilding.
Across the street from the Business Block, the Palisades Village mall was spared the flames and looks pristine, but is still closed. Shop windows are covered with tarps. Low metal gates block entry to the high-end outlets. The mall is still replacing its drywall to eliminate airborne contaminants that the fire could have spread.
All of its posh shops still are shut: Erewhon, Lululemon, Bay Theater, Blue Ribbon Sushi, athletic apparel store Alo, Buck Mason men’s and Veronica Beard women’s boutiques.
Mall owner and developer Rick Caruso said he is spending $60 million to reopen in August.
The need to bring back businesses impacted by the fires is urgent, Caruso said, and not just to support returning residents.
“It’s critical to bring jobs back and also for the city to start creating some tax revenue to support city services,” he said. ”Leaders need to do more to speed up the rebuilding process, such as speeding up the approval of building permits and stationing building inspectors closer to burn areas.”
Pedestrians walk past the Erewhon market in Palisades Village that plans to reopen this year.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Wednesday, on the anniversary of the fire, Caruso sent three light beams into the sky over the mall, which met in one stream to honor the impacted communities of Pacific Palisades, Altadena and Malibu.
The nighttime display will continue through Jan. 31.
Business Block’s history dates to 1924, when it served as a home for the community’s first ventures. In the 1980s, plans to tear it down and build a mall sparked a local uprising to save the historic symbol of the neighborhood’s vibrancy. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1984.
Tiana Noble, a Starbucks spokesperson, said the landlord terminated the company’s lease when the building burned down. Bank of America said it secured a new lease to rebuild nearby.
Business Block’s fate is still unclear. Some people want to preserve its shell and turn it into a memorial.
This week, it was ringed by a fence emblazoned with the words “Empowering fresh starts together.”
Caruso said the ruins should be torn down.
“It needs to be demolished and cleaned up,” he said. “It’s an eyesore right now and a hazard. I would put grass on it and make it attractive to the community.”
Twisted and scorched remnants of the the Pacific Palisades Business Block still are there a year after the fire.
A short walk from the Business Block and near a burned-down Ralphs grocery store is the Palisades Garden Cafe, one of the few places in the neighborhood to get food and drink. The small, vibrant cafe was closed for two months after the fire, during which the employees went without pay.
Manager Lita Rodriguez said business is improving, but misses the regulars.
“We used to get tons of students and teachers who live and work here,” she said. “Our customers are mostly contractors now.”
A powerful storm is pummeling California, bringing heavy rains that could help to counter the high winds fueling a fast-growing wildfire in the Sierra Nevada mountains, but they could also unleash dangerous flooding and landslides further south, where previous fires have stripped vegetation.
There were apocalyptic scenes overnight as the Pack Fire, burning near the popular Mammoth Mountain ski resort in Mono County damaged at least 15 homes.
Mandatory evacuation orders were in effect for at least two communities threatened by the Pack Fire in Mono County, which, according to the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, was zero percent contained and burning across 3,400 acres on Friday morning.
This image released by the Mammoth Lakes Police Department shows the Pack Fire burning on Nov. 13, 2025, in Mono County, Calif.
Mammoth Lakes Police Department via AP
Many more areas were under evacuation warnings, meaning people who required more time to escape were advised to do so immediately.
The Pack Fire exploded late Thursday night in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains, destroying more than a dozen homes as it spread quickly thanks to high winds from an atmospheric river. Conditions were so bad that crews grounded all firefighting aircraft overnight.
Heavy rainfall coming in with the storm off the Pacific could help crews gain control over the blaze on Friday, and scientists say the moisture laden storm could even bring an end to California’s fire season, but in the south of the state, many residents were concerned about potential mudslides in burn scar areas.
Some 23 million people were under flood watches across California on Friday morning.
Cars drive through floodwaters on the Highway 880 northbound connecting ramp to Highway 24 in Oakland, California, Nov. 13, 2025.
Jessica Christian/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty
Officials are worried that hillsides charred by the devastating wildfires in Southern California early this year, left with no foliage to hold soil in place, could give way under significant rainfall.
The weather system pushed through some parts of California on Thursday, flooding roads and downing trees.
“It’s basically like a river,” Sierra Madre resident Gary Kelly said of the deluge. “Just pouring down when it’s like an inch in an hour.”
Kelly lives in the Eaton Fire burn scar area near Pasadena. His neighborhood has been put on notice for a heavy risk of flash flooding, so he was busy on Thursday preparing for the worst.
Thousands of burned homes lie in ruins as a powerful atmospheric river storm breaks, in a Feb. 14, 2025, file photo taken in Altadena, California, in the Eaton fire burn scar area.
Getty
For Kelly and others in the community, the scenes of devastation from flooding and landslides unleashed by storms in February, right after the wildfires, are still fresh on the mind.
“Anytime you have fire that’s spread through the hills, and then you have rain, a lot of that mud will come down, so that’s what I think everyone’s worried about,” he said.
This storm could deliver the Los Angeles area its wettest November in 40 years. Officials in the county have encouraged people to map out evacuation routes in the most vulnerable areas, including Malibu, where there could be intense mud flows and flooding.
Wood frames are rising from the ashes of burned-out lots in Pacific Palisades, signaling the start of a new era for the fire-torn community. But down the road in Malibu, the scene is bleak.
Cars wind through a gauntlet of traffic cones and caution tape. Sweeping ocean views are sullied by hollow shells of graffiti-tagged homes and miles of chain-link fencing.
Nearly a year after the Palisades fire, one of Southern California’s most iconic communities is frozen in place.
In Altadena and Pacific Palisades, the two communities hit hardest by the January fires, there are rebuilding permits aplenty. The city of L.A., which is handling most permits in the Palisades, has issued 801 — around 43% of the total applications received, according to data from the state’s rebuilding dashboard. L.A. County, which is handling most permits in Altadena, has issued 577 — around 26% of the total applications received.
So far, Malibu has issued four — about 2% of the total applications received.
“It’s depressing,” said Abe Roy, Malibu resident and professional builder.
In May, Roy was appointed as the city’s first Rebuild Ambassador, a volunteer role created to find solutions to administrative obstacles and speed up the rebuild. He publicly resigned last month, citing frustrations with the slow permitting process.
“If this current pace continues, rebuilding will take way longer than a decade,” he said.
A view of cleared lots and sparse construction after the Palisades fire in the Sunset Mesa neighborhood of eastern Malibu.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
A buyer’s market
In contrast to other California communities, where sprawl and expansion led to skyrocketing populations over the last few decades, Malibu has long embraced “slow growth.” Fewer live there now than when the city was incorporated 34 years ago.
But after roughly 720 Malibu homes burned in the Palisades fire, burned-out lots are sitting empty. Locals are worried that the city may never get fully back on its feet, and property values will suffer. And in a place like Malibu — one of the most expensive markets in the country, where a 10% price drop can mean millions of dollars lost — property values are king.
Of the 160 lots listed this year that are still on the market, 47 have received a price cut.
In the Big Rock neighborhood, a burned lot listed for $1.65 million in September, but that price has already been lowered twice. On Las Flores Beach, an oceanfront parcel hit the market for $3 million in April, but with no takers, relisted for $1.95 million in October.
Roughly 75 lots have sold in Malibu since the fire. But as more homeowners decide to sell instead of rebuild, sales are slowing down — and a buyer’s market is emerging.
“Supply is exceeding demand, and lots are selling anywhere from a 20 to 60% discount,” Roy said. “That’s a premonition for a freefall.”
Roy said the overwhelming majority of residents want to stay and simply replace the home they have. But as applications get kicked back for corrections, and the rebuilding timeline turns from months to years, many are getting discouraged and choosing to sell.
“Remodeling a kitchen or bathroom is onerous for most people. But building a house from the ground up is almost impossible,” Roy said. “After a while, you raise your hand and say, ‘I don’t know how long I can be on this treadmill.’”
Real estate agent Daniel Milstein is currently listing a 3.25-acre lot on a promontory in Carbon Canyon that once held a Mediterranean mansion formerly owned by record producer David Foster. Before the fire, it was listed for $35 million.
After it burned, the lot returned to market at $16 million. But with the slowing market, Milstein is planning to trim the price down to $12 million.
“The property is worth a lot more, but the nuances of building here and the limited permits issued have led to a setback in the market,” he said. “The value will be higher down the road, but there’s a discount for buyers right now.”
Milstein added that the buyer pool is limited to people who can afford to park their money for a while — three years, six years, maybe more. For those hoping to build a house right away, Malibu isn’t an option.
But Milstein said that’s by design.
“Malibu is stringent on permits. But that’s where the value is,” Milstein said. “It’s exclusive. And those that understand that value will be very happy with their property values down the road.”
In the meantime, locals who lost homes are stuck in limbo.
Permit trouble
The choice of whether to sell or stay has been well-documented over the last year, with homeowners in Altadena and Pacific Palisades speaking out about their decision-making process.
But Malibu locals — permit-less and facing rebuild timelines significantly longer than their fellow rebuilding communities — are a bit more circumspect. The Times reached out to over a dozen homeowners with lots on the market, but none wanted to publicly participate in the story.
One homeowner, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution from neighbors or the city, called the past few months “a nightmare.”
“I have friends a few miles east in Pacific Palisades who are starting to build already. I submitted my applications in the spring, the same time as them, but it still hasn’t gotten approved,” said the homeowner, whose Malibu home burned down in January.
The homeowner planned to rebuild the same house that was there before, but their application was sent back because the plans didn’t comply with FEMA’s updated flood elevation standards, which require many rebuilt oceanfront homes to sit higher above the sand.
It’s a snag that several have run into over the past year. One local, whose house survived but sustained smoke damage, told Fox 11 that he may be forced to demolish the property in order to comply with the heightened elevation standards.
Comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla has emerged as a face of the frustration building in Malibu, vlogging about the bleak state of the city. He claims that Malibu is emphasizing the wrong things in its requirements for rebuilding.
Carolla visited a construction site on the beach that was installing 30 caissons six stories deep into the ground. Between the caissons, the seawall and retaining wall, the crew estimated it would cost $2 million to $3 million to install the foundation.
“It’s totally unnecessary. The former structure that was there lasted 75 years, and the tide didn’t get it, the fire did,” Carolla said. “If telephone poles sunk into the soil worked for 75 years, why do we need to build Hitler’s bunker under the sand?”
Carolla said it’s a symptom of the larger trend across L.A. that he regularly complains about: regulations and over-engineering bogging development down to the point where no one can afford to build.
Real estate agent Jason Ventress said the strict rules are limiting the buyer pool for his latest listing, a $12.5-million burned lot spanning half an acre on the ocean.
“The city is bogged down by confusion and interpretations of newly implemented laws that are being contested,” Ventress said.
In addition to the FEMA height requirements, he pointed to Malibu’s new septic standards, which requires rebuilders to replace existing septic systems with onsite wastewater treatment systems, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to install.
Ventress, a fire victim himself dealing with a daunting rebuild, credited the Malibu Rebuild Center as a helpful resource to locals who lost their homes. Opened in March, it serves as a one-stop shop for both homeowners and contractors to ask questions and get help submitting applications.
Yolanda Bundy, who runs the center under her role as Community Development Director, said of the 720 families impacted by the fire, 585 have visited.
Bundy said it’s a necessary resource, since building in Malibu — a land of eroding cliffs and rising sea levels — is trickier than building in the flat lots found in Altadena and parts of the Palisades. She said 50% of burned homes were on the water, and 30% were on steep slopes.
“These homes require septic systems, sea walls, retaining walls and complex foundations. Those come with restrictions,” Bundy said.
Acknowledging the slow pace of permits, Bundy’s team has launched a handful of strategies aimed at streamlining the approval process, highlighting the changes at an Oct. 15 City Council meeting.
According to Bundy, one of the biggest reasons for applications getting bogged down is architectural plans missing necessary notes and numbers. So the city created templates that architects can use to avoid corrections.
The city also trimmed the 12-step application intake procedure down to six steps and beefed up its staff, hiring a case manager to serve as a bridge between staff and homeowners.
Despite only four building permits being issued, Bundy said the collective rebuild is further along than the number suggests. Applications have to pass through two phases: the planning and entitlement phase, and the building and safety review phase. Bundy said half of the roughly 160 applications have passed through planning, but are still waiting to get through the building phase.
“It’s an oversimplification to say that we’re not making any progress compared to L.A.,” Bundy said. “Families are frustrated, but I want every family to know we’re doing our best to get them home.”
Lost identity
As rebuilds get costlier, locals are getting concerned that by the time Malibu eventually gets back on its feet, it won’t feel the same. Lifelong residences will be replaced by Airbnbs, development groups and deep-pocketed foreign buyers with enough time and money to navigate the laborious permit process.
Two brothers from New Zealand bought up $65 million worth of burned-out lots on the beach this year. Ventress said he’s fielding interest from a Canadian development group and a Miami hedge fund for his oceanfront listing.
Milstein said he’s noticed a surge in interest from Europe, Canada and Asia, and roughly a third of his inquiries this year have come from international networks such as private banks and wealth managers.
“There’s fear that Malibu’s identity will change, and that might fuel folks to move as well,” Roy said. “It might not be the Malibu we loved for years, where the bartender knows your drink and you see your neighbors at the local restaurants.”
But Roy said the city should welcome all buyers, international or not. He spoke with the New Zealand duo and said he supports their vision of adding housing.
“People selling lots are in dire straits. They don’t care whether offers come from international buyers or not,” he said. “As long as those people are believing in the future of Malibu and willing to invest.”
Voices across Malibu say the only solution is issuing permits quicker so fire victims want to come back.
“Malibu is a way of life. Most of us are doing our darndest to maintain that way of life,” Ventress said. Seconds later, while driving down Pacific Coast Highway, he passed a naked man walking down the beach.
“He’s got a metal detector or something…no wait, it’s a golf club!” he exclaimed over the phone. “Right now, it’s the wild, wild west out here.”
Kiss rock star Gene Simmons is recovering after he fainted while driving along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and crashed his SUV into a parked car, authorities said.Simmons, a co-founder and bassist for the legendary band, was evaluated at a hospital Tuesday before being released. He posted on social media that he was doing well.“Thanks, everybody, for the kind wishes. I’m completely fine. I had a slight fender bender. It happens,” he said on X.The 76-year-old’s SUV crossed several lanes before hitting a parked car along the highway, agencies that responded to the crash told several media outlets. Simmons was then transported to a hospital, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.Kiss retired from a half-century of touring in 2023, but Simmons and his bandmates plan to play in November at a special event in Las Vegas. In August, President Donald Trump announced that Kiss will be among this year’s Kennedy Center honorees.
MALIBU, Calif. —
Kiss rock star Gene Simmons is recovering after he fainted while driving along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and crashed his SUV into a parked car, authorities said.
Simmons, a co-founder and bassist for the legendary band, was evaluated at a hospital Tuesday before being released. He posted on social media that he was doing well.
“Thanks, everybody, for the kind wishes. I’m completely fine. I had a slight fender bender. It happens,” he said on X.
The 76-year-old’s SUV crossed several lanes before hitting a parked car along the highway, agencies that responded to the crash told several media outlets. Simmons was then transported to a hospital, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
Kiss retired from a half-century of touring in 2023, but Simmons and his bandmates plan to play in November at a special event in Las Vegas. In August, President Donald Trump announced that Kiss will be among this year’s Kennedy Center honorees.
A man was arrested after stealing a car in East Los Angeles with three children inside, then crashing it in Malibu during a police pursuit Friday evening, officials confirmed.
The car, a light-colored sedan, was left running with three children inside at a 7-Eleven on East Olympic Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. A stranger jumped inside the idling vehicle and took off at around 6:38 p.m.
The California Highway Patrol began pursuing the vehicle minutes later, traveling westbound on the 10 Freeway at Maple Avenue in Los Angeles, the agency confirmed.
The chase continued until roughly 7:34 p.m., when the sedan appeared to T-bone a light-colored SUV at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Kanan Dume Road in Malibu.
Following the crash, live footage broadcast from a news helicopter showed the suspect fleeing the scene barefoot and shedding layers of clothes. The man ran through a residential area into a field before being arrested.
Four people at the scene were taken to a hospital — three by helicopter and one by ambulance, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Three were listed with minor-to-moderate injuries, but no condition was available for the fourth person.
It is unclear how seriously injured the children were, but they were conscious and breathing after the crash as paramedics removed them from the vehicle, KTLA-TV reported.
A magnitude 3 earthquake occurred just north of Malibu Saturday afternoon, the latest in a cluster of temblors reported over the last week and a half.
The latest earthquake occurred at 2:15 p.m. Saturday, with an epicenter along Kanan Dume Road, about 3.6 miles north of Point Dume.
Saturday’s event was the sixth earthquake of magnitude 3 or higher since a magnitude 4.7 earthquake in the same area was widely felt across Southern California on Sept. 12.
Only “weak” shaking was felt in the area closest to Saturday’s epicenter, which included Zuma Beach and Point Dume State Beach in Malibu, as defined by the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That intensity of shaking is so mild that many people don’t recognize it as an earthquake. If they do, the vibrations felt might be similar to the passing of a truck.
This has been an unusually active year for moderate earthquakes in Southern California. The Sept. 12 earthquake north of Malibu was part of the 14th seismic sequence this year in Southern California with at least one magnitude 4 or higher earthquake, seismologist Lucy Jones, a Caltech research associate, said earlier this month.
That broke a record for the last 65 years. Over that time period, Jones said, there were an average of eight to 10 independent sequences of earthquakes annually that included at least one temblor of magnitude 4 or greater.
In some years, there were just one or two of those earthquake sequences; the highest previous tally was 13 in 1988.
The observation is not necessarily an indication that a large, damaging earthquake is around the corner, scientists said.
Some researchers have offered dueling theories — some say earthquake activity increases in a region before a large earthquake, others say seismic activity decreases before a large jolt.
So the recent activity does not offer any hint of when the next large, destructive temblor will occur, said Susan Hough, a U.S. Geological Survey seismologist, earlier this month.
Are you ready for when the Big One hits? Get ready for the next big earthquake by signing up for our Unshaken newsletter, which breaks down emergency preparedness into bite-sized steps over six weeks. Learn more about earthquake kits, which apps you need, Lucy Jones’ most important advice and more at latimes.com/Unshaken.
A crowdfunding firm that has flipped homes since 2018 said it’s in contract to buy Kanye West’s gutted Malibu home at a big discount.
Belwood Investments, originally founded in Folsom, is in escrow on West’s home at 24844 Malibu Road for $21 million, according to the company’s marketing lead David Contreras.
The real estate firm acquires homes, partially funded with individual investors who sign up through the company’s app. Belwood says it works with non-accredited investors willing to put up at least $1,000, which is then secured through a trust deed. The business model is to renovate the home and sell it.
The Malibu price would be a steep haircut for rapper and music producer West, who now goes by the name Ye. He put the home on the market in January with a $53 million ask. The price was then slashed in April to $39 million.
The Oppenheim Group’s Jason Oppenheim has the listing. If the property trades for $21 million, it will represent a 60 percent discount from the asking price in January.
Contreras said Belwood is working with The Agency’s Jean-Baptiste Rugiero on the deal. The Agency declined to comment.
The home’s current state has been well publicized.
In 2021, West paid $57.3 million for the property, then tore out the windows, doors and wiring. The gutted structure spans roughly 4,000 square feet with four bedrooms and five bathrooms, but it currently lacks plumbing, electrical, HVAC and interior finishes..
Minimalist designer Tadao Ando redesigned the house, which took 1,200 tons of concrete and 200 tons of steel to build.
Belwood is keen on bringing the house back to Ando’s original vision. The flipper estimates restoration costs of about $6.5 million for a project expected to take 12 to 16 months, according to Contreras.
A broker price opinion report prepared for Belwood by Rugiero and reviewed by The Real Deal estimated the property’s final value once restored to be more than $50 million.
“It seemed like a great opportunity, considering the history of the property and the architect who designed it,” Contreras said of what attracted the company to the investment.
If the deal closes, it would mark Belwood’s first Malibu property.
The investment firm, according to Contreras, plans to work with Marmol Radziner’s Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner, the original architects of the home when it was built in 2013 for financier and art collector Richard Sachs.
After West purchased the property in 2021, he directed the demolition crew to remove everything from tubs to light fixtures, according to a report from The New Yorker in June. Workers were instructed to remove all traces of windows, air conditioning, heating, cable, wiring, bathrooms and more, the report said.
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Kanye West’s Malibu home marks top contract for LA County
Malibu estate with surfboard shack, beach path trades for $32M
Malibu Cove Colony home tops list of LA luxe resi contracts
A Los Angeles litigation attorney found a buyer for his Malibu estate, trading it for $31.7 million.
The 7,269-square-foot Point Dume home at 28823 Cliffside Drive is yet another ultra-luxury deal for Malibu in what is shaping up as a red-hot year for the beach town.
Property records show the seller was Brian Strange, founder of complex litigation firm Strange LLP. The buyer is an LLC tied to a New York-based accounting firm specializing in services for high-net-worth clients.
Compass’ Chris Cortazzo had the listing, while Compass’ Lily Harfouche represented the buyer.
Records on Zillow show the property hit the market in May, with a $35 million asking price.
The six-bedroom, five-bath home built in 1957 was recently renovated, according to listing sites. The gated property on more than 1.5 acres includes a guest house, guest suite over the garage, room for six cars, a path to the beach and surfboard shack.
The Cliffside sale marks another sizable deal for Malibu, which has hosted ultra-luxury deals of all shapes and sizes this year.
Last month a spec mansion above Billionaire’s Beach sold for $32 million. There was also developer Scott Gillen’s sale of the Malibu home he built, called The Edge, for $61 million.
Among the more eyebrow-raising deals in the city was Steve Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell Jobs’ $94 million purchase of her fourth Malibu property. There was also the reported sale of Oakley and Red Digital Cinema Camera founder Jim Jannard’s estate for $210 million — the state record for a residential price — to an unknown buyer.
Most recently, Westside Estate Agency co-founder Kurt Rappaport told Bloomberg he’s getting ready to release a $300 million private listing. The property, if sold anywhere near its ask, would take the crown as the state’s highest-priced deal.
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Malibu Cove Colony home tops list of LA luxe resi contracts
Kurt Rappaport to roll out $300M estate listing in Malibu
Kanye West’s Malibu home marks top contract for LA County
A Malibu Cove Colony property tops last week’s list of the largest residential contracts signed in Los Angeles County.
That’s the word from the Eklund Weekly Luxury Report LA, which tallied contracts signed on listings above $4 million within the county between Aug. 5 and Aug. 11. The four-bed, three-bath home at 26940 Malibu Cove Colony Drive counts the beach as its backyard, with a listing price just under $11 million.
Douglas Elliman’s Ivan Estrada has the listing on the home, which property records show is owned by a trust tied to Renee Kaswan, the late inventor of Restatis dry-eye treatment and a philanthropist whose foray into affordable housing in Koreatown ended in a financial meltdown.
The roughly 3,500-square-foot home in Malibu Cove Colony first went on sale in the spring of 2022 for $21.6 million before going on and off the market as a rental and for sale with several price reductions along the way, according to Zillow.
The beachfront contemporary, designed by architect Ron Goldman, has floor-to-ceiling windows, a two-story foyer, Tesla chargers and ocean views.
L.A. County’s second-largest signed contract last week was a Hidden Hills home at 23738 Long Valley Road.
The six-bed, nine-bath property totaling 9,376 square feet is listed at $9.3 million.
Douglas Elliman’s Marc Shevin and Sara Shevin have the listing. Property records show the home is owned by Micah Scheinberg and Cara Scheinberg.
Highlights include a pool, spa and full-size court for sports such as pickleball.
In total, Los Angeles County reported three more contracts in the week ended Aug. 11 in comparison to the prior seven-day period, according to the Eklund report. The market saw a total of 16 signed contracts last week, including one condo unit.
Total volume for last week’s contracts was $102.8 million, which amounted to a 26 percent jump from the prior reporting period.
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LA’s Luxury Home Market Enters August with Quiet Week
Kanye West’s Malibu home marks top contract for LA County
Spec mansion above Malibu’s Billionaire’s Beach goes for $32M
California’s beaches are public, but on the sands of Malibu, one billionaire has been accused of stealing a slice of paradise — or at least a few scoops of it — for himself.
A lawsuit filed last week alleges that Mark Attanasio, billionaire businessman and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, has been using excavators to dig up sand from Broad Beach and carry it back to his house as part of an ongoing construction project.
“This case is about a private property owner using a public beach as their own personal sandbox and the disturbing conversion of a public natural resource (i.e., sand from Broad Beach) for a nearby homeowner’s personal, private use,” the lawsuit says.
The suit was filed by Attanasio’s next-door neighbor James Kohlberg, son of Jerome Kohlberg, who founded the global investment company Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Kohlberg’s lawyers accuse Attanasio’s construction team, JILK Heavy Construction, of operating enormous excavators in tidal zones, leaking oils and exposing local marine life to potentially hazardous byproducts. The suit alleges that the construction restricted public access to the entirety of the beach.
Attanasio bought the Broad Beach home for $23 million in 2007. A decade later, he picked up the neighboring property, an empty lot, for $6.6 million.
Mark Attanasio bought this Malibu parcel for $6.6 million in 2017 but never developed it.
(Mac Hayward)
In March, the Brewers owner obtained permits to repair a damaged section of seawall, according to the lawsuit. In June and July, excavators allegedly began dragging sand from the beach onto his private property and also left gasoline residue in the water and sand.
Attanasio’s attorney, Kenneth Ehrlich, said his client’s company, 2XMD Partners LLC, has acted in 100% compliance with all of its permits.
“2XMD is in the midst of a fully-permitted emergency repair of the property to protect it from ocean forces. It has secured all permits necessary for the repairs from the City of Malibu and LA County as well as thoroughly vetted all contractors and sub-contractors involved in the project,” Ehrlich wrote in a statement.
The lawsuit, which accuses Attanasio of public nuisance, private nuisance and violation of the California Coastal Act, calls for a stop to the construction, for the sand to be replaced and for fines to be issued.
The disputed stretch of sand sits just east of Lechuza Point in Broad Beach, a hyper-exclusive enclave where celebrities and business tycoons spend tens of millions of dollars for homes right on the water.
Over the years, the beach has been battered by violent storms and high tides, leading to significant sand depletion. In 2015, high-profile residents including Dustin Hoffman, Ray Romano and Pierce Brosnan committed to a $31-million restoration project to bolster the beach’s sand.
In the last few decades, Malibu has emerged as one of the priciest pockets in the country. Earlier this year, Oakley founder James Jannard sold his home there for $210 million — the priciest home sale in California history.
During that time, as the ultra-wealthy cram bigger and bigger homes into Malibu’s rugged mountains and along coveted beaches, the community has become the centerpiece of a debate over development vs. preservation and the government’s role in maintaining California’s natural beauty.
A spec mansion perched above Malibu’s Billionaire’s Beach has sold for $32 million, after initially testing the market with a nearly $50 million asking price.
The estate was first listed in 2019 for $50 million, fully furnished. More recently, it was re-listed in February for $38 million.
The property, named Villa Splendido, sits on a 17-acre lot at 5046 Carbon Beach Terrace. It has five bedrooms and nine bathrooms and boasts a private driveway from Pacific Coast Highway, ocean views, infinity pool with a swim-accessible bar, guest house and wellness center that includes a gym and massage room.
Douglas Elliman’s Ani Dermenjian and Westside Estate Agency’s Kurt Rappaport were the listing agents. It’s unclear who represented the buyer, which property records show is a Texas-based LLC.
Malibu Real Estate Investments, led by Kirkor Suri and Bedros Oruncakiel, built Villa Splendido. Although the duo behind the development got their start in commercial real estate, they transitioned to residential in 2000, with ambitious plans to “conquer the Malibu residential real estate market,” their company’s website states.
Villa Splendido’s sale marks yet another trade in a year of blockbuster deals for Malibu.
Spec developer Scott Gillen closed earlier this month on the $61 million sale of The Edge. It marks the first sale within Gillen’s five-estate community, named The Case. The Edge, at 24186 Case Court, was first listed in 2020 for $75 million.
In June, Crown Pointe Estates at Malibu kicked off the month’s activity, selling its net-zero carbon spec home for $28.5 million. Laurene Powell Jobs later scooped up her fourth Malibu property for $94 million. There was also the sale of Oakley founder Jim Jannard’s Pacific Coast Highway estate, which reportedly sold to an unidentified Delaware LLC for a record $210 million.
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Malibu spec home from developer Scott Gillen trades for $61M
Summer slowdown affects tally of LA luxury houses in contract
Soboroff Partners, Gerschel family sell Malibu’s Park at Cross Creek
After a group of hikers found an abandoned German shepherd wandering the Malibu wilderness with its mouth zip-tied shut, an animal protection group is offering a $2,500 reward to find and hold accountable the person responsible.
Just before 8 p.m. on July 3, two hikers found the pup near Malibu Creek Canyon, according to a news release from In Defense of Animals. The dog had a zip tie around his mouth and another around his neck.
The hikers quickly called 911 and removed one of the zip ties before police and animal control arrived. Together, they removed the second zip tie and carried him to safety, the group said.
“Someone did this intentionally. They left him stranded, down a hill in the middle of nowhere off the side of the road,” one of the hikers who found the dog told KTLA. “Something needs to be done to find the person who did it.”
The dog, which In Defense of Animals said was described as “sweet and gentle,” warmed up to his rescuers and eventually let them pet him. He was later taken to the Agoura Animal Care Center.
“We are grateful for the quick actions of these hikers and law enforcement, but our efforts must continue,” said Fleur Dawes, spokesperson for In Defense of Animals. “We are determined to find the person responsible for this horrific abuse and hold them accountable since they are a danger to others.”
Anyone with information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of a suspect is asked to call In Defense of Animals at (415) 879-6879.
A Malibu home owned by the youngest son of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King has been listed for sale.
Dexter Scott King, who passed away in January after a battle with prostate cancer, served as chair of the Atlanta nonprofit King Center. The center was established by Dexter’s mother as a memorial aimed at continuing his father’s legacy, located next to the Ebenezer Baptist Church where his father served as pastor. Dexter King also served as president of the King Estate, which managed and licensed use of his father’s likeness.
Dexter King’s name comes from the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., where his father served as a pastor.
Dexter’s wife, Leah King, placed the Malibu property at 28177 Rey De Copas Lane on the market for just under $6 million. She is represented by The Oppenheim Group’s Jason Oppenheim, Chelsea Lazkani and Katy Johnson.
The Kings had listed the Malibu home once before in early 2015 for $4.9 million and took it off the market later that year.
The house totals 6,823 square feet with four bedrooms and six bathrooms. It sits on a 1.2-acre lot, close to the beach.
Exterior highlights include gardens, a waterfall spa and patios looking out to Santa Monica Bay. Inside, there’s a theater, elevator, office, gym and chef’s kitchen. It has a guard gate, a second driveway gate and “mature hedging, tropical trees and manicured gardens with no neighbors in sight,” according to the listing on the Oppenheim Group website.
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Laurene Powell Jobs spends $94M to buy fourth Malibu estate
Crown Pointe confirms “net zero” appetite with $29M Malibu sale
Chris Cortazzo on how he became the biggest broker in Malibu
Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple visionary Steve Jobs, just paid $94 million for an oceanfront estate in Malibu’s Paradise Cove, The Times has confirmed.
The billionaire businesswoman has been on a Malibu spending spree over the last decade, amassing a compound spanning multiple parcels in one of the most affluent enclaves in the country.
Real estate records show that Jobs has spent around $80 million on three adjacent properties since 2015. Her latest acquisition is the biggest home sale in Southern California so far this year and the priciest since last May, when Jay-Z and Beyoncé dropped $200 million on a minimalist mansion just up the street.
The blockbuster deal was a quiet one, completed off-market. As a result, there aren’t many photos of the property, but records show the parcel spans roughly four acres and holds an L-shaped home built in the 1950s.
Spanning four acres, the long, slender property overlooks the ocean and beach from Malibu’s Paradise Cove.
(Google Earth)
The house has four bedrooms and four bathrooms across 3,399 square feet, opening out to a lawn overlooking the cliffs and beach below. It will probably be razed as Jobs continues building her compound.
The billionaire philanthropist broke into the Malibu market in 2015, spending $44 million on a double-parcel property and demolishing the 13,000-square-foot home it held. She bought the house next door two years later for $16.5 million, and in 2021 she added an adjacent five-bedroom cottage for $17.5 million.
In 2018, the Real Deal reported that the mansion she was building was among the many homes damaged in the Woolsey fire.
Over the last decade, Paradise Cove has emerged as the most valuable stretch of coast in California and one of the priciest pockets in the country. WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum paid $87 million for a three-acre spread there in 2021. Later that year, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen broke the state price record when he dropped $177 million on a sprawling estate between Paradise Cove and Escondido Beach — before the record was broken again by Jay-Z and Beyoncé.
A native of New Jersey, Jobs manages the Steve Jobs Trust and founded the Emerson Collective, which doles out grants and investments in education, immigration reform and environmental causes. Forbes puts her net worth at $14.3 billion.
A homicide investigation is underway after a man was found dead in Malibu, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities were called to the 800 block of Westlake shortly before 3 p.m. for a shooting death investigation, the sheriff’s department said. A man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Details on what led up to the shooting report were not immediately clear. No arrests were announced in connection with the case and a description of a possible shooter was not available.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact LASD’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
Malibu Canyon Road is shut down in both directions following a rockslide Sunday morning, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Lost Hills Station.
The road is closed from Piuma Road to Pacific Coast Highway. Photos of the scene showed large rocks and debris covering the road.
Wildlife experts have been made aware of a beached whale that appears to be stuck on the shore of the Malibu coast.
The California Wildlife Center was made aware of the beached whale around 10 a.m. Saturday at Little Dune Beach, roughly half a mile north of Paradise Cove. Experts determined the species was a gray whale with “no obvious signs for cause of death,” according to the center.
NewsChopper 4 was overhead at the scene, where the whale appeared to be in the shallow end of the water. Its gender and approximate age are unclear.
Wildlife crews plan to leave the whale as is overnight and determine the cause of death on Sunday. The public is asked to stay away from it.
It was pouring rain when Kyril Kasimoff unfolded the pages of his just-delivered newspaper. Almost immediately, his heart sank.
There, among the latest dispatches detailing the destructive and deadly deluges that walloped the Southland in early February, was a photograph of a storm-wrecked grand piano — caked in mud, upended by Mother Nature’s fury.
“I kept shaking my head staring at it,” he said of the image on the front page of the Feb. 6 edition of the Los Angeles Times. “What a tragedy.”
The persistent and pouring rain had triggered a mudslide in the Beverly Crest neighborhood of Los Angeles, pushing the piano’s home off its foundation and sending it sliding down a hill. The piano fell out a window, bounced off a carport and landed upside down.
A grand piano lies upside down after a Beverly Crest home was pushed off its foundation by a mudslide on Feb. 5.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Kasimoff, 64, couldn’t stop looking at the image. He inspected the picture, scrutinizing the piano’s wooden legs, its muddied pedals, its frame.
“That’s a Blüthner,” he said to himself.
That’s when he knew he had to save it.
Kasimoff’s entire life has revolved around pianos, their music and their history. And Blüthners have been at the epicenter.
His father, William Kasimoff, was a clarinet player who opened a piano shop in Pasadena with his wife, Helga.
The two imported their first Blüthner piano from Leipzig, Germany, in 1963, making them the oldest Blüthner representatives in the U.S. They’ve been a staple on the Southern California music scene, providing instruments and services to musicians and artists for decades.
But Blüthner pianos, first built in 1853, were the driver of their world.
Kyril Kasimoff shuddered at the thought of the Beverly Crest Blüthner being hauled away like so much debris, as if its elegant frame was just another piece of soddened, shattered wood.
It was clear its sound would never be true again — even hundreds of hours of work and thousands of dollars couldn’t turn back that clock. But Kasimoff was intent on securing it a second life.
Kyril Kasimoff, bottom, and Dirk Braun pose with the storm-battered, 149-year-old Blüthner piano that was recovered from a mudslide and is now on display at Braun’s art gallery in Malibu.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
“These pianos are treasures, and I couldn’t see it just thrown away,” Kasimoff said.
With the help of a neighbor, Kasimoff got in touch with the piano’s owner and arranged to put it on display. He’s since partnered with Dirk Braun, owner of an art gallery in Malibu, to display the muddied and battered instrument there.
In doing so, they said, they hope the piano’s story might continue.
“It’s survived all this time,” Braun said. “Its final fate is not going to be that it was ejected from this house and salvaged. It’s an irreplaceable work of art.”
Until April, the piano that the two men have dubbed “Storm Blüthner” will be on display at the Dirk Braun Gallery. It sits now on its side, filled with hardened dry mud.
“There’s no need to clean it; it is what it is,” Braun said. “It has its own beauty from what it went through, and it’s still there.”
The keys and strings of the antique piano were intact, but the instrument is no longer playable, and will never be again.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
Despite being violently ejected from a sliding home, the instrument remained surprisingly intact, Braun said. All the ivory keys remain in place, and none of the strings were broken.
After taking the piano, Kasimoff was able to confirm it had been built in 1875. He and Braun are still working to learn more about its history, but have already confirmed the instrument once belonged to Miliza Korjus, a Polish Estonian opera singer who was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in the 1938 film “The Great Waltz.”
“It’s had such an interesting and exciting life,” Braun said. “This piano was around since before Hollywood was invented.”
Kasimoff’s mother, Helga, still helps run the family piano shop, which has since relocated to Los Angeles. She said she imagines Storm Blüthner in the middle of social gatherings, surrounded by musicians and celebrities singing.
That, she said, was what Blüthner pianos were crafted for.
“Some people think it’s mystical, but it is the best instrument to accompany other instruments, including the voice,” she said. “It never competes. It never wants to be louder. It’s always supportive.”
Gallery owner Dirk Braud, left, and piano enthusiast Kyril Kasimoff hold pieces of “Storm Blüthner,” the piano rescued from a Beverly Crest mudslide.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
Now the piano’s melodic days are over. But Braun, a 37-year-old photographer and filmmaker, notes there’s beauty even in the wreckage.
Being tossed out a window and covered in debris is now as much a part of its history as the glitz and glamour of long-ago gatherings.
“How it stands right now, it’s an irreplaceable piece of art,” Braun said. “In a way, it seems like it’s a symbol of death but, if it has another chance, it has the chance of a rebirth and a new life.”
He is currently working on a film about the piano.
What will become of it after April is unknown, they said. They’re sill exploring options, including possibly lending it to the L.A. Opera to display.
At 94, Helga Kasimoff is still eager to share a bit of history about pianos, her husband and their shop. She’s excited to see Storm Blüthner get another chance.
When she first saw its picture, she was sure the piano had been damaged beyond use. She remembered a phone conversation she had in 1964 with Rudolf Blüthner-Haessler, who headed the company at the time.
She’d come across one of the first 100 Blüthner pianos ever built, but it had been abandoned and damaged to the point that squirrels were nesting on its strings. She wondered, could it still have value?
“I’ll never forget his answer,” she said. “He said, ‘My dear, this piano — put it to rest. It has done its duty.’”
The inside of the 149-year-old piano at Dirk Braun Gallery in Malibu.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
She paused.
“I think this piano has done its duty, but now continues in its present condition to fulfill its duty,” she said. “Everything comes to an end. But sometimes, something reminds us of what it had done, what it had been, and the past. It served a great singer, and it probably has made many people happy.”
