While the rest of the world — or at least the rest of the US — has had their attention laser-focused on President Trump’s controversial new healthcare plan, Yolanda’s nosy nose has been stuck in other folks’ real estate beeswax, as per usual. One property that caught our eye recently was a spiffy newly-renovated contemporary dangling at the edge of a cliff about halfway up a legendarily steep, narrow, and treacherous Hollywood Hills road known as Sunset Plaza Drive.
LA folks in the know may recall that this road was the site of a major landslide/disaster last year, and a portion of it directly below this particular house was actually closed to vehicular traffic for several months because of a developer allegedly flouting construction rules and digging too deep on his lot.
At that time, the seller of this house — a guy named Erez Chaim — told NBC that authorities were not responsive to the situation. “Nobody’s returning calls. Nobody cares” is the way he put it. Perhaps that influenced Mr. Chaim’s decision to sell this place; perhaps not. Skeptics will note that this property was also on the market for several months in 2015, prior to the all the drama.
Anyway, the house still sold for an impressive $5,050,000 last month (February 2017) and the new owner is a fellow named Jaume Collet-Serra. As it happens, our Mr. Collet-Serra has some serious Hollywood connections — he’s the director and producer of several films in the action/horror genres, including House of Wax (2005), Orphan (2009), Unknown (2011), Non-Stop (2014), Run All Night (2015), and the Blake Lively-starring The Shallows (2016).
But before we digress much too far, let us discuss the house.
The 4-bedroom and 4.5-bathroom house has approximately 3,000-square-feet of glassy and sleek living space. As for the smallish .14-acre lot, it’s steeply sloped and thereford sits hard-up on the street, but privately behind walls and a hedge. The selling point of the residence, of course, is the stunning views that encompass the Pacific Ocean and Century City.
For being in an area where the narrow streets and close quarters make are notoriously unfriendly to cars, this property has a notable amount of offstreet parking. In addition to the two car garage, there’s a adjacent uncovered carport area capable of storing one wideset Lamborghini or perhaps two smaller automobiles.
Fleetwood glass doors open up to rooms soaring 15-foot ceilings inside. As y’all would expect, the kitchen features top-of-the-line Miele stainless steel appliances, Italian cabinetry, and a glass-topped island. Other public areas, according to the listing, include a theater/screening room with a built-in projection system and the requisite dining areas.
The master suite is luxuriously outfitted with a soaking tub, double sinks and a steam shower with direct access to the outdoors.
Mr. Collet-Serra is not new to the Hollywood Hills area, so he’s likely prepared for the inherent challenges associated with living up in them yonder hills. Way back in 2002, he paid $1,050,000 for a small residence on an exceptionally-steep street behind the legendary Chateau Marmont, just a quick drive away from his bigger new place.
Much to Yolanda’s surprise, a thorough evaluation of property records indicates that Mr. Collet-Serra lost this house to foreclosure in 2009, back when the market was still swirling down that recession-fueled toilet. And just as an FYI, Mr. Collet-Serra’s former residence lies just a couple doors up the street from little Miss Kendall Jenner’s big house, and other famous homeowners on the very same block include Jimmy Kimmel and Sandra Bullock.
But anyway, Yolanda congratulates Mr. Collet-Serra on vastly improving his financial status since the recession, and mazel on the new house and all that.
Listing agent: Ginger Glass, Coldwell Banker
Mr. Collet-Serra’s agent: Jonathan Massaband, Capital Investment Realty Grp.