Now then! Our Miss Jagger has two older full siblings (Lizzy and James) and one younger brother (Luke). All are children of rock legend Mick Jagger and former supermodel Jerry Hall, who is currently married to multi-billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch. But we digress.
Georgia & Lizzy Jagger
It seems that — for whatever reason — all of Mr. Jagger and Ms. Hall’s children are purchasing homes in Los Angeles. Today we shall quickly discuss the new residences of the elder two.
Barely a mile away from Georgia May Jagger’s new home is another Nicholas Canyon residence that recently sold for $2,500,000 to a mysterious blind trust. Yolanda just happens to know that the new owner is Miss Jagger’s elder sister: fellow fashion model Elizabeth “Lizzy” Jagger.
Built in 1940, the Tudor-style main house has 2,714-square-feet of living space with vaulted ceilings and a mixture of stone and hardwood floors. The entire .38-acre property is removed from prying eyes via a forest-like canopy of trees and the main house is set far back (and below) street level.
Though the kitchen appears a bit dated in photographs, marketing materials say it has recently been upgraded with a commercial-style range and pricey SubZero fridge. The master suite is a bit more cramped than what most folks wouldl expect for $2.5 million, but it does have a lovely vaulted and beamed ceiling. The spa-like master bathroom is almost entirely wooden and features a soaking tub, a massage couch (?) and an outdoor balcony area.
In addition to the main house, there is a detached 1,000-square-foot guest house designed by Pasadena, CA-based architect James V. Coane. Listing materials say this structure was also recently renovated with a washer/dryer, dishwasher, wine cooler, refrigerator, polished concrete floors and new cabinetry. A corkscrew-style metal staircase leads to an airy loft space with a bed and sitting area/lounge.
The verdant grounds maximize privacy while carving out a plethora of secluded seating areas and space for entertaining. Not pictured is a pool and a large man-made koi pond with waterfall.
Some of Lizzy Jagger’s nearest new Hollywood Hills neighbors include longtime LA radio personality Ellen K, Seth Rogen, and Clive Robertson. Directly next door to Miss Jagger’s new pad is a much larger estate that was sold by Ryan Seacrest back in 2012 for nearly $11 million to its current owners, British banking heiress Jessica de Rothschild and her film screenwriter/director hubby Sacha Gervasi.
Now stay tuned for more Jagger family real estate news…
Here’s another Labor Day quickie for y’all. Some time ago, our friend Vlad the Revealer at Celebrity Address Aerial inquired about this petite mini-compound in the heart of LA’s fully gentrified and hipster-approved Silver Lake neighborhood. The super-compact digs sold for $1,200,000 earlier this year — a fat $211,000 more than the asking price of $989,000 and a whopping 33% more than what the seller — YouTube star Grace Helbig — paid for the property just two years prior.
The buyer’s identity is shielded behind an all-too-common blind trust, but Yolanda happens to know it’s a recently-married 32-year-old guy named James Jagger, the son of rock legend Mick Jagger and former supermodel Jerry Hall, who is currently married to multi-billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Our Mr. Jagger is also the brother of models Lizzy and Georgia May Jagger, whose new Hollywood Hills homes we recently discussed here and here.
If perchance any of y’all recall the HBO show Vinyl — cancelled after one season — you may already know that it was young Mr. Jagger who played a significant role. Anyway, our boy married artist Anoushka Sharma back in 2015 and the couple has settled into these surprisingly modest digs.
Originally built in 1937, the mini-compound sits on a narrow hillside street just off a main boulevard. A two-car garage with (an attached one-room guest cottage), a flight of stairs, and a big (but neatly-trimmed) bed of ivy greet passers-by. Up the steps is a small flat grassy pad, another flight of steps, and (finally!) the teeny-tiny 1,106-square-foot main house.
While there’s no real formal dining room, there is a built-in breakfast nook and some luscious-lookin’ hardwood floors. The compact sports a pitched roof, medium-grade appliances, and a bar area.
There are two bedrooms and only one bathroom in the entire house, which probably makes this the most compact property Yolanda has ever covered. But both bedrooms are spacious enough. The bathroom, for its part, is really tiny but it has interesting mosaic tile floors that say “1937” — a reference to the home’s original construction year.
Yes, kiddies, that is one of them old-fashioned portable spas. Don’t laugh! Long before they got all fancy and shit, Yolanda’s parents — Mr. & Mrs. Yakketyyak — had one of them things when we were growing up, too. But they’d never admit that and you did not hear it from your gurl.
The steeply-sloped .19-acre lot surely won’t win any size awards, but previous owners spent some considerable time and/or money to create a tiered hillside that adds some use (and value) to the lot.
Above the garage, as previously mentioned, is a fully-permitted room that could function as a guest bedroom, a studio, or gym. It appears Ms. Helbig was using the space as a delightfully minimalist office.
Speaking of Ms. Helbig, she’s already paid $915,000 for a slightly larger house in the nearby NELA area.
Listing and selling agent: Andrew Sanchez, ACME Real Estate
Yolanda recently published a whole testament to how prices in the luxury markets of the San Fernando Valley have skyrocketed. And for more evidence that shows how far the Valley has come, look no further than Encino, once the redheaded stepchild of LA luxury, the butt of everyone’s suburban jokes. Yet look who got the last laugh! Prices here, nowadays, are anything but funny.
Yes, kiddies. Some Encino pricetags are currently nearly as sky-high as the Westside – or even higher, in certain cases. Like this one.
Three years ago – back in 2014 – a lady named Cynthia “Cyndi” Ruud-Johnson jetted in to LA. She paid $4,300,000 for a brand-new house in Pacific Palisades.
Ms. Ruud-Johnson is a mother of four (three girls, one boy) and has a lot of money. Her father, you see, is a Florida-based guy named Alan Ruud. Our Mr. Ruud founded something called Ruud Lighting, which he sold in 1997 for $35.5 million in cash (plus 3 million shares of stock), bought back in 2001 for $47 million, and sold yet again in 2011 for a whopping $525 million.
That’s more than half a billion bucks, for all y’all slow on the uptake.
Y’all may also be interested to know that three of Ms. Ruud-Johnson’s aforementioned four kids are child actors. They go by the names of Kylie Hart, Brett Alan Hart, and Paityn Hart. Each has more than 10,000 followers on their respective Instagram accounts and all three have appeared in feature films that Yolanda ain’t never seen and for which we are probably significantly older than the target audience demographic. Ah, well.
Ms. Ruud-Johnson’s actor children
Anywho, Ms. Ruud-Johnson recently decided she wanted a change of address. She packed up the four kids into her ’96 Plymouth Voyager (okay, she probably rolls a new Escalade or big Benz but we like to imagine her in a minivan). And then she did something unexpected — she left the posh Palisades and high-tailed it up over the hills into the feared and loathed San Fernando Valley.
For those of you in disbelief, get ready for more shock. Although the Valley house that Ms. Ruud-Johnson selected is only marginally larger than her Palisades mansion, it is considerably more expensive.
That’s right — records show that Ms. Ruud-Johnson paid a very fat $6,995,000 through a blind trust for her Encino mansion. That’s not only almost 7 million bucks, that’s the full damn asking price! She must have wanted this place somethin’ awful — so let’s see what got her so excited.
The house is a brand-new spec-mansion and sits on a .48-acre plot of land that was once part of a two-acre sprawling ranch estate. A few years back, a savvy developer came and knocked down that ranch house, subdivided the lot into four separate properties, and built four different (but similar-looking) homes in its place. Ms. Ruud-Johnson’s residence is arguably the most luxurious of the four.
Immediately upon walking through the front door, visitors are wowed by the wide-plank hardwood oak floors and double-height ceilings. The 7,736-square-foot main house sports every luxury gadget known to mankind: Crestron lighting systems, a top-of-the-line security system, and range-topping appliances.
The formal dining room is sure to impress with its glassy wine rack, and the eat-in kitchen has a large center island with bar seating.
Numerous recreation spaces include a movie theater, a game room/lounge with pool table, and a full-size wet bar.
The main house has five bedroom suites in all, including a second-level master suite w/ fireplace, a soaking tub, and a walk-in closet that wouldn’t look out of place in a Rodeo Drive boutique.
The 2,669-square-foot, two-story guest house is a mini-replica of the main house and is larger than most Americans’ homes. It features three bedrooms and one bathrooms, plus a gym/massage area. Outdoors, there is a full-size pool plus a spa and an attached “kids pool”. Naturally, there’s also a built-in BBQ and outdoor loggia for entertaining.
As for her old house in the Palisades, the 6-bed, 6.5-bath structure was quickly sold for $5,200,000 this July (2017) to a non-famous couple named Gary & Rachel Levin. The three-story, 6,219-square-foot structure sits on a puny .16-acre lot that sports an outdoor jungle gym but no pool or spa.
We’re not sure why Ms. Ruud-Johnson has chosen to forsake the Palisades for Encino, but we don’t think the homes themselves played a big factor. The Encino compound is quite large — 7,736-square-foot main house, 2,669-square-foot guest quarters – but her Pac Pal pad wasn’t that much smaller at 6,219-square-feet. Plus, it’s not like she’s hurting for cash – if she wanted a slightly larger mansion with a guest house in the Palisades, we’re sure she could find (and afford) one.
More likely her kids go to school out there — the elite Buckley School is located nearby in Sherman Oaks — or maybe it’s more convenient for her kids’ acting gigs and all. The Valley holds many mysterious attractions, kiddies. Even to very rich folks like Ms. Ruud-Johnson.
Well, kiddies, if you love the Valley you’re in luck today. There happens to be another similarly-styled spec-mansion directly next door to Ms. Ruud-Johnson’s new Encino estate. This other house was built by the very same developer and completed right around the same time, and it also was recently sold for a fat $5,300,000. And although It’s not quite as huge as Ms. Ruud-Johnson’s residence, it is certainly large and no less luxurious.
Our astute friend Vlad the Revealer at Celebrity Address Aerial noted that – just like Ms. Ruud-Johnson’s home — this house next door was sold to another mysterious blind trust that shields the true identity of the owner from prying eyes. Who could it be, Vlad wondered?
Well, kiddies, Yolanda just happens to know that the new owner of this house is also a woman. Her name is Ina Marlene King, though she is better known as I. Marlene King or simply Marlene King. And make no mistake, our Ms. King has a yacht-sized boatload of cash. She created the super-successful teen drama show Pretty Little Liars, after all. And in addition to the money, she’s got the legion of followers (more than 1.3 million on Instagram) to back up her success.
Marlene King, Shari Rosenthal, and their sons
A bit of family background: Ms. King is openly lesbian and has long been partnered/married to an attorney named Sheri Rosenthal. There are two children in the King/Rosenthal household – Emerson and Atticus – both of whom have made cameo appearance in various PLL episodes. At least one of Ms. King’s sons attends the elite Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, where tuition can easily top $40,000 per year. Yikes!
But it’s late and that’s enough gossip for all y’all nosy Nellies.
Desirably located just two blocks south of Ventura Boulevard, the house is another large, contemporary take on Cape Cod. The .44-acre lot is completely walled, gated, and camera-secured for privacy, naturally. As for the pizza delivery boy, he’s sure to be thoroughly wowed with the grandiose 21-foot-tall entryway and the regal-ish staircase. The wide plank “French Oak” (whatever that means) hardwood floors are quite lovely, too.
Like Ms. Ruud-Johnson’s house next door, this fancy-pants mansion sports a plethora of name-brand and swanky materials. There are Walker Zanger/Ann Sacks tiles, Caesar Stone countertops, Carrara & Ecuadorian marble, and Crestron & Lutron lighting. Whew! We don’t even know what half of that stuff means, but we’ll take it.
More mundane but no less impressive amenities include an office with direct access to the backyard and spacious formal living/family rooms, each with its own fireplace.
The 7,699-square-foot home has a total of 5 bedrooms and 3.75 baths in the main structure. The master suite keeps it light and bright with a pitched-roof bedroom and French doors accessing a private balcony.
Elsewhere in the main structure are a movie theater and game room w/ pool table. Out back is a detached recreation room slash mini-guest house with one bedroom and one bathroom. Also within this little structure is a surprisingly large living room and a full-sized wet bar. If Yolanda were one of Ms. King’s kids, we know where we’d be after our parents went to bed for the night. Just sayin’.
The lot isn’t particularly huge, as y’all can see, but it certainly has plenty of space: there is a rolling lawn and the requisite zero-edge saltwater pool w/ attached spa.
Turns out that — again like Ms. Ruud-Johnson — Ms. King is a newcomer to the Valley and hails from over yonder mountains. What’s in the water over there, huh?
Property records reveal that Ms. King and Ms. Rosenthal still own their old house, a single-story traditional set on a celeb-popular Hollywood Hills street just above the world-famous Sunset Strip. Our Ms. King paid $1,650,000 for the .31-acre property back in 2003. The lot sports a 1921-built Traditional with city views, dark hardwood floors, a “gourmet kitchen”, a gazebo, and even a swing set. The home is dangerously close to Sunset Plaza — a slightly raunchy area and not necessarily the best place to raise kids — but sits privately behind gates, sculpted hedges, and mature magnolia and willow trees.
Marlene King’s Hollywood Hills house
If any of y’all are looking for a classy and conservatively-styled house in the WeHo area and you’ve got a few million bucks to spare, hit up your gurls Ms. King and Ms. Rosenthal. Yolanda’s educated guess says their Hollywood Hills house will be available for sale very soon, and we don’t think this one will last long. Mark our words, you hear?
These records are broken so easily nowadays, that Yolanda has become a bit jaded. We barely bat a primped eyelash when we see a $10 million pricetag hung on some silly shitbox that happens to sit on a semi-decent quarter-acre of land. Yet even so, there are still some truly insane outliers that can shock us. Example: this house.
You see, Yolanda was sittin’ on her behind, doing normal people things: yelling at the maid to pour us more coffee, phoning our attorney to get the restraining order extended on our nasty second ex-husband George, and poring over property records.
Then we spit our dentures right into our big bowl of Quaker Oats, right when we saw that a house in Santa Monica — a very nice house but a standard single-family house nonetheless — sold for an utterly illogical $41,082,000. For about five minutes, Yolanda was certain that figure was a mistake. But we confirmed with taxes that yes indeed — a very quiet $41 million sale did go down.
To put that figure into perspective, kiddies, $41 million is more than any house in Beverly Park has ever sold for. It’s more than any house in the Hollywood Hills or the Bird Streets has ever sold for. It’s even more than Dr. Dre paid for Tom Brady & Gisele’s insane Richard Landry mega-mansion. (But it’s less than the ludicrous $52.8 million mortgage(!!!) that Beyonce & Jay-Z are carrying on their new Bel Air compound. Oh, but we digress…)
In fact, $41 million is the biggest transaction ever recorded for any house west of the 405 (with the exception of a handful of properties up in Malibu, all of which are multi-acre oceanfront/blufftop compounds).
We know y’all are probably dying to hear about the buyer and seller and see interior pics, right? Unfortunately, Yolanda would love to see pics, too. The house is less than two years old, and the sale was totally off-market, so there ain’t nothin’ we can show y’all. And trust us, we’ve tried everything and everyone with no luck.
The backyard of the $41 million record-buster
And both the seller and buyer’s names do not appear in public records — the seller’s identity is obscured behind a blind trust, the buyer’s is shielded behind a corporate entity — an LLC, if you will. However, Yolanda happens to know that the seller is Krista Levitan, the estranged soon-to-be ex-wife of Modern Family show creator Steven Levitan. Our Mr. & Mrs. Levitan bought the property together — in happier days, back in 2012.
The one-acre Santa Monica lot, as it appeared back in 2012
Tax records show that the Levitans threw down $8,600,000 for the then-vacant flag lot and permits reveal they spent millions more to construct an approximately 10,000-square-foot “Modern Farmhouse”-style mansion. The house directly overlooks the golf course of the hoity-toity Riviera Country Club. Permits also reveal some further details: the house has a detached 10-car garage and a very large subterranean (basement) level that may or may not be included in that aforementioned 10,000-square-foot figure.
In any case, the house was completed sometime in early 2016, right around the same time that Mr. & Mrs. Levitan embarked on a particularly nasty voyage of divorce. We’re not sure who got what in the final settlement, so we don’t know for sure whether they split the record-breaking $41 million lottery win they got for this place, but we do know that Mrs. Levitan was the one living here for the last year or so. Here’s to hoping she enjoyed her stay when she wasn’t busy hiring security guards to stop her estranged husband from hugging their kids.
Modern family, indeed, eh?
Steve & Krista Levitan
We also happen to know that the spendthrift buyer is a still sorta-young but hardcore real estate baller named Kevin Washington. Our Mr. Washington is the younger son of Montana-based business tycoon Dennis Washington, the 83-year-old owner of the conglomerate known as Seaspan Marine Corporation. Papa Washington makes do with a current net worth of $6.1 billion, per the beancounters at Forbes. That’s good enough to make him the 239th richest person in the world. Chew on that!
The younger Mr. Washington is married to a beautiful blonde model named Chelsea Salmon, and together the couple have two young children, a boy and a girl.
Kevin & Chelsea Washington
Ack!! Don’t act like y’all don’t get a wee bit envious when you see two genetically-blessed people with (seemingly) perfect lives and mountains of money to boot. Kinda makes Yolanda wish we could turn back time and do things differently, now that we’re older and marginally wiser. But it’s much too late for that…
We digress. Kevin Washington is probably best-known to the general public for his boat. Yes, his boat.
Attessa IV, Dennis Washington’s superyacht
Okay, the “boat” is actually an enormous floating mansion — a superyacht, if you will. And it technically belongs to his daddy. But it would seem that Kevin Washington has the ship at his constant disposal — when he’s not sailing it around the globe, it’s almost always docked in Marina del Rey, where it absolutely dwarfs every other ship in the harbor.
Seriously, if you live in the area, go down and take a look at this thing. We saw it last time we were out there — a couple weeks ago — and it’s just ludicrous how massive this beast is. Everyone was gawking, kiddies.
Find her in Marina del Rey
That’s a very nice behind, if y’all will pardon Yolanda for being fresh. But now a look at Mr. Washington’s real estate history. He’s hardly an LA newbie, after all.
Sierra Towers, where Kevin Washington once owned a $10 million penthouse
In March 2012, Mr. Washington paid $6,400,000 for one of the two penthouses in the Sierra Towers apartment building, at the border of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. He immediately gutted the unit and then — just six months later — flipped the unfinished project for a whopping $10,000,000. The buyer, y’all may be interested to know, was fellow billionaire heir Evan Metropoulos, who would go on to pay $17,200,000 for the other penthouse, which he has combined with the one he bought from Mr. Washington. (But we digress!)
Kevin Washington’s Trousdale Estates sex kitten, for sale at $27.5 million
In September 2012 — right after he sold his Sierra Towers penthouse — Mr. Washington paid $9,935,000 for a 6,229-square-foot mid-century stunner on what is often considered to be one of the best streets in the “Trousdale Estates” neighborhood of Beverly Hills.
Sometime in 2013, Mr. Washington embarked on a massive (and massively expensive!) overhaul of the property that lasted until 2017 and involved all new finishes, decor, and landscaping. In June of this year (2017), the fickle Mr. Washington put the property up for sale with a ballsy asking price of $27,500,000. The house remains available on the open market as of today.
Malibu’s Carbon Beach, where Kevin Washington owned a $9 million house
In May 2013, the deep-pocketed Mr. Washington paid $8,500,000 in an off-market deal for a 2,638-square-foot house on Malibu’s Carbon Beach, which is informally known as “Billionaire’s Beach” for its super-wealthy residents. (These billionaires include Larry Ellison, Simon Nixon, Herbert Simon, and Mark Walter).
Property records show that Mr. Washington very quietly sold his Malibu pad last month (August 2017) in an off-market $9,175,000 deal. The new owner is Russ Jones, a bigshot at talent agency juggernaut Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
Kevin Washington’s Beverly Hills (Post Office) mansion, currently in escrow at $14 million
Back in July 2015, Mr. Washington paid married actors Jonathan Frakes and Genie Francis a fat $11,995,000 for a Traditional-style 7,256-square-foot mansion in the Beverly Hills Post Office area, where it seems he and Mrs. Washington have been shacking up while their Trousdale Estates home was under renovation.
With the purchase of their $41 million Santa Monica mansion, however, the Washingtons are also attempting to dispose of their unneeded B.H.P.O. pad. The house is currently on the open market with a $14,800,000 pricetag, and a sale is pending! Mazel tov. Now they just need to get that Trousdale treasure offloaded.
As for the Levitans, we aren’t sure where the former Missus has moved. But records show that Mr. Levitan still owns an oceanfront house on Malibu’s Broad Beach. The erstwhile couple also recently sold their longtime marital home in the tony Brentwood Park neighborhood for nearly $10 million. Interestingly enough, the buyer was a mysterious blind trust that has since had the residence completely demolished.
Now then — before we jet off, we’d like to remind our readers that Yolanda would sell our firstborn child into slavery for photos of that Santa Monica house. Whoever has a stash — and we know you’re out there and reading this — pretty please contact us. We’ll keep your identity on the DL and try to make you an offer you can’t refuse. Promise!
Buoyed by the ultra-high-end LA real estate market’s relentless (?) optimism (and that crazy Carter family spending $88 million), some folks are going hog-wild with outlandish prices. As Yolanda first heard from our online BFF Your Mama at Variety magazine, there’s a new $125 million listing coming to market in that blue-blooded bastion of Bel Air.
And believe it or not, kiddies, but this is one compound that Yolanda believes may actually be worth close to the nostril-flaring nine-figure asking price. But before we chat more about it, a wee background on the low-profile owners.
The Bronfman Hauptman family
Ellen Bronfman Hauptman is a low-profile yet enormously wealthy woman who comes from one of those old money backgrounds for which lower Bel Air is oh-so very famous. Her grandpappy Samuel Bronfman — a Russian Jewish immigrant to Canada — built the Seagram’s corporation into what was formerly the largest distributor of alcoholic beverages in the whole wide world. Phyllis Lambert — Samuel Bronfman’s daughter and Ms. Bronfman Hauptman’s aunt — is an architect who commissioned the iconic Seagram Building on Manhattan’s Park Avenue. And Charles Bronfman — Ms. Bronfman Hauptman’s 86-year-old father — is a philanthropist who was once owner of Major League Baseball’s Montreal Expos and makes do with a net worth of $2.3 billion.
Andrew Hauptman may not quite be on his wife’s wealth level, but he’is certainly no slouch in the moolah department. The Harvard MBA has a investment banking background and also was once a Universal Studios executive. Side note: at that time, Universal was majority-owned by Edgar Bronfman Jr., Mr. Hauptman’s wife’s second (?) cousin.
The Bronfman-Hauptman couple have a family holding company — Andell Inc. — that currently owns the Major League Soccer team Chicago Fire. (Mr. Hauptman serves as the team’s Chairman). They are also philanthropists and major Democratic Party donors.
Now then, y’all. Yolanda is well aware that this house is not to everyone’s persnickety architectural taste. Don’t feel shame if your real estate libido isn’t stimulated by these forthcoming photos. That’s totally okay. Different strokes and all that. But for those of us who enjoy a spot of extreme minimalism done up on a no-budget scale (Yolanda included), this place is breathtaking and brings all the wows.
As detailed in its 2011 Architectural Digest feature, this house was designed by London-based master minimalist architect John Pawson — a longtime friend of the Bronfman-Hauptmans — and is one of only two homes he has built in the USA. Four years of design planning and four years of construction, and here is the result.
Completed in 2009, the residence appears smaller than its mega-mansion-sized 20,000-square-feet — or at least it does to Yolanda in photos. The structure consists of two slender boxes — one cantilevered over the other — plus a subterranean level that features a screening room, staff quarters, a children’s playroom, and storage space. The home’s exterior is clad in stucco accented by red cedar trim.
Acres of oak flooring fill the home. The monolithic double-height dining room is completely featureless, save for a fireplace.
It may look basic, but the appliances in this kitchen are probably worth more than 99% of folks earn in an entire year. That’s a super-expensive La Cornue range, the sink is Caesarstone, and the fittings are by Dornbracht.
The dining room has crystal-clear views of the Los Angeles basin (on a clear day, natch). And there’s a outdoor dining room, too.
The master bedroom is large, but certainly not as oppressively huge as one might expect for a 20k square foot house. An intimate study also lies on the home’s uppermost level.
Also in the master bath is a built-in soaking tub with Dornbracht fittings looking out into a courtyard featuring with an outdoor shower, a hot tub, and firepit. The negative-edge swimming pool has city lights views.
Records indicate that the Bronfman Hauptman couple bought up the land for their two-parcel Bel Air stunner in two separate transactions: the first parcel was acquired in 1997 for $2,500,000, and they picked up the adjacent parcel two years later for $1,440,000. Whatever structures existed on the land were immediately razed, and the couple spent untold millions to construct and landscape the place y’all just gawked at.
But that’s not all! Property records indicate that the Bronfman-Hauptmans acquired yet another adjacent property in 2002 — this one for about $10,750,000 or so. This parcel features a 6,341-square-foot Traditional-style mansion built in 1941 and designed by venerable American architect Paul Williams. It is Yolanda’s understanding that this house — and the property it sits on, natch — is also included in the compound’s nine-figure ask.
So the $125 million price buys you 26,000-square-feet of compound living in a John Pawson showpiece and a Paul Williams classic, all on nearly four acres of elegantly landscaped, prime Bel Air land. And stunning views, yet total privacy! Furnishings included.
The $125 million, four-acre, two mansion compound
Almost seems like a steal! No? Shall we ask the Carters?
This one is a long-distance dedication to a handsome, scholarly reader from Santa Barbara. We’ve mentioned him before on this blog — again, let’s call him Barbara Bane.
Our Mr. Bane recently wrote in again and generously provided us with a number of juicy Montecito/Santa Barbara real estate tidbits. One of the several properties Mr. Bane mentioned was this contemporary casa, which sits high in the hills of Montecito overlooking the Pacific and recently sold for the strangely-complicated price of $6,312,293 to a mysterious corporate entity. Who could the new owner be, Mr. Bane wondered.
Well, kiddies, Yolanda just happens to know that the buyer is a British-born investment banker named Andrew Pisker.
If Mr. Pisker’s name sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because we’ve written about him before on this very blog. It was he who — earlier this year — sold another contemporary Montecito pad for $6,850,000 to “The Profit” TV star Marcus Lemonis.
Anyway, Mr. Pisker was judged to be one of the “ten sexiest male bankers on earth” by our fellow website owner/blogger, the beautiful Xenia Tchoumitcheva. Our gurl Xenia said of Mr. Pisker, “His defined and flawless features, suggest strong character and masculinity.” Ooh la la!
Unfortunately for Xenia (and Yolanda), Mr. Pisker is currently married to a lady named Belinda Wilson Pisker, who appears to be some sort of photographer or portrait artist. Something artsy. The couple have a dog. And our Mr. Pisker’s main hobby appears to be collecting and restoring vintage Ferraris. We’re talking cars worth seven figures, kiddies.
A long gated driveway shaded by some beautiful oak trees and lined by fragrant rosemary plants (some of which still appear to be in plastic pails?!) leads to a roomy motorcourt and the garage space for six cars. Perfect for Mr. Pisker, car collector.
A stone pathway leads up a three-step stairway and to the glass-and-wood front door.
The house was originally built in 1987, which is fairly apparent when looking at the interior decor. Lots of honey-colored wood up in there, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
The master bedroom has a private balcony overlooking the Montecito hills and the Pacific ocean out yonder, as does a decidedly retro-ish office. There are a total of 3 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms in the mini-estate. Although listing materials do not indicate the compound’s total square footage, public records put it at 3,342. That number may not include the two-story detached pool house, however.
Speaking of the guest house, it’s accessed via a long and narrow steel bridge that connects it to the main living area. The pool itself is infinity-edged and has an attached spa for chilly nights. (But what the heck is that stone baby lying on the spa’s side?! Creepy).
Mr. Pisker’s nearest new neighbors include a whole bunch of low-profile business people. And just a couple streets away is a big ass Montecito lot owned by Gwyneth Paltrow, who bought her property from shady Nigerian playboy Kola Aluko last year. Ms. Paltrow is currently doing what she does best: pissing off all her new Montecito neighbors with her plans to build a gigantic, view-blocking mansion. Lordy!
For a refresher, the house was sold by Modern Family‘s Steven Levitan and/or his ex-wife Krista Levitan (sorry, we aren’t sure who got what in the divorce) and was purchased by a youngish couple named Kevin & Chelsea Washington. He’s the younger son of multi-billionaire industrialist Dennis Washington, in case y’all didn’t know.
However, since the sale was off-market, Yolanda didn’t have access to any photographs of the property. So we did what we do best: resort to beggin’. We beseeched the general public for pics, even going so far as to offering to trade our first born child for a few glossy shots. Oh yes we did! We’re desperate like that.
Well, y’all. However humiliating it may be, ask and ye shall receive.
Mere hours after we published that story, Yolanda was covertly contacted by a certain someone who wishes to remain anonymous. This super-generous individual provided us with several tantalizing photos, and Yolanda was easily able to verify that they were indeed taken from inside the residence in question. We can’t thank our anonymous benefactor enough, so we shall do as he/she requested and share them with y’all. It’s a beautiful day, kiddies.
While the pictures do not paint a complete portrait of the place, they clearly and nonetheless reinforce what Yolanda told y’all before: slightly rustic “Modern Farmhouse” on the outside, clean-lined contemporary within. We particularly like that hanging “swing” bed and the big-picture view windows that drink in the Riviera Country Club views and the hills of nearby Pacific Palisades.
It’s also apparent that Mr. Levitan spent some very serious coin to build this place, in case anyone had any doubts. That interior — simple and uncluttered though it may be — simply reeks of money.
Yolanda’s anonymous benefactor also whispered to your gurl that the interior designer hired by the Levitans to do up this place is the ex-wife of the Bay Area-based architect who built the house, a guy named Howard Backen.
Our Mr. Backen, for what it’s worth, doesn’t do many projects in LA but he did also design that “Belgian Farmhouse” over in Brentwood’s Sullivan Canyon that recently sold for a frightening $18,300,000 to Houston-based billionaire Dan Friedkin. (He is also rumored to have done up Diane Keaton’s new pad that is basically across the street from that $18.3 million house, but we digress).
As y’all know, Mr. Levitan spent $8,600,000 back in 2012 to acquire this then-vacant 1-acre parcel just off San Vicente Boulevard. He then spent several years (and God only knows how many more millions) to construct, furnish, and landscape this exquisitely done-up spread, his dream home.
The ironic thing, of course, is that Mr. Levitan may never have had a chance to spend a night in this joint. The house was completed in January 2016, records show, and Mrs. Levitan filed for divorce that same month. The split almost immediately became shockingly nasty. Delicious tabloid fodder, indeed. And it was Mrs. Levitan who wound up with the keys to this place, where she lived for 2016 and most of the past year. In fact, as pointed out by a commenter on Yolanda’s site, it was she who hosted Bravo star Jenni Pulos’s baby shower — right here at this here residence.
Anyway, let’s hope the Washington’s finally give this place some more of that happiness it deserves.
And since Yolanda was so fortunate with her last request to the general public, we’re gonna give it another go! Hey Mr. & Mrs. Washington: how about you invite Yolanda to your housewarming party?! Pretty please. We’ve got libations!!
It took nearly six years, but at long last one of LA’s largest and most unabashedly hedonistic estates has sold. The transfer price, records show, was $24,380,000. That’s a huge number, to be certain, but it’s also a sanity defying $54,420,000 less than the $78.8 million ask that original owner/seller Donald Abbey slapped on his modern-day tribute to Hearst Castle.
The property is question is the unimaginatively-named “Bradbury Estate” that is located within the guarded gates of the Bradbury Estates community out in teeny-tiny Bradbury, CA — about 20 miles northwest of Downtown LA in the San Gabriel Valley. Completed in 2011 by Mr. Abbey — a guy who made his money in commercial real estate — the Palladian-style monster has lingered on and off the market at a wide variety of listing prices and (for the past year or so) has been vacant.
If y’all have been following Yolanda’s silly blog for some time, you should already know that Mr. Abbey flew a bit too close to the sun and — a couple years back — nearly lost his crown real estate jewel to foreclosure. Rather than go through the nasty publicity and stress that a foreclosure of this magnitude would bring, Mr. Abbey chose to simply (and quietly) surrender the 8-acre property to the foreclosing lender, Bank of America. Yolanda has twice written about that here on this very blog, so we won’t rehash that ugliness up in here yet again.
Anyway, the bank swiftly hired a top LA real estate broker — Million Dollar Listing‘s Josh Altman — to market the estate, which he did for several months on his show and elsewhere before roping in an interested and qualified party. The buyer either got an amazing deal on the place or overpaid for what is an unsalable white elephant, an epic mausoleum to one man’s wealth. That’s all based on your point of view, naturally.
For the record, documents do not reveal the true identity of the buyer. He/she/they are shrouded behind a mysterious corporate entity with a Chinese-sounding name. It’s worth noting, however, that Yolanda was able to connect said entity to an address in the guard-gated “Country Estates” enclave out in Diamond Bar (CA). The Country Estates, for those who do not know, is a large but geographically-remote community littered with architecturally-questionable yet multi-million-dollar mansions, nearly all of which are owned by folks who originally hail from Mainland China.
Make of all that what you will. Yolanda is sure that additional information about the buyer will be forthcoming, either on this here blog or elsewhere. It takes a special sort of individual to want to own a house like this, y’all.
Some of the estate’s more extravagant features include a mega-mansion-sized 30,000-square-foot main house, a 10,000-gallon trout pond, a cross-shaped swimming pool that is so large it can probably be seen from space, an underground firing range, and enough marble and other exotic materials to bankrupt any run-of-the-mill multi-millionaire.
Now then, kiddies. $24 million may seem like an insane price to pay for a property way out in the San Gabriel Valley. It is not, however, the biggest sale ever in the area. That honor goes to a historic Pasadena estate that sold for a pearl-clutching $28,000,000 back in May 2013 to a fellow from Shanghai who — so Yolanda has heard — never actually moved into the premises. The house is back up for sale at $28 million, the same price that the owner paid four years ago. It seems that Mr. Shanghai fellow is able and willing to take a loss on the gorgeous estate, for whatever reason. But we digress…
The $28 million Arden Villa: ready to sell at a loss…
More shocking, however, is that the $24 million paid does not even come close to covering the construction costs of this colossal calamity. Records show that Mr. Abbey paid just $2 million for the land way back in 1991 but then — in 2002 — took out an unbelievable $31,000,000 construction loan from Bank of America to finance the building costs, an amount that means someone at B of A made the company lose millions and probably got fired as a result. Yikes!
Bradbury Estates
Yolanda thinks of Bradbury Estates as the San Gabriel Valley’s answer to the San Fernando Valley’s Hidden Hills neighborhood. Like Hidden Hills, Bradbury Estates also is a city without any commercial developments and an equestrian-based history, though many of the old horse ranches are disappearing to make way for outsized mega-homes, the kind that folks would normally find out in Beverly Park or someplace like that.
Bradbury doesn’t sport any Kardashians or rapper residents, of course, but despite being less flashy, the residents are no less wealthy. Some of the more notable Bradbury Estates homeowners include In-N-Out Burger’s billionaire heiress Lynsi Snyder, billionaire Hong Kong tycoon/car collector Benjamin Yeung, pro baseball player Adrián Beltré, civil rights activist Danny Bakewell, luxury auto dealership mogul Paul Rusnak, and not one but two televangelists: Pastor Melissa Scott and Pastor Peter Popoff, both of whom appear to own extravagant estates that are each likely worth in excess of $6 million.
Kids, Yolanda just touched down in LA after our European vacay and now we feel rather bummed because we realize we’re hopelessly behind on everything. But we thought we’d get the week started off bright and early with a wee juicy morsel out of one of our favorite LA neighborhoods: the low-key and family-friendly yet blindingly expensive Brentwood Park.
What we did not know at the time we wrote about the Santa Monica pad was the true identity of the buyer of Mr. and Mrs. Levitan’s Brentwood home. But when a generous commenter left a note saying the buyer was British media personality James Corden, Yolanda was skeptical but thought we should check out the lead. Just in case, you know.
Well, kiddies, guess what? Turns out our commenter was spot-on! The proud new owner is indeed Mr. Corden and his wifey Julia Carey. The couple have two young children and a third on the way, in case anyone wanted to know.
James Corden & Julia Carey
Yolanda was a wee bit surprised at this purchase, to be honest. We don’t watch Mr. Corden’s show and we’ve only just started hearing his name in the past couple years, so we didn’t think he had stockpiled enough financial firepower to afford a $10 million house in one of LA’s most exclusive neighborhoods. But — as is occasionally the case — Yolanda was proven dead wrong, obviously.
Unbeknownst to us but revealed by our friend Wikipedia, Mr. Corden created a very successful British TV show that we ain’t never heard of before (it’s called Gavin & Stacey), so he’s been banking big bucks since 20067. And in 2014, of course, he moved across the pond to host his very popular Late Late Show. Our Mr. Corden is probably most well-known for his recurring “Carpool Karaoke” video segment that has featured countless celebrities singing along to all the latest jams in the passenger seat of Mr. Corden’s automobile.
Described in marketing materials as a “fabulous two story New England Traditional”, the stately 1997-built house is situated privately behind a long gated driveway and mature hedges and trees. The yard and structure are remarkably well-maintained — as they should be for being owned by a family as rich as the Levitans — but sorry, the whole look is not to Yolanda’s taste. There’s certainly nothing offensive about the house, kiddies, it’s just that we don’t understand why folks would spend $10 million on this when there are countless lovely Spanish and mid-century moderns scattered around the region. But hey, that’s just us. Obviously lots of rich folks disagree with that. And what is our opinion worth, anyway?
Gleaming hardwood floors and exposed wooden beams on the kitchen ceiling keep the traditional interiors from feeling staid. Naturally, the kitchen is equipped with top-of-the-line appliances and connects to a comfy-looking family room.
The 8,609-square-foot mansion sports 5 bedrooms and 6.75 baths — just enough for Mr. Corden’s growing brood — and the master bedroom features dark brown hardwood floors (they almost look like mahogany) with a sitting area and a fireplace. The master bath is similarly commodious, with a glass-enclosed shower and a built-in soaking tub, plus a private balcony overlooking the lush backyard.
Speaking of the half-acre yard, it’s totally private and is what so many LA landscaping dreams are made of (we think?): a large grassy space, a brick-surrounded pool and spa, carefully-pruned olive and jacaranda trees, and a trellis-shaded patio that is opened out upon by French doors. Oh, and there’s a little gazebo out back, too.
Yolanda happens to know that Mr. Corden has not yet moved into his new Brentwood Park mansion — he’s still living in rented Westside digs — because this house is currently under major renovations. We’re not sure why, since it looks to be in great shape. But alrighty then. Flash that cash, Mr. Corden!
Anywho, whenever he finally parks the Aston in the driveway, some of Mr. Corden’s new Brentwood Park neighbors will include fellow funnyman Trey Parker, Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff, actor Tobey Maguire, and heiress Tyler Ellis.
Listing agent: David Offer, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices James Corden’s agent: David Parnes, The Agency
Few real estate-related happenings surprise us anymore, but Yolanda has to admit we were still a wee bit dumbfounded when our trusty pal Vlad the Revealer at Celebrity Address Aerialhit us up to cattily whisper that a very contemporary home in Malibu Colony was sold to Chrome Hearts founders Richard Stark and his business partner/wife Laurie Lynn Stark. Property records confirm that the house in question sold just days ago for $7,250,000 to an LLC that has long served as a front for the pair.
It astonished us because these folks have already spent a bonafide fortune on luxury real estate, most of it in Malibu.
The Starks’ $38.5 million Paradise Cove compound
Astute readers may recall that it was only six months ago (back in April 2017) that the Starks paid an astounding $38,500,000 for a bluff-top compound in Malibu’s Paradise Cove area. And just two years before that, Mr. & Mrs. Stark laid out $23,500,000 for a politically-connected 128-acre ranch in the hoity-toity winter resort town known as Aspen, Colorado.
Part of the Starks’ $23.5 million Aspen ranch
If that doesn’t goose your gander, get a load of this. Not only have the Starks spent $70 million on three luxury homes within the past three years, but this latest acquisition is not even their first house in the super-exclusive Malibu Colony. Or their second house. Or third.
That’s right, kiddies, the Starks own no fewer than four multi-million dollar homes within the gates of a community whose residents include many famous folks like Pink and Jason Statham, just to name a couple. Two of those homes are on the ocean side of the street, two are on the land side.
Four homes in Malibu Colony
But the Starks don’t actually reside full-time in any of the Malibu Colony properties. Rather, their main residence is on Sweetwater Mesa Road in Malibu’s guard-gated Serra Retreat community, the very same dead-end street where earlier this year Hong Kong billionairess Karen Lo paid $69,900,000 for an enormous hilltop compound. And it’s also the street where hair care billionaire John Paul Dejoria resides, for what it’s worth.
The Starks’ Serra Retreat villa
Including their four Malibu Colony properties, the Serra Retreat spread, and that $38.5 million Paradise Cove compound, property records show that the Starks own no fewer than eight multi-million-dollar Malibu homes. Take those and the Aspen ranch plus the $5 million Santa Monica crib bought by their daughter Jesse Jo Stark and a big swathe of vacant Calabasas land, and Mr. and Mrs. Stark collectively control a mind-numbing $100+ million in luxury residential real estate.
Where does all this money come from? Japan, apparently. Since they founded their company back in 1988, Mr. & Mrs. Stark have expanded their retail presence internationally, with stores in Europe and Asia. But it’s Japan where the lion’s share of dough comes from. They’ve got ten brick-and-mortar stores in that country alone — by comparison, the USA has just seven — and the luxury brand has become somewhat iconic over there.
Fancy a trinket from Chrome Hearts? You’d better be packin’ a packed pocketbook. A pair of sunglasses retails for about $2,000 and a hand-carved dining room table can run upwards of $250,000. Yowza! They also sell incense (Cindy Crawford always has some burning in her home, it’s “amazing”).
The Starks and their family
Mr. & Mrs. Stark have hobnobbed with celebrities for decades — Cher is their eldest daughter’s godmother, for starters — but the pair are notoriously secretive about their business, eschewing traditional ad campaigns and relying mostly on word of mouth to sell their fiendishly expensive trinkets and lifestyle products. Clearly, whatever they are doing is working. But we digress. Here’s a look at the Mr. & Mrs. Stark’s latest acquisition.
The house was built in 1980 and “recently renovated”, according to the listing. It is one of only a handful of Malibu Colony residences that sports its own pool and in-ground spa. There’s also an open-air rooftop terrace with a firepit, plenty of lounge chairs, and an over-the-rooftops view of the Pacific.
Living, family, and dining rooms all blend together into one cavernous space that spans the length of the residence and also features a luxuriously-outfitted kitchen. In keeping with the contemporary theme, the whitewashed walls are emboldened with colorful pictures that feature nonsensical slogans like “anyone telling anything is telling that thing” and “this is it with it as it is“.
Upstairs are where the three of the home’s four bedrooms are located. The fireplace-equipped master bedroom goes minimalist with its mostly art-free white walls, white ceiling, and white floor. The master bath has white and black and silver — sorta like the Chrome Hearts headquarters — and features a party-sized shower with dual rainfall showerheads and a steam room w/ sauna.
The house is only 3,653-square-feet on a .17-acre lot, but the previous (non-famous) owners must have really loved to cook and/or entertain because in addition to the substantial indoor kitchen, there is also a full-sized outdoor kitchen with a bar and high-end stainless steel appliances. Although the property is located on the land side of the Colony, the listing points out that the residence transferred with deeded rights to the beach.
We’re not sure what Mr. & Mrs. Stark plan to do with their latest acquisition — perhaps it’s merely an investment or maybe it’s a party house or maybe it’s for one of their kids or something — but it could be worth noting that one of their other Malibu Colony pads (this one oceanfront) is currently available for lease at an eye-watering rate of $100,000 per month.
Listing agent: Chad Rogers, Hilton & Hyland Richard & Laurie Stark’s agent: Chris Cortazzo, Coldwell Banker
It was The Hollywood Reporterwho first revealed that billionaire software heiress/film producer Megan Ellison raked in more than $35 million in a not-so-secret off-market deal for her idiosyncratic (and very visible) home high above the Sunset Strip in the Mount Olympus neighborhood of Hollywood Hills. Records now reveal that the transaction went down for $35,350,000.
This is not the most expensive house ever sold in the Hollywood Hills — that honor goes to the now-abandoned Bird Streets pad that was purchased by Malaysian swindler Jho Low for $38,980,000 nearly five years ago — but it’s certainly close.
Now, to call this place oddball would be a massive understatement. To our eyes, it looks rather more like a swoopy house of worship than a “normal” single-family residence. Built in the early 1990s and situated on nearly 8.25 acres of land, it was owned for over a decade by a dude named Eddy Aslanian. It was our Mr. Aslanian sold the home at the tail end of 2013 to Miss Ellison for an even-steven $30,000,000.
Yolanda has written about this house on at least two separate occasions, so we won’t get too far into the weeds here, but it’s certainly an interesting place with 9,204-square-feet of living space featuring 6 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms. Over the years, it has been featured in several films (I Love You, Man among them) and has also reportedly been the setting for numerous — ahem — “high-quality” porn flicks. But Yolanda wouldn’t know anything about that.
So the rumors go, Miss Ellison was all set to raze the property to build something more spectacular and had even purchased a temporary crash pad in Beverly Hills in which to live while construction commenced. Alas, as fickle billionaire heiresses are wont to do, Miss Ellison abruptly changed her mind. She sold her (relatively) modest Beverly Hills abode at a million-dollar-plus loss and now has dumped her Mount Olympus promised land, too.
The buyer of Miss Ellison’s pad is Woodbridge Investments, a semi-secretive investment group/high-end real estate developer fronted by Robert Shapiro, a guy (allegedly!) prone to transgender discrimination. Oh, my!
Woodbridge and Mr. Shapiro have been spending hundreds of millions of bucks to buy up much of LA’s prime real estate. They’ve got properties in the Bird Streets, Trousdale Estates, Bel Air, and even as far out as Hidden Hills. They also — in case y’all didn’t know — last year paid $90 million for the legendary Owlwood Estate in the Holmby Hills neighborhood. (That estate is back up for sale at a reasonable $180 million).
Back to Miss Ellison. Records show she isn’t out of the Hollywood Hills completely, at least not yet. She still owns a small contemporary-style crib right next door to the big pad she just sold. That house — dwarfed by the enormous structure next door — is currently for sale at an ask of $4,395,000. Unfortunately for Miss Ellison, that’s almost a million bucks less than the $5.25 million she paid for the place in 2015.
Anyway, Miss Ellison has long since decamped her Hollywood Hills pad to move down the mountain. She now resides in a privately-situated compound in one of the best areas of Beverly Hills. She purchased the 1920s Spanish-style sprawler for $15,500,000 in late 2016 from Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, as was first revealed by Our Mama at Variety magazine.
A few months later, as Yolanda blabbed about, she paid $6,895,000 for the mid-century house next door.
Megan Ellison’s $22 million Beverly Hills compound
Some of Miss Ellison’s nearest new neighbors in B.H. include Sheryl Sandberg’s bazillionaire boyfriend Bobby Kotick, infomercial king Bill Guthy and his wife Victoria Jackson, and Downtown LA luxury apartment mogul Geoff Palmer.
Two adjacent units in the super-luxe and appropriately-named The Century building in LA’s Century City neighborhood recently sold for a combined total of $14,162,000. The new owner, Yolanda was somewhat surprised to discover, is an LLC easily linked to a young lass named Nikita Kahn. Our Miss Kahn — if you didn’t already know — is best-known as the longtime girlfriend of good ol’ Larry Ellison, who makes do with a current net worth of $60 billion, according to the beancounters at Forbes.
Nikita Kahn is not, however, this lady’s birth name. Miss “Kahn” was born Iryna Osipova in the former Soviet Union nation of Ukraine. At some point Miss Osipova changed her name to Nikita Kahn and morphed into a self-styled philanthropist and actress. You can do those sorts of things when your boyfriend is the seventh-richest person in the world, y’all.
A thorough search of online records leads Yolanda to believe that Miss Kahn and/or Osipova is still in her 20s, which is a bit eyebrow-raising given the fact that she’s been dating four-times-divorced, 73-year-old Larry Ellison (off and on) for seven years, since 2010. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. As long as she was 18 back then. Right?
Nikita Kahn (left) with Larry and Megan Ellison
Know something else you can do when your boyfriend is a billionaire? Spend a whole buttload of moolah on real estate. Back in 2011, Miss Kahn coughed up $3,300,000 for a fancy condo in Marina del Rey’s swanky Azzurra building. Miss Kahn continues to own that condo, though it has since been transferred to an LLC that she controls.
We are uncertain why Miss Kahn needs or wants a $14 million mansion in the LA sky when her boyfriend owns half of Malibu’s Carbon Beach (along with a ton of other Malibu real estate). But ours not to reason why, ours but to just die. Maybe Miss Kahn is tired of making the trek all the way back to Malibu after a tiresome night out on the LA charity circuit. Mmmhmm! Yolanda feels ya, Miss Kahn. It’s just a crash pad!
The seller of both units is shielded behind a mysteriously-named LLC that Yolanda is unfortunately unable to crack at this time. That seller bought both for $12,500,000 back in June 2017, only three months before Miss Kahn took them off his/her hands. So someone walked away with a big profit, clearly.
The larger of the two units (above) has 4,450-square-feet of living space and is located on one of the highest floors in the building, just one level below the massive full-floor penthouses. Sporting 4 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, it’s got high-end finishes (including polished hardwood floors), top-of-the-line appliances, and westward-facing views galore.
The smaller of the units sports 3,430 square feet of living space with 3 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, and a rather disturbing lavender (?) chandelier adorning the open-air dining room. The kitchen here is comparatively cramped compared to the more spacious unit, but Yolanda digs the ebonized hardwood floors and jetliner views, natch.
Altogether, records show that Miss Kahn now commands her own mansion in the sky with 7,880-square-feet of living space with 7 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. And, of course, Yolanda can only imagine that she will spend another small fortune combining both units into one super-sized spread fitting of a multi-billionaire’s girlfriend. But who knows, right?
Some perks of living at The Century include a private bar/dining room downstairs, a massive screening room, private gym, 24/7 concierge, security guards, doorman, a 75 foot outdoor pool with spa and cabanas, private conference room and a wine cellar.
Famous Century residents include pop superstar singer Rihanna, actor Matthew Perry, and a bunch of really rich widows. (These include Candy Spelling and Vicki Walters).
Enjoy your new pad, Miss Kahn. At least when you’re not sunning yourself by one of your boyfriend’s thirteen Carbon Beach homes. Ah, to be young, wildly rich, and blissfully carefree…
Oh Lawdy, she’s at it again. Perennially nomadic and Porsche-driving showbiz stalwart Ellen DeGeneres has just dropped the big bucks on yet another swanky new pad. Before we begin, we must give credit for this story to our longtime friend/tipster Barbara Bane, who is based in Santa Barbara.
Ms. DeGeneres — arguably the most voracious real estate-lovin’ celebrity on the planet — is known for her love of the Santa Barbara/Montecito area, with its near-perfect climate and relaxed atmosphere. Thus, it is probably not such a surprise that she has elected to purchase an oceanfront compound on a low-key but super-expensive street (Padaro Lane) where several other celebrities also reside, in Carpinteria (CA), just south of Montecito.
Astute readers may recall that last Yolanda discussed Padaro Lane a few months back, when Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis forked over $10 million cash for their own compound on the sand. And as you might expect for a lady with an (estimated) net worth of $400 million, Ms. DeGeneres’s own Padaro Lane compound is even bigger than the Kunis-Kutcher’s pad and a unique piece of architecture.
A thorough analysis of records leads Yolanda to believe that the 1.13 acre property was acquired by prominent LA developer Robert F. Maguire III way back in 1997 for just $3,150,000. For reasons unbeknownst to us, it appears that Mr. Maguire lost the property to foreclosure earlier this year (in June 2017). It was the bank who sold the comely compound to Ms. DeGeneres for $18.6 million.
A long eucalyptus-shaded drive leads past a tennis court and guest house before it ends at a spacious motorcourt in front of the main residence and attached three car garage.
The 5,979-square-foot main house sports soaring ceilings and walls of glass, and was originally built in 1979. Upgraded hardwood floors grace most of the rooms, and the spacious kitchen has been fancified with top-grade appliances and fluorescent lighting.
The main house includes 4 bedrooms and 4.5 baths, and the master suite features more walls of glass plus a balcony overlooking the sand and Pacific below. Other perks include a free-standing, built-in soaking tub and an enormous walk-in closet that looks more like a fancy boutique with its skylights and polished hardwood floors.
The glassy modern also includes an office/library, an outdoor fireplace and outdoor daybed, and even a built-in spa. Apparently patriotism is big up in Carpinteria — just like Ashton & Mila’s new place, Ellen’s also sports a flag pole of its own.
Elsewhere on the property is an 883-square-foot guest house with 1 bedroom, 2 full bathrooms, and a vaguely Mayan-inspired architectural vernacular. Or is that just Yolanda’s early mornin’ cocktails talking?
Other estate amenities a lighted clay tennis court (overlooked by the glass walls of the guest house) and — of course — the spectacular Carpinteria ocean vistas.
$18.6 million may seem like a ton of money for a house this size, but steel yourselves because this property was once listed at a hilariously unrealistic $37,500,000 ask way back in 2008. So depending on how you look at is, Ms. Degeneres got a good deal.
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – MAY 08: Ellen DeGeneres (L) and Portia de Rossi attend Arianna Huffington’s “Thrive” book party hosted by Victoria Jackson, Kathy Freston And Dean Ornish on May 8, 2014 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Valerie Macon/Getty Images)
Yolanda has long heard vicious rumors from connected sources that Ms. DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi — her actress wife of nearly a decade — are on the brink of divorce. But as of now they are still together. So let’s keep those nasty thoughts out of our heads, capiche?
Anyway, the couple has owned so many spectacular homes over the years that Yolanda can simply not track them all. But there was that contemporary Beverly Hills compound up in Coldwater Canyon that they sold (at a huge loss) to Ryan Seacrest for $39.5 million. Then there was their Marmol Radziner-designed Hollywood Hills home that they bought in 2005 and sold to heiress Allison Milgard in 2007. They later bought that house back in 2014 and sold it again in 2016 for $9.9 million to Calvin Klein co-founder Barry Schwartz. Out in Malibu, they once owned a blufftop architectural that was purchased from Brad Pitt in 2011 for $12 million and sold — less than a year later, mind you — to makeup mogul Victoria Jackson for $13 million. And let’s not forget their A. Quincy Jones-designed Holmby Hills stunner that they bought in early 2014 for just under $40 million and sold six months later for $49.5 million to Facebook billionaire Sean Parker.
Ms. DeGeneres’s current property portfolio includes her main residence — a privately-situated mid-century in a fabulous pocket of Beverly Hills that lies just north of Sunset Boulevard. She picked up that house in late 2015 for right around $16 million. She’s also got a big-ass 17-acre compound in Santa Barbara that she picked up in 2013 for $28.8 million, renovated, and currently has available for purchase at $45 million.
In addition to Mr. & Mrs. Kutcher, some of Ellen’s higher-profile new Padaro Lane neighbors include George Lucas, Oscar winner Kevin Costner, soap opera actor Doug Davidson, their friend Barry Schwartz, direct marketing guru Greg Renker, billionaire hedge funder Bruce Kovner, and internet entrepreneur Lynda Weinman.
Listing agent: Mk Properties, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Ellen DeGeneres’s agent: Suzanne Perkins, Sotheby’s International Realty
Though they come from wildly divergent walks of life, one common denominator unites just about all of Earth’s billionaires (in addition to the hefty bank accounts): they love themselves a luxury compound. Keeping this in mind, when we noticed that a large but dated mansion in prime Beverly Hills recently sold for a fat $16,200,000, Yolanda was not terribly surprised to discover that the new owner is the billionaire next door: a Russian guy named Sergei Sarkisov (or Sergey Sarkisov, depending on where you look online).
Our Mr. Sarkisov is an ethnically Armenian insurance tycoon who is worth somewhere over $1 billion, according to Forbes. Though long based in Moscow, where his business interests are headquartered, he has resided primarily in Los Angeles for the past few years. In fact, he was appointed Armenia’s Consul General to LA back in 2013.
Mr. Sarkisov, who is married and has five children, has become well-known in Russia (and in outside countries, too) for the lavish lifestyle of his kids. His son Sergey Sarkisov Jr. has more than 16,000 Instagram followers and often posts photos of himself cavorting aboard his dad’s yacht or in one of the family’s many Rolls Royces and Bentleys. This flauntin’ has won him coverage in the Daily Mail on multiple occasions.
The Sarkisov fam is known to maintain a palatial residence in Moscow, about which Yolanda unfortunately knows nil. We do know, however, that Mr. Sarkisov spent millions of bucks to buy the 18-year-old Sergey Jr. his own penthouse pad somewhere in Moscow, where the younger Sarkisov sheepishly revealed on camera that he does not know how to make his own bed. Good thing the kid’s got four (yes, four) bodyguards with him at all times to perform the household chores, eh?
Anyway, let’s get to the house.
According to listing information, the 1.02-acre property has not been on the market in over 40 years and has “amazing potential for a developer”. Maybe that’s why Mr. Sarkisov bought it! Can’t be fun having a construction zone next to your home for years and years, right?
Somewhat suspiciously, of the 24 photos included in the MLS listing, there is not one shot of the home’s interior! That leads Yolanda to assume the decor must be hopelessly outdated. Egads.
That being said, the grounds look lush and well-maintained if a bit too scraggly in that “grandma’s mousy house” sorta way. Know what we mean?
A double gated driveway leads past a tall privacy hedge to a three-car garage and ample motorcourt shaded by sycamore trees. Out back, there is a very red tennis court, a large swimming pool, and formal gardens. Marketing materials say the home was originally built in 1952 and has 4 beds and 6 baths in 6,066-square-feet of living space. There’s also a small detached structure with an office and gym.
Sergei Sarkisov’s $34 million Beverly Hills compound
Mr. Sarkisov acquired his main Beverly Hills residence way back in early 2010 for $17,500,000. That was a huge number back then — remember, kiddies, we were still in the midst of a global economic recession and the luxury real estate market was in the downright doldrums. A $17.5 million sale was almost nonexistent back in the 2009/2010 era.
Property records show that Mr. Sarkisov’s faux Spanish Colonial home was built in 2000 and designed by architect Robert Earl. Set on 1.5 acres, the baller-sized estate (15,000+ square feet of living space) has 7 beds/9 baths in the main house, plus a guest house with two more beds and baths. Naturally, there is a saltwater pool, a tennis court, and off-street parking for dozens of vehicles. The house itself is situated far back on the lot, all but invisible from the street below.
These two Beverly Hills mansions are not the only real estate that Mr. Sarkisov owns in LA, however. Oh no.
Back in 2013, Mr. Sarkisov paid $6,000,000 for an 8,182-square-foot mansion in Pacific Palisades. Located within a tiny gated enclave, called Bella Oceana Vista, the house was sold to our boy by Jason Sinay, the son of pomegranate billionaire Lynda Resnick. Records indicate the “East Hampton” style Traditional home was built in 1995 and sports an infinity pool with ocean views.
If we’re being honest, kiddies, Yolanda is unsure about who currently lives in the Palisades mansion.
But wait, there’s more. In 2016, Mr. Sarkisov actually broke the price record for a single-family home in Marina del Rey. Docs indicate that he shelled out an unprecedented $7,880,000 for an oceanfront house on a double-wide lot.
Y’all may be interested to know that the previous Marina del Rey price record was held by Nikolai Sarkisov, who is Mr. Sarkisov’s brother and is also a billionaire. Mr. Nikolai Sarkisov forked out $7,750,000 for his own Marina del Rey pad way back in 2012. But we digress…
Encino, located in the San Fernando Valley and long the red-headed stepchild in LA’s family of luxury real estate neighborhoods, has lately been coming in to its own. We’ve seen a big spat of expensive sales of new spec-mansions bought by an increasing number of wealthy celebrities who are gladly forgoing the Westside, drawn in by this Valley area’s less pretentious atmosphere, the value its real estate still provides, and its easy access to many of LA’s suburban amenities.
In addition to those new spec-builds, Encino also boasts a few historic architectural gems. Take the Smokey Robinson estate, which got its name from the legend who owned it from 1988 to 2002. However, the “classic Southern Colonial” (per the listing) was actually built way back in 1880 and moved from its original LA location to Encino (via horse-drawn carriage!) in 1912. Eventually came Mr. Robinson, who sold it to entertainment industry entrepreneur Mike Greenfield. Our Mr. Greenfield gave the place a makeover before likewise selling it last year (2016) for $3,250,000.
Last year’s buyer was a longtime LA real estate investor/developer named Gidi Cohen. Ever the savvy fellow, Mr. Cohen gave the house another cosmetic refresh in the form of those demure grey-and-white decor colors that are so popular nowadays. He also added a new pool w/ spa and a 1,600-square-foot guest house but wisely left the lovely main house mostly untouched, save for the cosmetic upgrades, an expansion off the rear, and a new exterior balcony off the master suite.
Anyway, the house just sold for a whopping $8,253,000, a $5 million profit for Mr. Cohen (before renovation costs are subtracted, of course). Feel free to correct us if we’re wrong, y’all, but Yolanda believes that this might be the biggest residential home sale in Encino. Ever! So naturally, we were curious about the new owner.
Turns out it’s a couple that y’all probably know, at least if you’re a fan of reality TV like Yolanda. It’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards and her luxury real estate broker hubby Mauricio Umansky, who frequently pops up on his wife’s show.
For those of you surprised that the Richards-Umansky clan can afford a home of this magnitude, don’t be. According to BrokerMetrics, Mr. Umansky — the co-founder of The Agency brokerage — has had more than $160 million in transaction volume over the last twelve months. Assuming an average commission of 2.5%, that’s over $4 million in gross pay. And that $160 million, kiddies, doesn’t include referrals or Mr. Umansky’s many off-market deals, including that $70 million sale to foreigners Karen Lo & Edward Chiang in Malibu’s Serra Retreat, which he brokered earlier this year.
The waterworks-lovin’ Ms. Richards, for her part, is no slouch in the money department either. She has appeared on all eight seasons of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hillsand unconfirmed reports say she may haul in $500,000 — or possibly even more — per season.
Mauricio, Kyle, and family
Yolanda finds this place to be an enormous style upgrade from Mr. Umansky and Ms. Richards’ current home: a comfortably luxurious but rather banal residence in the northernmost reaches of Bel Air that they bought for $3,000,000 in early 2011 and have since extensively remodeled with help from Ms. Richards’ longtime BFF Faye Resnick.
Anywho, the couple’s new Encino mansion — 10,600-square-feet w/ 7 beds and 8 baths — sits just south of busy Ventura Boulevard (actually, it backs right up to a commercial strip of the Boulevard, though you’d never know it). Large metal gates flanked by red brick posts swing open to a long driveway that meanders past formal gardens and carefully clipped boxwoods, plus a formal fountain adorned by four stone fish carcasses puking water into the basin.
The front door swings open to a proper entry vestibule with a classic black-and-white checkerboard tile floor and a neo-Georgian staircase.
To the left of the entryway is a living room w/ marble fireplace; to the right is a sitting area w/ another marble fireplace. The kitchen has been fully renovated with all-new appliances and a center island with barstool seating. Most of the home’s common areas have greyish hardwood floors, a very “in” color right now. Oh, and there’s plenty of open space for Ms. Richards to perform her famous splits.
Other downstairs rooms include a family room with yet another massive marble fireplace and a bathroom with those checkerboard floors and yet another — you got it! — marble fireplace. Yolanda counts no fewer than six of them wood-burning orifices throughout the main house, in case y’all were wondering. Naturally, the house also has a home theater.
There are at least four bedroom suites on the home’s second level, including the master, which sports one of those oh-so-trendy glass-walled showers, yet another fireplace, and a walk-in closet for accommodating Ms. Richards’ designer wardrobe. It may pale in size comparison to some of her fellow RHOBH stars’ closets — Lisa Vanderpump’s and Erika Girardi’s, for example — but it’ll do.
The master suite also boasts the aforementioned 800-square-foot outdoor deck that overlooks the wondrously private backyard with its rectangular swimming pool, inset spa, and open-air guest house.
That guest house also has checkerboard tile floors — maybe there was a sale on black and white tile or somethin’ — and at least one bedroom suite for Kim Richards, if she needs a doghouse to stay in after going on another Target shopping spree. The home’s 1.54-acre grounds also include a wee putting green, a gazebo, and “meditation gardens”, whatever that is.
The Richards-Umansky clan also maintains a getaway residence in the Palm Desert resort community of La Quinta, CA that they bought for $2,350,000 back in 2014.
Kiddies, we’ve known about this transaction for the past several months but got waylaid so many times while attempting to write about it that we thought the story might have to be permanently shelved. But our fears were unfounded, thankfully. Look! Here we are.
One thing all billionaires have in common — and Yolanda has been in this “game” for a long time and will gladly testify to this under oath — is their love of a good residential compound. Privacy and security are always issues paramount to folks with bank accounts big enough to buy a mid-sized Central American country. So when a small house located smack-dab in the middle of what is often considered to the best area of Beverly Hills sold for a fat $9,700,000, Yolanda was not at all surprised to discover that the buyer is the big bad billionaire next door.
Said billionaire is Oaktree Capital’s bespectacled Howard Marks. And while he might not be a celebrity of the tabloid variety, he is most assuredly a superstar in the more interesting (to Yolanda, at least) realm of international finance. If any of y’all have been following high-end real estate gossip for the past few years, you almost assuredly have heard of Mr. Marks and his luxury-lovin’ wife Nancy. The couple have been involved in some of the biggest real estate transactions in both LA and NYC, after all.
But we digress. A little over two years ago (May 2015), the Marks couple laid out $23,700,000 for a sumptuous — if admittedly dated — major-league estate in Beverly Hills. Formerly the home of Emmy-winning producer Nick Vanoff, the 1933 Mediterranean villa sports 9 bedrooms and a total of 10.25 baths in about 8,800-square-feet of rambling living space on a 1.23-acre lot.
Our Mr. and Mrs. Marks have since embarked on a major but friendly remodel of the estate — not a teardown or mutilation but a considerate nip/tuck and facelift, if you will. And at some point they realized (or maybe they knew it all along!) that 1.23 acres would never do for the home of a billionaire. So when the smaller house next door came up for sale, the couple saw their chance and acted accordingly.
Property records reveal that Mr. and Mrs. Marks used a mysteriously-named corporate entity, “RMB Hoyt LLC”, to pay $9,700,000 for the next door neighbor’s property. That’s a huge amount of money of course, but it’s way lower than the last asking price of $12.3 million and more than 25% under the original ask of $13,000,000. So either the home was wildly overpriced to start of the Markses are some damn good negotiators! Amen?
A forest-like canopy of trees completely shields the property from street-level view. Once past the iron gates, a long driveway leads past a rather enchanting pathway that meanders into the romantic woods (okay, Yolanda has been drinking) and ends at a sizable motorcourt. The single-story residence — a not particularly attractive mid-century modern — was originally built in 1952 and is in mostly original condition, as y’all can see. There are tile floors, hardwood floors, stone wall fireplaces, and beige carpeting. There are either 4 beds and 6 baths or 5 beds and 6 baths (depending on where you look) in 3,614-square-feet of living space.
Other features of the .59-acre spread include some weird ass crouching outdoor Buddha, a separate art studio, a pill-shaped pool and maid’s quarters. Given that the house appears to have been owned by the same non-celebrity family for the past 40+ years and the listing explicitly mentions that the house is “in original condition” — which is a nice way of saying it needs upgrades — Yolanda would not be the least bit surprised if Mr. and Mrs. Marks were to knock this thing down and combine the grounds with their big pad next door.
In fact, we would be shocked if they didn’t do just that.
The $34 million Howard & Nancy Marks compound, Beverly Hills
Altogether, Yolanda’s calculations show that Mr. & Mrs. Marks have forked out $33,400,000 for their two-parcel Beverly Hills estate that comprises 1.82 acres of land, multiple structures, and two swimming pools. We also believe they have already spent (and will continue to spend) millions more to create a wow-worthy spread. And the interiors, y’all can be certain will be done up by White House decorator Michael S. Smith.
Some of Mr. & Mrs. Marks’ nearest neighbors in Beverly Hills include Amazon bajillionaire Jeff Bezos, Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi, media exec Casey Wasserman, Mexican billionaire Isaac Oberfeld, big-time producer Byron Allen, billionaire Leon Black, and Fatburger CEO Andy Wiederhorn, who has been leasing a mansion owned by Inspector Gadget creator Andy Heyward for the past several years.
The Malibu house Howard Marks sold to Jim Jannard for $74.5 million
As y’all should already know, Howard and Nancy Marks are bonafide real estate-lovin’ ballers who have long been active buyers and sellers of extraordinary properties from coast to coast and even overseas. In early 2013, they sold their 10-acre Malibu compound (with interiors by Michael Smith) to fellow billionaire Jim Jannard for a retina-shredding $74,500,000. That sale remained the biggest ever in Malibu until earlier this year, when Dodgers owner Mark Walter threw down $85 million for David Geffen’s Carbon Beach spread.
The Brentwood house Howard Marks sold to Bruce Karsh for $33.7 million
In December 2014, Mr. and Mrs. Marks quietly unloaded their extravagant Brentwood spread — interiors designed by Michael Smith — for $33,700,000. That sum remains the second-biggest sale ever in Brentwood (only behind Dr. Dre’s $40 million splurge) and the buyer was Mr. Marks’ business partner Bruce Karsh.
740 Park Avenue, where Howard Marks owns a $52.5 million unit
A few years earlier, in May 2012, Mr. and Mrs. Marks made all the Fifth Avenue gossip queens hiss with envy when they easily slammed down $52,500,000 for philanthropist Courtney Sale Ross’ epic 20-plus room duplex at 740 Park Avenue, arguably the most prestigious co-op building in all of New York. At that time, it was the most expensive co-op apartment ever sold in New York City. Chew on that, kiddies.
Howard Marks’ Ritz Carlton NYC apartment, just sold for $25 million
The Markses also owned a two bedroom condon in at the Ritz Carlton in NYC. They picked up the pad for $18,875,000 in 2007 and had it worked over by Michael Smith. In 2014, they attempted to sell it at a remarkably ballsy ask of $50 million. The apartment finally sold just last month (September 2017) for exactly $25,000,000 to a mysterious LLC that Yolanda is unable to crack at this time.
Howard Marks’ compound in the Hamptons
Mr. and Mrs. Marks recently completed construction on a colossal compound in uppity East Hampton, NY and they also are known to own an enormous pad somewhere in London, but Yolanda confesses that the exact coordinates of said London flat are currently unbeknownst to your gurl.
Howard Marks’ residence on the island of Mallorca
Lawd have mercy, the Markses also have an extravagant residence on the Spanish island of Mallorca in the gorgeous Mediterranean Sea. The interiors were designed by — you got it! — White House decorator Michael Smith. But that’s all we’ve got time for today so shut up and run along now, y’all.
Listing agent: Catherine Marcus, Sotheby’s International Realty Howard Marks’ agent: Linda May, Hilton & Hyland
Now that the Kardashians are richer than even most A-list celebrities, they have kicked their little-people habit of buying homes in the $3 to $5 million range. That sort of spending is for the poors! It’s now mega-mansion compound building time, y’all.
Take little Miss Pregnant Kylie Jenner. Though the budding makeup mogul just recently turned 20 years old, her billionaire-level spending has already become the stuff of legend. In the two years she has been legally an adult, Miss Jenner has spent well over $30 million on luxury real estate for herself. But don’t take that to mean she’s selfish! Miss Jenner splurges on the people closest to her, too. Per TMZ, she has already dropped $70,000 on baby clothes and accessories for her unborn child. And Yolanda just happens to know that she gifted her best friend — some random chick named Jordyn Woods — with a $120,000 Mercedes-AMG GLE63s Coupe. For her 20th birthday! Shit, for a $120k car on our bday, even Yolanda would deign to be Miss Jenner’s friend too! Hit us up, hun bun.
We’re not certain what Kylie Jenner’s net worth is, y’all, but Forbes conservatively estimates that she hauled in $41 million over the past 12 months, making her the youngest member of the annual Celebrity 100 top moneymakers list.
In addition to her Keeping Up With The Kardashians TV role, Miss Jenner recently starred in a (blessedly short-lived) show called Life of Kylie. In her almost unfathomably vapid confessionals, she leaves us with little nuggets of wisdom like “I just don’t like the airport. It scares me.” and how she “feels so bad” for “not driving [my] Lambo enough“.
(To be fair, Miss Jenner’s “Lambo” is a Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 SuperVeloce Roadster, one of only 500 in the entire world, and it’s got an MSRP of nearly $600,000 with taxes. So we might feel a little guilty about not driving it, too. But we digress…)
Kylie Jenner’s $12 million main residence — currently under construction
As y’all may recall, Yolanda was the first to hiss that Miss Jenner quietly forked out $12,050,000 for her massive new mansion just over a year ago (in September 2016). The “Cape Cod” (per the listing) behemoth was built on spec and measures in at a whopping 13,200-square-feet of living space with 8 bedrooms and 9.75 bathrooms on about 1.4 acres. Naturally, there are luxury features like a home theater, gym, and massage room. For lots more pics, go here.
But Miss Jenner has spent the last several months not living in her $12 million airplane hanger because the place has been under construction. Yes, even though it was brand-new when she bought it, Miss Jenner wanted to put her own custom touch on the joint, apparently. Maybe she’s adding an “Instagram room” with the perfect selfie lighting? Maybe a “booty room” with funhouse mirrors to give her caboose that disturbingly swollen look?
Anyway, renovations are still not quite complete. But after a few months spent living in a rental mansion in the Beverly Hills Post Office area, Miss Jenner has nonetheless already moved back to Hidden Hills. And like all good bazillionaires should do, she is extending her real estate footprint with the purchase of the property next door.
Yes, kiddies. Yolanda happens to know that Miss Jenner has paid $5,000,000 (in cold, hard cash) for the vacant lot that sits directly to the northwest (get it?) of her massive new home.
Kylie Jenner’s $17 million Hidden Hills compound
As best as we can tell, Miss Jenner’s $17,050,000 compound now spans close to 2.5 acres of land on a newer cul-de-sac in the Hidden Hills neighborhood where several more large mansions will be built in the next couple years.
Kylie Jenner’s $6 million Hidden Hills mansion
In addition to her $17 million spread, Miss Jenner continues to own her old house, a stylistically similar but significantly smaller “Cape Cod” spec build that she purchased for $6,025,000 in early 2016. This house was briefly rented to her brother Rob Kardashian and his stripper baby mama Blac Chyna, though the ex-couple has long since abandoned the property and Yolanda confesses we have no idea who (if anyone) is currently living on the premises.
Though some snarky folks have opined that she has all the personality of a Maytag washing machine, Yolanda finds Kendall Jenner to be the most interesting member of the Kardashians. We care about the real estate, after all, and though she’s not as rich as her little sister Kylie, the Ferrari-owning elder Miss Jenner is the only biatch who currently dwells outside the gates of her klan’s longtime homestead of Hidden Hills/Calabasas, deep within the throes of the scary San Fernando Valley.
In May 2014, when she was all of 18 years old, Miss Jenner paid $1.3 million for a luxury flat within a fancy high-rise along the Wilshire Corridor area of LA. Although Miss Jenner continues to own said flat (as of today), it is currently available on the open market with a recently-reduced $1,525,000 asking price. By summer 2016, you see, Miss Jenner had moved on to a $6,500,000 contemporary home in the foothills of Hollywood, just above the bustling Sunset Strip and the world-famous Chateau Marmont. She bought the property from actors Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, and Jimmy Kimmel lives directly across the street.
Miss Jenner’s $6.5 million “starter” house
However, kiddies, all was not well. The neighbors, despite the fact that many are famous themselves — Dakota Johnson, Sandra Bullock, and Cameron Diaz all own homes on the same dead-end street — were furious that a Kardashian was living in their midst and exchanged a flurry of angry emails on the subject, according to Mr. Kimmel himself. Turns out their “fears” were justified. In the brief 13 months that Miss Jenner owned the Marmont Lane property, she experienced stalker and burglar problems galore.
To her credit, Miss Jenner seems to have realized that it was her own poor choice of home location that set her up for residential failure. It’s always a risk when someone as famous as she — 84 million followers and counting — lives outside a gated community, no? Particularly in the Sunset Strip area of the Hollywood Hills, which is chock-full of expensive homes but has a reputation for, ahem, a wee bit of debauchery and hard partying. To say the least.
Two months ago, Miss Jenner sold her WeHo-adjacent house in an off-market deal for $6,850,000. The buyers, in case y’all wanted to know, were infomercial kingpin Bill Guthy and his cosmetics entrepreneur wife Victoria Jackson. Yolanda would guess that the property was purchased for one of the Jackson-Guthy couple’s two adult children, both of whom are in their early 20s.
But we digress. Immediately upon selling her Hollywood house, Miss Jenner (and her Ferrari) disappeared into the night. Vanished off the face of the earth, essentially.
Yes, Yolanda was shocked too. For weeks, we waited for Miss Jenner to surface in one of our comrades’ real estate gossip publications, but she never reappeared. Yolanda tried searching for her to no avail. Weeks turned into months. Still nothing!
Miss Jenner’s new neighborhood
So where did 21-year-old model go? Well, y’all, this is one very sneaky young lass. It turns out that Miss Jenner had already finalized the acquisition of a new residence nearly three months ago, several weeks before she even sold her old pad.
You read right, kiddies. Nearly three months ago, a mysterious and deliberately opaque blind trust paid an A-list $8,550,000 for a mansion within the guarded gates of Mulholland Estates, a somewhat remotely-located community situated high in the mountains above LA. There are about 90 homes located within this community, nearly all of them designed in that oh-so-common “mock-Mediterranean” style. Many of the homeowners, y’all may be interested to know, are quite famous. And tacky! But hold your horses.
First of all, it’s important to note that while Mulholland Estates homes carry a 90210 zip code (and thus are part of the Beverly Hills Post Office neighborhood), the community is geographically sited, technically speaking, in the hills of Sherman Oaks, on the Valley side of Mulholland Drive. Make of that what y’all will.
Miss Jenner’s new abode is a “Spanish” take on Mediterranean and also sports quite the interesting ownership history. According to records, the house was originally built in 1991, possibly by Brian Mann, a son of the late billionaire physicist Alfred E. Mann. The younger Mr. Mann sold the house in 1993 to philanthropist Verna Harrah, the now-deceased widow of Las Vegas casino mogul Bill Harrah. Our Mrs. Harrah then sold the house in 2001 to Sam Gores, the head honcho at Paradigm Talent Agency. In 2006, Mr. Gores sold the house to his little brother Tom Gores — who happens to be a billionaire — for $5,712,000. Though T. Gores isn’t hurting for cash, he then dumped the property for just $4,800,000 in late 2012. The buyer? Perennially non-winning actor Charlie Sheen. As far as we know, Mr. Sheen never spent a night in this place. Instead, the house was occupied by his third ex-wife Brooke Mueller.
Still following?
Poor Mr. Sheen — once one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood — has faced a well-publicized series of money troubles in recent years. By early 2016, a “Notice of default” was filed against the property, which indicates that Mr. Sheen had fallen behind on his mortgage payments. To his credit, Mr. Sheen managed to stave off foreclosure for several months and unloaded the house in June 2016 for $5,415,000. The buyer at that time was luxury real estate broker Matt Altman of Douglas Elliman, who stars with his brother Josh on that drama-rama Million Dollar Listing show.
Please note that the photos shown here are from 2016, when this house was last publicly listed. Since Miss Jenner bought the house from Mr. Altman in an off-market deal, we don’t have any current pics and thus these pics may or may not be an accurate display of the home’s current look. We’re certain that for a $3 million price increase in one year that Mr. Altman made some improvements to the property. Aerial photos show that much of the overgrown landscaping and unchecked tree growth has recently been cleaned up.
Yolanda does not hate this house — actually, we like it much better than most Mulholland Estates mansions — but we pray that Mr. Altman gave the interior decor a makeover. It’s just a wee bit drab, a pinch too 90s. You feel Yolanda?
Anyway, the property has all the bells and whistles y’all might expect to find in an $8.5 million mansion: an eat-in kitchen with center island, granite countertops, and stainless appliances; formal living and dining rooms; a private sitting room; at least a half-dozen sets of French doors accessing various parts of the yard; and an outdoor plunge pool surrounded by emerald-green grass and various verandas for sittin’ and sunnin’. There area total of 5 beds and 5.5 baths in 6,635-square-feet of living space on the .84-acre lot.
Despite the fact that it is guard-gated 24/7, Mulholland Estates isn’t known for being a particularly secure enclave. Our gurl Paris Hilton had her home burglarized no fewer than five separate times by the infamous “Bling Ring”. On another occasion, Miss Hilton awoke to a knife-wielding intruder in her front yard. And then good ol’ Charlie Sheen had a Mercedes-Benz stolen from his own driveway on two separate occasions. Hmmm!
Let’s face it, when you’ve got 90 mansions in one gated community — all of them with guests and many with their own staff teams — how secure can the place be, really?
And residents of Mulholland Estates are colorful — to put it diplomatically. The more (in)famous ones (some of whom we’ve already mentioned) include Christina Aguilera, Paris Hilton, Sumner Redstone’s ex-girlfriend Sydney Holland, music producer DJ Khaled, Beach Boy Brian Wilson, former Real Housewife Adrienne Maloof, rocker Slash, and actress Judith Light. And Tyler Perry recently paid $14,500,000 for a mega-mansion that sits just outside the Mulholland Estates gates.
Other less famous folks within the gates include a substantial number of foreign homeowners from eastern Asia and — so Yolanda has been told — at least one Saudi princess.
One more fun fact: Miss Jenner’s new house is directly across the street from Christina Aguilera’s substantially larger spread, which she bought from Tom Gores in 2013 for exactly $10,000,000.
Kendall Jenner’s house (left), directly across the street from Christina Aguilera’s bigger crib (right)
At least Miss Jenner won’t, ya know, have to suffer the indignity of borrowing a cup of sugar from a non-famous person.
Hey y’all, Yolanda had a long and stressful day shopping so instead of doing our usual blah blah blah crap we are gonna keep this short and super sweet for our sanity’s sake. Don’t complain, you ungrateful bitches. Just kidding! Yolanda loves anyone who deigns to read our stupid blog. Aw shucks.
A couple months ago, a celebrity-sized estate in Malibu’s famously celeb-friendly Serra Retreat guard-gated community sold for a fat $11,648,500. It should be noted that this house sits on an extremely expensive dead-end road where another homeowner is Hong Kong billionairess Karen Lo, who earlier this year paid a shocking $70 million for her epic estate.
Our friend Vlad the Revealer at Celebrity Address Aerialwhispered to Yolanda that the house — the $11 million one — sold to a mysterious blind trust that obscures the true identity of the owner. Sure enough, property records reveal that an un-crackable blind trust did acquire the property. And Yolanda was very, very interested in learning the new owner’s identity when we noticed that the trust’s trustee is a business manager whose clients include a litany of A-list celebrity superstars.
So imagine our surprise when Yolanda’s thorough real estate investigation revealed that the new owner — who has already moved in — is not a celebrity at all but rather a low-profile businesswoman named Michaeline Heydari.
Michaeline DeJoria Heydari
Mrs. Heydari is probably better-known by her maiden name of Michaeline DeJoria, so that’s how we will address her here. She is married to a guy named Nader “Nate” Heydari, and both are longtime Malibu residents.
Though chances are you’ve never heard of her, Ms. DeJoria’s Instagram and other online resources reveal that she maintains friendships with many famous folks. These include Miranda Kerr, Kourtney Kardashian, Lily Aldridge, and Pink. The DeJoria-Heydaris are such good friends of Pink’s, apparently, that Mr. Heydari once smashed a rogue paparazzo’s camera in anger after the fool allegedly tried to take pics of Pink changing her baby’s diaper (!!!). And let’s not forget that Ms. DeJoria’s older sister Alexis is married to Jesse James, Sandra Bullock’s cheatin’ ex-hubby. My oh my.
Where does Ms. DeJoria get almost $12 million for a luxury home? Well, it helps that her daddy is worth $3.2 billion, according to Forbes. John Paul DeJoria — that’s his name — was born and raised in LA’s Echo Park neighborhood and is a former street gang member who was homeless during his younger days. He’s now a selfmade multi-billionaire, the founder of Paul Mitchell hair care products and Patron tequila. Ms. DeJoria herself is now Vice Chairman at Paul Mitchell Systems and appears poised to eventually take control of the business from her dad. But we digress!
The $11.6 million pad
Ms. DeJoria’s new A-list-worthy estate spans 2.1 acres of land and has crystal clear ocean views.
The 1987-built house itself is somewhat of an architectural oddball. Yolanda rather worries that it can’t decide whether it wants to be Spanish, Mediterranean, or Contemporary. Or some combo thereof? Maybe the new owners can help fix the identity crisis we see bloomin’ here.
Current marketing materials contain no interior photos but do show that the two-story main house has 5 bedrooms and 7 baths in 5,763-square-feet of living space.
Floor plans show that master suite sports dual bathrooms and a spacious private balcony. Downstairs there is an office, a bar, and a five-car garage, in addition to all the other rooms you’d expect to find in a big fancy house.
The walled and gated property sports rows of palm trees on either side of the long driveway. The front of the house is mostly hidden from view behind a wall of (arguably overgrown) ficus trees, but we have to admit that the entry walkway is dramatic and kinda cool. A formal fountain lies out front, a saltwater pool sits out back. Other features of the estate include a “large rose garden”, a small detached storage building, and a proper north/south tennis court.
Two doors away from papa
Miss DeJoria must be close to her daddy because her new house happens to be on the same road and only two doors away from his longtime Sweetwater Mesa compound. In addition to Karen Lo (who recently took out a massive $35 million mortgage on her hilltop palace), other richie rich neighbors include real estate ballers Richard & Laurie Lynn Stark (their main residence is right next door) and major Downtown LA developer Barry Shy.
Ms. DeJoria’s home in Malibu’s Point Dume neighborhood
Since 2011, Mr. Heydari and Ms. DeJoria have resided in Malibu’s celebrified Point Dume neighborhood, in a 1980s Spanish-style sprawler that they bought for $3,800,000. If the 5,588-square-foot thing above appeals to y’all and you’ve got $5 million (or so) to spare, give Ms. DeJoria a ring-ring. Although the house is not yet on the market, she and her hubby have already moved into Serra Retreat and Yolanda can almost guarantee that the old pad will soon be sold. Don’t say we didn’t warn ya…
Listing & Selling agent:Michael Gardner, Sotheby’s International Realty
