“Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles” star Josh Flagg is under contract to purchase the Trousdale Estates home of Charlie Puth, The Real Deal has learned.
Flagg, an agent with Compass, negotiated for the singer-songwriter’s Beverly Hills Mid-Century Modern home in an off-market deal, according to sources. The price was not disclosed.
The “We Don’t Talk Anymore” singer paid $9 million for the 4,439-square-foot property in 2017.
Puth originally placed the four-bed, four-bath home at 1875 Carla Ridge on the market in November 2023 with a nearly $17 million ask. It saw a series of price reductions throughout this year, with the most recent ask at just under $11 million before the listing was pulled from the market in July.
Flagg did not respond to a request for comment late Tuesday.
Architect Rex Lotery built the 1965 home, according to listings for the property. It comes with history, having served as a gathering place for advisers to President Ronald Reagan and socialite Janet de Cordova and her husband and “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” producer Fred de Cordova.
Carla Ridge, if closed, would add another notch in Flagg’s expanding real estate portfolio.
He currently resides on Strada Corta Road in Bel-Air’s lower East Gate, often referred to as Old Bel-Air.
Flagg also bought 605 North Alta Drive in Beverly Hills in 2018 for just under $6 million, according to property records. He sold the property in 2022 for $8.1 million.
In addition, Flagg purchased 710 North Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills, paying $8.4 million for it in 2022.
Beyond Los Angeles, Flagg spent $4.3 million, with business partners Adam Rubin and Andrew Shanfeld, for 4727 North Bay Road in Miami. He’s also said to be eyeing multiple properties in New York with his father Michael Flagg.
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Billionaire hedge fund manager Jeffrey Feinberg has tried for two years to sell his 20,000-square-foot Brentwood mansion. With no takers, he decided to list it for rent — at $250,000 a month.
The head of Feinberg Investments has listed the four-story mansion for rent at 1047 North Bundy Drive, according to the Robb Report. The listing is held by Dan Malka of Engel & Völkers.
Feinberg bought the seven-bedroom, 11-bath spec home built by Ramtin Ray Nosrati in June 2021 for $44 million — or $1 million above its asking price.
A year later, he tried to flip the property overlooking the Getty Center for $48 million, without success. He then relisted the property in late 2022 for $43 million, then dropped it to $38 million.
The hilltop mansion tucked along a private cul-de-sac may be best known for its blue-and-gold basketball court, a tribute to the late Laker Kobe Bryant, plus a 10-car auto showroom, sports simulator and 1,000-gallon aquarium.
The hedge-fund executive and longtime basketball fan had moved from Hidden Hills to the lofty home with sweeping views — but before the sale closed, he asked that its rooftop cannabis garden be replaced by cucumbers and carrots.
The three-story, split-level home includes a soaring living room with a floating curved staircase accented by a custom chandelier, flanked by a living moss wall that goes down to a succulent garden.
It includes a TV wall, sports-simulator room, three-hole putting green, basketball court and two swimming pools.
The 1.3-acre compound also includes a 10-car auto showroom with floor-to-ceiling glass walls that open to a den, an office, hair salon, a bar with a nine-TV video wall and a 1,000-gallon dual-sided aquarium.
There’s a two-story guesthouse and a movie theater with a starlight fiber-optic ceiling. And for $250,000 a month, a renter could access its “250 bottle wine cellar,” according to the listing, though it’s unclear whether the rental comes with bottles.
Feinberg, a former managing director at the George Soros-founded hedge fund-turned-family office Soros Fund Management, once had his own investment firm. The $1 billion JLF Investment Fund shuttered some years ago, according to Robb.
The early bitcoin trader now operates Feinberg Investments, a limited partnership that invests his personal wealth.
In late 2019, he sold his $15 million Hidden Hills mansion to YouTube celebrity Jeffree Star. He also once owned a compound on Malibu’s Point Dume, which was sold for $21.8 million in early 2021 by his ex-wife, Stacey Feinberg.
On Santa Monica’s Gold Coast, Feinberg also put an oceanfront house on the market last year for under $11 million, or $1 million less than he paid in 2019.
— Dana Bartholomew
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George Clooney is handing over the keys to his Studio City home after selling it for $14.5 million on Friday.
The home at 3240 Iredell Lane is located in Studio City’s Fryman Canyon area, a woody neighborhood flush with exclusivity and gated estates.
The mystery buyer was someone from the entertainment industry, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.
Westside Estate Agency co-founder Kurt Rappaport represented Clooney. Carolwood Estates’ Kevin Dees represented the buyer.
Rappaport and Dees both declined comment on the deal.
Clooney was a long-term holder of the estate.
The actor paid Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks $2.2 million for it in 1995, a year after Michael Crichton’s “ER” series on NBC began airing and propelled Clooney and many of his co-stars to fame. Clooney starred in the medical drama for five seasons.
“I was in the second season of ‘ER’ living in a little house and I thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s time to get a little bit larger house off the street, so I wouldn’t fall prey to every photographer,’” Clooney said of his decision to buy the home in a 2012 episode of CBS’ “Person to Person.”
The Studio City property is just one part of a larger portfolio of homes in New York, Italy and France owned by Clooney and wife Amal.
The six-bed, six-bath main house totals over 7,000 square feet and sits on more than 3 acres, according to Zillow. There’s also a sports court and pool. Major renovation work to the property was completed in the fall of 2022 and included the addition of two villas, with the Clooneys reportedly paying $1 million for the expansion.
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It took a barrage of news about his graffiti-slathered mansions to compel producer John Powers Middleton to pipe up about their slow demise in the Hollywood Hills .
The son of the billionaire owner of the Philadelphia Phillies issued a formal apology to his neighbors and the City of Los Angeles after complaints surfaced about the seemingly abandoned properties, the Los Angeles Times and NBC4 reported.
The homes a few miles apart have been vacant for years, drawing squatters and vandals with spray paint. In recent weeks, residents said they’ve noticed graffiti on the walls of the homes on the 1700 block of Mulholland Drive and on North Sunset Plaza Drive.
Both home addresses were not disclosed.
Middleton said both mansions had security in place and had been overseen by a property manager. He said that now there’s 24/7 armed security at both locations.
“What’s happened to the two properties I own is unacceptable, and no matter what caused it, I own the houses,” Middleton said in his first statement since his homes gained national attention. “Given the persistence of the numerous trespassers, it’s a struggle.
“I’m disappointed to note that even as I have worked this week to paint over the graffiti, vandals still managed to break in and paint over the newly cleaned walls.”
The 40-year-old TV and film producer didn’t say why he let the homes, empty for years, deteriorate for so long.
“It’s just insane,” a woman who has lived near one of the homes since 2008 told the Times. “There was once a gorgeous home there. I mean, who does that? Who walks away from a $10-million house like that and just lets it go to squatters?”
City workers placed a fence in front of the Mullholland property this week and police officers were at the site. City crews boarded up its windows and whitewashed graffiti covering much of the four-story home.
Police arrested a man and a woman on suspicion of breaking into the house and possessing a firearm.
Middleton promised to repay the city any taxpayer funds used to protect the property.
The absent owner bought the four-story mansion on Sunset Plaza in 2013 for $7 million. Police records show officers responded to the home 17 times this year, including calls about burglars, prowlers and vandalism.
Middleton bought the six-bedroom Mulholland Drive mansion in 2012 for $4.7 million. After it was declared a public nuisance a decade later, the Department of Building and Safety ordered Middleton to build a fence and secure the property. When he didn’t, the city built the fence.
Property taxes have not been paid on the Mulholland home since 2022, according to the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office.
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Middleton, whose film credits as an executive producer include “Death Note,” “Nimona” and “Good Boys,” comes from a family whose tobacco firm, John Middleton, launched the Black & Mild stogie in the 1980s and popularized rolling pipe tobacco into cigars, according to the Times.
In 2007, his father John S. Middleton sold the business to the parent company of Philip Morris for $2.9 billion, according to Forbes. The elder Middleton is also the CEO and co-owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, which has disavowed having anything to do with the nuisance homes.
A bitter divorce between billionaire Tony Pritzker and his wife, Jeanne, may result in the sale of their 50,000-square-foot hilltop estate in Beverly Crest for as much as $200 million.
The 3-acre compound built by the Hyatt hotel heir and his philanthropist spouse is slated to go on the market at 1261 Angelo Drive, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The resort-style mansion and spa has been the focus of the couple’s bitter divorce battle since they separated in 2022. The divorce was settled for an undisclosed sum.
Now one of the largest homes on the market could ask between $150 million and $200 million, unidentified brokers told the newspaper. If it can fetch that price, it would be among the most expensive homes in the L.A. market.
The promontory estate, designed by Paris-based Designrealization and completed in 2011 after six years of work, replaced a circular, Mid-Century modern home designed by David Fowler.
The Pritzkers used it to raise funds and entertain the likes of Al Gore, Jane Fonda, Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen.
Run by a staff of more than two dozen people, the estate includes a rectangular mansion, guesthouse, bowling alley, tennis court and an infinity swimming pool with 180-degree views of the city.
The main house sits at the end of a long, steep driveway flanked by landscaped hedges, according to documents filed with the city.
The mansion surrounds a central courtyard and has a high-ceilinged atrium lit by a skylight.
The 12- to 15-bedroom estate, fronted by a fence up to 8 feet high, includes a hairdressing area, a gym with changing rooms, staff quarters and a detached recreation room and home theater.
Locals deride it as “Grand Hyatt Bel-Air,” despite its Beverly Crest address and Beverly Hills Post Office designation. Few would contend its reputation as having one of the best views in L.A.
“You feel like you’re floating in the view,” said Rayni Williams, a broker with Beverly Hills Estates who has attended events at the estate.
Tony Pritzker, head of The Pritzker Group, is the son of Hyatt hotel chain co-founder Donald Pritzker and brother of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. He’s worth $4.1 billion, according to Forbes.
He and Jeanne, now in their 60s, were married for 34 years and have six children.
Their homes included a villa in Phuket, Thailand, and a 9-acre compound in Topanga. A home they bought in 2021 in Los Cabos, Mexico, was valued at $5.35 million, according to divorce filings.
In 2022, prior to the split from Jeanne, Tony Pritzker employed limited liability companies to purchase two Manhattan penthouses from musician John Legend and his wife, Chrissy Teigen, for $16.75 million.
Last year, he used another affiliate to buy the Garcia House, an L.A. home designed in the early 1960s by John Lautner, for $12.5 million.
The Pritzker family through its Hyatt Foundation sponsors the Pritzker Prize, an annual award to recognize a top architect.
— Dana Bartholomew
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Los Angeles will buttress its law protecting tenants from landlord harassment.
The City Council voted 12-0 to beef up the city’s anti-harassment ordinance after 13,000 complaints poured in the three years since the law was passed, with no prosecutions, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The city’s Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance, approved in 2021, was trumpeted as a milestone for renters’ rights.
At a time of rapidly rising housing costs, the law was meant to protect tenants from being threatened or intimidated by landlords, a tactic advocates say can be used to push people out of rent-controlled homes.
While tenant advocates say the law is “toothless,” landlord advocates call the law one-sided — and said the city should also ban harassment by tenants toward landlords.
Some landlords have said they sometimes face harassment from upset renters, including when tenants and advocates protest in front of their homes.
“Until the city provides equal protection to all residents, people will continue to live in fear for their personal safety,” David Kaishchyan of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, told the council.
This week, the council directed the city attorney to draft an ordinance that would include several amendments to the TAHO law. They include redefining what constitutes harassment and imposing a minimum civil penalty of $2,000 per violation.
The expected passage of the new ordinance, with its added protections, was not disclosed.
The amendments are designed to create incentives for private attorneys to take on harassment cases, by introducing minimum penalties and requiring that tenants who win in court be awarded attorney’s fees.
They also redefine the meaning of harassment.
The original TAHO says harassment happens when landlords knowingly and willfully engage in conduct that causes detriment and harm and “serves no lawful purpose,” a standard advocates said was impossible to prove.
The changes would say harassment is “bad faith” conduct that causes tenants detriment or harm.
Tenant advocates filled the council chambers to call for the proposed amendments. Several renters broke down in tears about having been harassed by property owners.
“Today’s vote is an indication of how much renters matter to this council,” said Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who helped introduce changes to the law this year.
— Dana Bartholomew
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If last week was any indication, it will be a busy fall for Los Angeles County’s luxury market.
Signed contracts for the week ended Sept. 22 spiked nearly 42 percent from the prior seven-day period to $157.5 million in volume, according to the Eklund Weekly Luxury Report LA.
Douglas Elliman’s Eklund Gomes team counted 24 new contracts last week based on data pulled from the MLS of homes in L.A. County listed at more than $4 million. That compares with 14 contracts signed in the prior reporting period.
Last week’s single-family home contracts were led by the five-bed, eight-bath home at 606 North Rexford Drive in the Beverly Hills Flats neighborhood. It has an asking price of $15.8 million.
The 7,602-square-foot, newly developed property boasts smart home technology, a gated entry, a chef’s prep kitchen, pool and pool house.
The owner is a South Gate-registered LLC, according to property and state records.
The Beverly Hills Estates’ Rayni Williams, Branden Williams, Victoria Risko and Jennifer Puz have the listing.
Overall, in Los Angeles County, the 23 single-family homes that went under contract last week averaged $1,325 per square foot, according to the Eklund report. That compares with $1,273 per square foot in the prior reporting period.
One townhome contract for a Santa Monica property was inked last week, breaking a two-week streak of no activity in the county’s condo and townhouse segment.
Unit one at 10 Ocean Park Boulevard is listed at just under $6 million by Douglas Elliman’s David Solomon and Anna Solomon.
Property records show the seller is a trust tied to Lithia Motors Chairman Sidney DeBoer. Lithia owns dealerships in L.A. County, most famously the Keyes Auto Group franchises in Van Nuys and Mission Hills.
The Ocean Park townhome originally hit the market in May with a $6.7 million ask.
A floating staircase connects the 3,846-square-foot home’s two floors. It features four beds and five baths, ocean views, an elevator and a two-car garage.
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Creative Media & Community Trust has turned the top floors of an office building in Mid-Wilshire into luxury apartments.
The Dallas-based real estate investment trust, a publicly traded unit of CIM Group, converted the top two floors of the three-story building into 68 apartments at 4750 Wilshire Boulevard, with a residential entrance at 701 South Hudson Avenue, L.A. Business First reported.
The 30,000-square-foot ground floor will remain offices. The cost of the office-to-home conversion was not disclosed.
Los Angeles-based CIM Group, which manages real estate operations for CMCT and shares a Mid-Wilshire office, oversaw the planning and redevelopment of the 143,300-square-foot office building, built in 1985 for Farmers Insurance, which remains a tenant.
The apartment conversion, dubbed 701 Hudson, includes studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments with high ceilings, modern fixtures, wood floors and in-unit washers and dryers.
Creative Media & Community Trust added a lap pool, landscaped courtyard with outdoor picnic areas, community lounge with movie room and game tables, children’s playroom, fitness center and yoga rooms, plus a coworking area with communal work tables and enclosed offices.
As a sweetener for new tenants, the landlord offers up to two months free rent, according to its website. Rents range from $2,799 for a studio to $8,884 for a two-bedroom apartment, according to Homes.com.
The office-to- home conversion, a mile-and-a-half east of the La Brea Tar Pits and a mile from the incoming Wilshire/La Brea Metro subway station, is part of the REIT’s investment in luxury apartments and offices in “high-barrier to entry markets,” according to L.A. Business First.
Kanden Realty & Development, Taisei and an unnamed institutional investor also have stakes in the project. The exact share of their investment was not disclosed. Kanden and Taisei are both based in Japan.
In May last year, the publicly traded REIT bought four properties in Oakland from its parent company, CIM Group, for $282 million.
At the same time, Creative Media’s board rejected an offer from XYZ.com’s Daniel Negari to buy the REIT for $201 million, saying it “substantially undervalues” the business.
Creative Media & Community Trust, founded in 1994, owns 27 properties, including 13 office buildings, three apartment complexes and a 503-room hotel in Northern California, according to a regulatory filing. It had a net loss of $9.7 million in the second quarter ending in June, compared to a loss of $23.8 million a year earlier.
— Dana Bartholomew
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Shopoff Realty Investments got the nod to build 250 homes and a 215-room boutique hotel atop a former oil tank farm in Huntington Beach.
The Irvine-based developer led by Bill Shopoff was approved by the City Council to construct the 29-acre project on the former Magnolia Tank Farm west of Magnolia Street and north of the Huntington Beach Channel, the Orange County Register reported.
The project, just north of the Magnolia Marsh some 2,000 feet from the beach, was approved by the council in 2021. But it needed new council approval because of the commission changes.
Plans now call for 200 for-sale homes, a 50-unit affordable apartment complex, a 215-room boutique lodge, 19,000 square feet of shops and restaurants and a 4-acre park.
The apartment complex will set aside half its units for hotel workers, according to a request by the Coastal Commission. The hotel would also rent a quarter of its rooms at affordable rates.
Shopoff said in July that the earliest homes could finish construction is 2027. A cost and timeline for the rest of the project was not disclosed.
Shopoff bought the Magnolia Tank Farm north of Pacific Coast Highway in 2016 for $26.5 million, or $913,793 an acre.
Next to the project site is the former Ascon landfill, which until 1984 took in industrial, oil field and construction waste, now undergoing an environmental cleanup. State toxic regulators deemed the development safe from contamination from the former private dump.
The former oil tank farm is gone, the site remediated in recent years of soil contamination.
A coalition of environmental groups had opposed the project, saying the former wetland should be restored. They also said the housing and hotel development, if built atop a site raised to prevent flooding, would divert flood waters into nearby neighborhoods.
“We have some of the strictest environmental safety laws in the world here in California,” Councilman Tony Strickland said. “If this passed state muster, you can be assured that it is safe.”
Shopoff Realty Investments, founded by Bill Shopoff in 1992, had $3 billion in assets under management at the end of last year with $477 million in property sales and financing, up from $160 million in 2022, according to the Orange County Business Journal.
— Dana Bartholomew
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The former campus of the Trinity Broadcasting Network may not achieve everlasting life.
MLC Holdings, a unit of Scottsdale-based Meritage Homes, has filed plans to replace the former Christian television facility with 126 townhomes and 20 single-family homes at 3150 Bear Street in Costa Mesa, the Orange County Business Journal reported.
The developer has signed an option contract with The Khoshbin Company, the Irvine-based owner of the three-story office and studio campus, to buy the property for an undisclosed price.
MLC Holdings has also requested the City of Costa Mesa to change the property’s zoning to allow for “high density residential” and multifamily development.
Plans for the 6.2-acre site include 20 two-story homes and eight buildings with 126 townhomes targeted to first-time buyers.
The single-family homes would range between 1,400 and 1,900 square feet, with three or four bedrooms and two-car garages. The attached townhomes would be from 1,100 to 2,200 square feet, with two to four bedrooms and two-car garages.
The 66,000-square-foot palazzo-styled Trinity Broadcasting Network building, built in 1978 along the 405 Freeway across from South Coast Plaza, would be demolished.
The network vacated its ornate studios containing a domed atrium and ballroom in a building once known for its bright holiday displays, in 2017 after declining revenues. The broadcaster relocated its headquarters to Fort Worth, Texas.
Two years later, Education First Properties proposed converting the ornate property into an “international language campus,” but plans fizzled.
Manny Khoshbin, head of Khoshbin, bought the property in 2021 for $21 million, then sank more than $1 million to improve it, he told the Daily Pilot. In February, he renamed the white, V-shaped building The Palazzo and re-opened it as an event center.
MLC Holdings, founded in 2014, has offices in Newport Beach and San Ramon, according to its LinkedIn page. The firm focuses on developing infill housing, and has built more than 10,000 homes in the Golden State.
Two years ago, the developer agreed to buy and preserve a historic orange grove in Redlands in order to build more than 300 homes on 58.6 acres of planted oranges and fields.
— Dana Bartholomew
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UCLA has bought a nearly completed complex with 62 apartments in West Los Angeles for $39 million.
The University of California paid cash for the five-story Canfield Apartments at 3301 South Canfield Avenue, in Cheviot Hills, the Commercial Observer reported. The school plans to use the property for student housing.
The seller of the charcoal complex was its developer, West Hollywood-based firm Helio Group. Broker Kitty Wallace represented Helio in the deal, which works out to $629,032 per unit.
The 83,900-square-foot building, five miles southeast of the UCLA campus in Westwood, has 50 three-bedroom apartments. As part of the deal, Helio will build 12 ground-floor accessory dwelling units, normally associated with backyard granny flats.
“We did not have student housing in mind when we designed the project, but as a former Bruin myself, I’m pleased we are able to contribute to UCLA’s housing needs,” Simon Lazar, managing director for Helio, said in a statement.
A cost and timeline for completion were not disclosed.
The Bruins have been on a buying spree on the westside of L.A.
Last month, philanthropist Dr. Gary Michelson pledged $120 million to found a medical institute, the anchor tenant at a UCLA research campus carved from the former Westside Pavilion in West L.A.
In January, the University of California paid $700 million for the former indoor mall, which was in the middle of an office conversion by Hudson Pacific and Macerich, with Google as the target tenant.
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In addition to the former Westside Pavilion, the University of California bought two other properties to be used as satellites by landlocked UCLA in Westwood.
“Figuring it out.” That could become the theme of Los Angeles’ luxury residential market this year.
Brokers said as much on Thursday, when some of the market’s top agents took the stage to talk about how they’re navigating current headwinds and closing deals. The agents spoke during the “Pushing Luxury Limits” panel that was part of The Real Deal’s LA Real Estate Forum at the Beverly Wilshire.
Panelists were quick to start their talk with the biggest news this year in the rules stemming from the Sitzer-Burnett class action settlement in Missouri federal court. The National Association of Realtors rules, which went into effect Aug. 17, require buyers to sign a representation agreement prior to being shown a property and allow no buyer commission information on the Multiple Listing Service.
TRD’s Stuart Elliott, Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones, Carolwood Estates’ Linda May, Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott, Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones, Carolwood Estates’ Linda May, Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott, Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones, Carolwood Estates’ Linda May, Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott and Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
Carolwood Estates’ Linda May, Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott, Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones, Carolwood Estates’ Linda May, Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones, Carolwood Estates’ Linda May and Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott, Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones and Carolwood Estates’ Linda May (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott and Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott, Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones, Carolwood Estates’ Linda May (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott, Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones, Carolwood Estates’ Linda May, Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott, Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones, Carolwood Estates’ Linda May, Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott, Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones, Carolwood Estates’ Linda May, Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott and Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
Carolwood Estates’ Linda May, Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott, Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones, Carolwood Estates’ Linda May, Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones, Carolwood Estates’ Linda May and Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott, Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones and Carolwood Estates’ Linda May (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott and Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott, Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones, Carolwood Estates’ Linda May (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
TRD’s Stuart Elliott, Jones Fridman International & Associates’ Sally Forster Jones, Carolwood Estates’ Linda May, Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane (Photos by Paul Dilakian)
Aaron Kirman, CEO of Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California, shared what he has seen on the buy and sell side since Aug. 17.
“When I’m going to listing appointments, every time now, the seller thinks that they don’t have to pay compensation,” Kirman said during the panel.
On the other side of negotiations, Kirman said he has not had a difficult time getting buyers to sign the representation form as long as they believe the seller is paying for commission.
It’s all part of a larger education process taking place, other panelists said.
“You never had to tell people what we did,” Carolwood Estates’ Linda May said of the learning curve for many in the industry as they convey to clients the work that goes into selling and buying a house.
Sally Forster Jones of Compass’ Jones Fridman International & Associates echoed that sentiment.
“On the buyer side, that’s a little more challenging because … it’s all about articulating your value and if you don’t know what your value is, it’s going to be more of a challenge,” she said. “There have always been those buyers who really want a deal. There’s going to be those buyers that still want a deal.”
Measuring Measure ULA
Another education process — perhaps less advanced than NAR’s new rules — involves Measure ULA.
Voters approved the ballot measure instituting a transfer tax on commercial and residential deals within the city of Los Angeles. The tax went into effect in April last year and currently applies a 4 percent tax on transactions of $5.15 million and a 5.5 percent tax on those of $10.3 million or more.
ULA was billed and continues to be referred to as a “mansion tax,” but the panelists underscored how misleading the label is in getting the public to understand the implications of the tax.
“They angled smart; I think it’s a horrible thing,” Kirman said of how the ballot measure was marketed. “But I’ve got to give that guy credit or girl credit for using that term because it got through, but it never should have.”
May pointed out how little has been discussed in the way of Measure ULA’s impact on development.
“We’ve had more people walk off fabulous opportunities on land sales, dirt sales, where a developer turned around and said, ‘I don’t know what my exit’s going to be. I’m taking a pass,’” May said.
When public discourse turns to how much money has been collected from Measure ULA and how those funds are being used, that’s when there’s a chance for change, said Coldwell Banker Realty CEO Kamini Lane.
“I think when we get to the moment in time where the devil is in the details and the public at large actually cares about the details of ULA, that’s when there’s actually a chance,” Lane said. “When there is a conversation about where’s the money going? What is the tradeoff between money generated and money lost for jobs, for housing, for housing availability, I think that’s a moment in time where we can actually have a much more nuanced and forward-thinking conversation.”
Getting deals done
Despite the current challenges, brokers in the luxury space say they’re dealing with different client dynamics. While much has been said about the impact of high interest rates on residential sales, stock market sentiment holds more weight for many high-net-worth clients.
“On the luxury buyer, what’s really much more important to them is what’s going on in the stock market,” Forster Jones said. “Are they feeling wealthy or are they feeling poor?”
Kirman said the emphasis at his brokerage has been a focus on who is actively buying at the moment.
For Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California, about 80 percent of the people buying properties worth $25 million or more have come from China, Taiwan, Singapore and other Asian countries.
In Carolwood’s case, 80 percent of the brokerage’s deals in excess of $20 million this year have come from domestic buyers, May said.
Ultimately, each brokerage’s sphere of reach and focus differs.
“I always say, as real estate agents, we go where the money is,” Kirman said. “And the goal is to get those people before they get to us.”
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Online coupon mogul George Ruan has sold a 21,000-square-foot home in Bel-Air for $140 million, among the priciest deals in Los Angeles.
The co-founder of the Downtown-based Honey traded the 1.15-acre hilltop estate at 10721 Stradella Court, the Wall Street Journal reported. The buyer was undisclosed.
Brokers Aaron Kirman, Kirby Gillon and Bryce Lowe of Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California held the initial listing.
The off-market deal comes during a slowdown of luxury deals due to L.A.’s “mansion tax,” or Measure ULA, which requires sellers to pay 4 percent on homes between $5.15 million and $10.3 million, and 5.5 percent on properties at $10.3 million or above.
Ruan bought the unfinished house in 2020 for $60 million, then completed a multi-million dollar makeover.
The nine-bedroom, 11-bathroom mansion, designed by South Africa-based SAOTA and Mid-Wilshire-based Woods + Dangaran, has sweeping views of the city and the Pacific Ocean.
The two-story concrete home has a media room, library, powder room and a gym, with a pool and spa that jut over a steep embankment. A dining room features wood panels that can pivot to close off the room. The estate has parking for 10 cars, according to Zillow.
There’s also a one-bedroom guesthouse with its own pool.
In 2022, Ruan listed the home for $150 million, then removed it nine months later.
Its sale for $140 million doesn’t come near the $210 million that Eyeglasses mogul James Jannard fetched in June for a nearly 10-acre estate in Malibu, shattering the state record.
In 2022, Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, paid $133 million for a 5-acre estate with a 19,000-square-foot mansion and a 6,600-square-foot “guest mansion” in Bel-Air. In 2020, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos bought a 9-acre estate in nearby Beverly Hills for $165 million, a then-state record.
In 2012, Ruan co-founded Honey, which helps consumers find discount codes for online purchases, according to the newspaper. In 2020, the year he bought his Bel-Air estate, he sold Honey to PayPal Holdings for $4 billion. He’s now an active angel investor in more than 50 companies.
— Dana Bartholomew
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Emmy-nominated filmmaker Lyn Lear nabbed a secluded pad in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Hills, paying $24 million for the contemporary estate.
Property records show a trust tied to Lear, widow of the late screenwriter and television producer Norman Lear, bought the home in an off-market deal that closed earlier this month.
The seller is an LLC tied to EPIQ Capital Group, according to property and state records. The San Francisco-based firm serves as a financial advisor to family offices. It launched in 2018 to serve clients with a net worth of more than $100 million.
Westside Estate Agency’s Kurt Rappaport represented the seller. Carolwood Estates’ Cooper Mount and Westside Estate Agency’s Jonas Heller represented the buyer.
The five-bed, nine-bath home totals 10,300 square feet. The property boasts plenty of privacy, set behind gates and large hedges.
Highlights include a theater, wine cellar, gym and an office consisting of reclaimed French oak.
The workspace should come in handy for Lear, who wears several hats. Her film credits this year alone include executive producer on the documentary series “The Man Will Burn,” “True Believer” and “Mrs. Robinson.” She was a producer on “Narcissist Playbook.”
She also sits on several boards, including as a trustee of the Sundance Institute Board of Directors, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art board and the Norman Lear Center at USC Annenberg’s School for Communication and Journalism.
Elsewhere in the Hollywood Hills this year, Ariana Grande sold her nearly 1,600-square-foot cottage at 9300 Flicker Way to Bad Bunny (née Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) for $8.3 million in January. Among the area’s listings is the $35 million ask of Henrik Fisker, founder of bankrupt electric vehicle maker Fisker, for his 11,800-square-foot home at 1305 Collingwood Place. The contemporary home went on the market in June.
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A multifamily investor based in Orange County has picked up a bargain from a Chicago outfit that looks set to exit inner-city Los Angeles with a $30 million haircut.
Advanced Real Estate in Irvine paid $62 million for the 210-unit Canvas LA apartment building at 138 North Beaudry Avenue in the Temple-Beaudry district just west of Downtown, the Commercial Observer reported.The price of $295,000 per unit represents a bargain for relatively new multifamily developments in the city,
It also looks to be a trim for the seller, Chicago-based Magnolia Capital, which paid $88.3 million for the property in 2018 — about $395,000 per unit. The firm has hit rough sledding lately in its home market.
“It’s rare to find such a well-built, podium property like this for under $300,000 a unit,” Advanced Real Estate CEO Richard Juliansaid in a statement. “We haven’t seen that kind of pricing in over a decade.”
The new owner plans “light” renovations, according Julian, who did not offer specifics.
Advanced got a $40 million loan from Freddie Mac on the deal. The company has a portfolio of about 12,000 multifamily units spread over Southern California.
The firm earlier this year bought a 714-unit apartment complex in the Orange County municipality of Costa Mesa from Camden Property Trust for $234 million, or about $328,000 per unit.
Buyers from Canada account for 60 percent of foreign residential sales in Arizona, which is among the top 10 destinations among the 50 states, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.
Data from the National Association of Realtors’ report titled “Profiles of International Transactions in U.S. Real Estate” tracks international clients who bought and sold residential properties during the12-month period ended in March.
Arizona accounts for 5 percent of all purchases by foreign buyers, good for a No. 4 ranking nationally, behind Florida, Texas and California, in that order.
The glow that comes with a spot in the upper ranks is somewhat dimmed by an overall drop in sales to foreign buyers. The total of just over 54,000 sales nationwide for the 12-month period represents a decline of 36 percent from the prior period — about 30,000 fewer deals. The amount of money that crossed the border also dropped with $42 billion in total value, a decline of 21.2 percent.
Canadians did the most deals nationally as well as in Arizona, combining for $5.9 billion worth of business to account for 13 percent of the overall value.
The next biggest sources of international buyers were Mexico and China, each accounting for 11 percent of the value, followed by India at 10 percent and Colombia at 4 percent.
High taxes in Canada are prompting investments in the U.S., according to Glenn Williamson, CEO and founder of the Canada Arizona Business Council.
”Canadians are now paying a 43 percent tax [rate] in Canada,” Williamson told the Business Journal. “A lot of them like to have a second home down here. It’s not just the seniors that come down and spend money.”
The median price on sales to foreign buyers was $475,000, about $80,000 more than domestic buyers.
Despite elevated mortgage rates, pent-up demand and low available housing inventory, U.S. median home prices have remained strong — even increasing on a year-over-year basis, according to the study. Nearly one in five sales to foreign buyers came in over $1 million, and more than half of the deals were in cash.
A mystery buyer has landed a deal on a Bel-Air spec mansion that was, at one time, asking $100 million.
The more than 30,000-square-foot mansion at 10979 Chalon Road ended up selling for $26 million.
Developer Don Bolin, who built the property, was the seller. The buyer was a Corona, Calif.-based entity called Edud Investments LLC, according to property records.
It has ties to Kionna Tiffith and a Studio City property at 4215-4225 North Coldwater Canyon Avenue, according to an application submitted to Los Angeles City Planning last year for a zone change and construction of a three-story commercial building. Plans indicated the new building would include multiple office spaces, a conference room, lounge and studio.
Bolin’s sister Arline Bolin at The Turtlestone Group last held the listing for the property. It’s unclear what agents, if any, were involved in the transaction. Arline Bolin did not respond to requests for comment.
The Chalon Road mansion includes multiple bar spaces, a theater, wine cellar, putting green, enough parking for 60 cars, sport court and infinity pool, per marketing materials for the property when it was relisted for $65 million last year.
The spec mansion turned heads when it hit the market with a $100 million price tag in 2017. Over the last seven years, it alternated on and off the market, each time with a reduced price.
Don Bolin paid $1.2 million for the site in 2012, according to property records, and then spent the next five years building the property.
“It [was] a lot of work,” he told The Real Deal when the property first hit the market. “It turned out real nice, but it took up so much of my life.”
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Leaving town early last week for the Labor Day holiday didn’t appear a likely option for luxury residential agents.
Los Angeles County saw a jump in signed contracts for homes worth $4 million or more to 28, for the week ended Sept. 1, according to the Eklund Weekly Luxury Report L.A. The contracts during the unofficial last week of summer amounted to $243.7 million.
The report counts properties in the MLS with asking prices of $4 million or more.
The totals are up from the prior week’s 18 homes under contract for a little more than $156 million. They’re also the highest since Douglas Elliman’s Eklund Gomes team began producing the weekly report in June.
Beverly Hills properties held the No.1 and No. 2 spots for last week’s roundup. Agents have said the city has benefited by not falling under the City of Los Angeles’ Measure ULA, often referred to as the mansion tax, which applies a 4 percent transfer levy on properties sold for $5.15 million or more, or 5.5 percent on those $10.3 million or more.
Last week’s top contract by listing price was 1240 Shadow Hill Way. It has an asking price just under $25 million, the same as when it debuted on the market in May.
Property records show the seller is Nahor Properties, which state filings show is led by Rohan Oza. The “Shark Tank” cast member is credited with building the Vitaminwater and Smartwater brands under parent Glacéau, which he joined in 2002 as partner and CMO. Oza later went on to co-found CAVU Venture Partners in 2016.
The Beverly Hills Estates’ Rayni Williams and Branden Williams have the listing.
The contemporary-style home sits on more than half an acre with six beds and seven baths. It has an 80-foot pool, double-gated motor court, home theater and guest house.
The week’s second-largest home under contract is 814 North Whittier Drive in the Beverly Hills Flats neighborhood, with a listing price just under $18 million.
The seller is a trust tied to Los Angeles socialite Crystal Moffett Lourd, according to property records.
Carolwood Estates’ Andrew Rhoda, along with Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Alex Howe and Weston Littlefield, have the listing.
The property originally went on the market in late May for just under $20 million.
The home sits on nearly half an acre and totals five beds and eight baths across 7,861 square feet. The traditional-style home has a kitchen with professional-grade appliances, saltwater pool, BBQ area and court for various sports.
Single-family homes continued to dominate the market’s activity, accounting for 26 of last week’s 28 contracts, according to the Eklund report. Those homes were on the market for an average 118 days with the price per square foot averaging to $1,377.
The week’s remaining two contracts were condos, with the units available for an average of 64 days and an average price per square foot of $2,250.
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Lendlease and Aware Super have snagged $316 million in construction financing for a mixed-use project containing 260 luxury apartments in Baldwin Hills.
The Australia-based developer and pension fund secured the loan for Habitat, a 461,000-square-foot, two-building project at 3401 South La Cienega Boulevard, the Commercial Observer reported. It would replace a 3.5-acre storage facility.
Barings and Counterpointe Sustainable Real Estate provided the hybrid financing package for the approved project east of Culver City.
Part of the deal employs C-PACE funding on the sustainable portions of the project, including a 125-kilowatt solar array. The development is designed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, both in its construction and operation, when complete in early 2026.
Plans for the project include a 12-story, 260-unit “ultra luxury” apartment building; a six-story, 253,000-square-foot office building; and 2,900 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants. An underground garage would serve 785 cars.
The project, designed by New York-based ShoP Architects, would feature a residential tower and office building with upper-level setbacks to create terrace decks. The office building would include mass timber in its design.
An acre park, designed by Downtown L.A.-based Relm, would fill out the “live-work-thrive” campus and it would open onto a bike path near Metro’s La Cienega/Jefferson Station.
Sustainable aspects of the development include 64 electric vehicle parking spots, more than 220 bicycle parking spaces, natural ventilation and lower-carbon concrete.
Lendlease bought the development site in 2021 for $92 million, with plans for its first project in Los Angeles. Three years ago, the project was estimated to cost $600 million.
Habitat isn’t the only mixed-use development near Culver City to secure multimillion-dollar financing, according to the Observer.
Hackman Capital Partners and Affinius Capital landed a $75 million refinancing package this month from Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo to build Culver Steps, an office and retail project anchored by Amazon Studios and luxury grocer Erewhon.
— Dana Bartholomew
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SHB wants to build a 298-unit affordable housing complex in North Hollywood.
The locally based developer led by Stephen Shishikyan has filed plans to build the eight-story apartment building at 12001 Victory Boulevard, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. It would replace a commercial building housing the Lilit Bakery Cafe.
Plans for the apartment complex east of Laurel Canyon Boulevard call for 298 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments atop 8,300 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants. A parking garage would serve 118 cars.
The affordable complex, serving moderate- and low-income households, would be fast-tracked through Mayor Karen Bass’s Executive Directive 1, which streamlines approval of affordable housing projects.
As a 100-percent affordable development, the project can use density bonus incentives permitting more floor area and smaller setbacks than would otherwise be required by zoning rules.
The 98-foot-tall project, designed by Woodland Hills-based Sam Aslanian Architect, would include multiple courtyards.
The developer on the project is SHB, a limited liability company based in North Hollywood, according to a filing with Los Angeles City Planning. SHB was founded in 2013 by Shishikyan, according to state business records.
The proposed apartments are a quarter-mile north of the 25-acre NoHo West, a former Macy’s department store at Laurel Plaza turned into an outdoor mall at 6150 Laurel Canyon Boulevard.
— Dana Bartholomew
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