When multi-billionaire Platinum Equity mogul and Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores bought a $100,000,000 Holmby Hills mega-mansion last month, it caught Yolanda (and everyone else) completely off-guard. We were flabbergasted that even a billionaire like himself had the financial wherewithal to throw down $100 million in cash. Jaded as we are, that’s still a terrifyingly massive amount of moolah.
As it turns out — and as you should already know from our 58 previous stories on this — Mr. Gores did not actually pay $100 million in cash. The real deal is he shelled out something in cash and traded some of his (many, many, many) land holdings for the remainder.
One of his trades was a 3.2-acre vacant spread in Bel Air. Mr. Gores originally acquired the then-uncombined two mansion compound in late 2008 in two separate transactions for a stupendous total of $56,000,000. He then spent years renovating and enlarging the existing structures before losing interest and — shockingly — demolishing the whole damn half-finished mega-shopping mall.
All told, Yolanda’s educated guess says that Mr. Gores dumped a conservative total of $65,000,000 (and possibly far more) into the supremely-located Bel Air spread. And yet it was all for naught.
Property records now reveal that Mr. Gores accepted a valuation of just $30,000,000 for the property when he traded/sold it to Gala Asher and Ed Berman, the developers behind Dream Projects LA, who built the $100 million Holmby Hills spec-manse. That means that Mr. Gores had to write down about $35 million of the money he poured into it. We’re sure there are tax shelters and benefits that a clever accountant can access for that sort of loss, but still. $35 million is 35 million damn dollars. A whole assload of cash. And quite possibly the most ever lost on a single residential property in Los Angeles.
Incidentally, Mr. Berman & Mr. Asher have this patch of dirt for sale with an asking price of $37,900,000.
But wait, kiddies. That’s not all.
It was our bff Your Mama from Variety who first snitched to us — and Yolanda’s Little Black Book commenter Critic also whispered — that Mr. Gores quietly unloaded his huge Beverly Park mansion for an eyeball-exploding $40,000,000. Indeed, property records now confirm that Mr. Gores did not give up just the Bel Air spread for his new Holmby Hills mega-mansion, he also traded in this, his main residence.
Now kiddies, pause to mull it over. The $40,000,000 sale price is not only nearly double the $21,000,000 that Mr. Gores paid for the essentially-unchanged Gothic-inspired Intalian Renaissance spread back in 2010, it’s also the highest price ever paid for a property in Beverly Park. And the new owners are — naturally — Gala Asher & Ed Berman.
For what it’s worth, the previous Beverly Park record was held by a two-parcel compound that hardware mogul Eric Smidt sold to Kazakh oligarch Eduard Ogay for $39,900,000 back in December 2014.
This house was never on the market, so unfortunately we don’t have any juicy photos to share. About all we know is that the property located at 78 Beverly Park Lane clocks in at a mammoth 20,013-square-feet with 7 beds and 15 baths on 2.27 acres. There’s a large plunge pool with spa, huge-ass motorcourt, and a soccer-field-sized backyard lawn. The spec-mansion was built in 2000 by Mexican investor Mauricio Oberfeld, who sold it in 2001 to nutritional tycoon Bill Phillips, who held onto it until 2010, when Mr. Gores took it off his powerful hands.
Is everything beginning to make sense to y’all now? If not, let Yolanda give it to you straight: Mr. Gores gives up his Beverly Park pad for $40 million, his Bel Air land for $30 million, and then pays just $30 million in cash for the shopping-mall-sized Holmby Hills house. In addition to their new Beverly Park and Bel Air properties, Mr. Asher & Mr. Berman take most of that $30 million in cash and reinvest it in a notorious Beverly Hills Post Office mega-mansion.
Whew. This seems like the story that just won’t die! But why? Why doesn’t Ms. Ginger Glass (she is Mr. Asher’s wife and realtor) just do Yolanda a favor and return our 58 phone calls? All we want is the lowdown on these properties, Ms. Glass. You could’ve spared us all this trouble from the beginning instead of making us write 385 stories about the same damn transaction. Instead of getting a rejuvenating massage at the Spa Montage, we’re stuck on our backside picking up the puzzle pieces and writing about all this nonsense. Goodness!
And it’s still far from over! To whom will Mr. Asher sell the Bel Air spread? And what could they possibly plan to do with that Beverly Park mess, all 20,000 square feet of it? Will they attempt to renovate and flip it for $50 million? That sounds like a very tall order to Yolanda! For one, no house has ever sold for more than $40 million in Beverly Park. For two, there are about six or seven lower-priced houses in the same community that are sagging on the market without offers. Thirdly, this isn’t even one of the best (or biggest) houses up in there.
But we shall see.
Tom Gores’ realtors: Tiffany Martin, Christy Martin, & Samira Gores, The Agency
Gala Asher & Ed Berman’s realtor: Ginger Glass, Coldwell Banker