A couple days ago Yolanda told y’all about an oceanfront Malibu compound — a compound recently leased out for a sanity-defying $6 million to a little fella named Ed Freedman. The landlord is a hedge fund tycoon named Mitch Julis.
Well, Mr. Julis certainly did not waste any time investing the $6 million in proceeds received from that deal. Right after the record-breaking lease was signed, Mr. Julis scurried back to his home base in Beverly Hills and paid a fat $17,800,000 for the house directly next door. The purchase was done on the down-low, through an anonymously-named corporate entity.
This house next door, incidentally, was sold by the estate of the late showbiz mega-producer Jerry Weintraub. Back in 2015, the 77-year-old Mr. Weintraub ascended to the pearly gates in the sky. (RIP!) Records indicate that he had owned the property since 1991 and extensively renovated the 1950s-era structure shortly after his purchase.
In February 2016, just a few months after Mr. Weintraub’s death, the 1.01-acre tennis court estate popped up for sale with a very aggressive $25 million asking price.
Although we are certain that Mr. Julis could have afforded the $25 million asking price — he is a very, very rich man, y’all — he wisely chose to sit and wait very patiently. As a result, the Weintraub estate languished on and off the market for more than two years at a variety of declining asking prices. Finally, in April 2018, Mr. Julis saved the day and swooped in with his aforementioned $17.8 million cash offer. That is still a lot of moolah, but a $7.2 million reduction off the original ask!
Can y’all tell that Mr. Julis made his fortune through wisely investing other people’s money? Well, he did.
Anyway, Mr. Julis is the co-founder of LA hedge fund Canyon Capital Advisors, which has approximately $23 billion assets under management. He is also a bonafide baller whom Yolanda has written about on a previous occasion. He owns fantastically expensive residences in Beverly Hills, Malibu, and New York City. (More on those a little later.)
Mr. Julis and his wife Joleen have been married for a long ass time. Together, the couple have four children and are well-known, generous supporters of Jewish causes, in addition to being major political donors. Most of the Julis fam’s political donations go toward Republican candidates and causes, though they have also donated to Democrats.
The $17.8 million house sits just north of legendary Sunset Boulevard and is completely hidden behind a snazzy camera-watched metal gate and thick privet hedges. Behind the fortress-like defenses sits the 7,618-square-foot mansion, with its three-car garage, massive 25-car motorcourt, and N/S tennis court.
As Yolanda has already mentioned, the house was built in the 1950s and was originally an unassuming Traditional-style structure. In the early 1990s, however, Mr. Weintraub spent a big bucks converting it into a contemporary. Y’all can decide amongst yourselves if the conversion was successful — personally, Yolanda finds the whole place a rather gauche hodgepodge and decidedly dated, frankly.
An all-glass front door opens to the inner living sanctum, which features nightclub-esque track lighting and parquet hardwood floors. The main floor includes formal living and dining rooms, a maid’s bedroom suite, and a sprawling family room w/ fireplace and a supersized wet bar.
Upstairs are three more en-suite bedrooms, including a lavish master suite with two bathrooms, two walk-in closets, and an adjoining gym. Also on the property (attached to the garage) is a one-bedroom guest house. Below the main house sits a pill-shaped swimming pool and formal lawns and gardens.
Yolanda suspects that all of these features contributed little to Mr. Julis’s decision to purchase this property. Rather, he most likely wanted this place to integrate with his current 1.37-acre estate next door. If Mr. Julis does not eventually knock Mr. Weintraub’s old house down, we would be quite surprised.
Mr. Julis’s main residence next door was custom-built by him and completed sometime within the past few years. The contemporary tennis court compound is located in the epicenter of what is often considered to be the best area of Beverly Hills.
Within walking distance of the Julis compound are the homes of billionaires and near-billionaires like Stewart & Lynda Resnick, Russ Weiner, Eric Smidt, Solomon Lew, Howard Marks, Adam Levine, Byron Allen, Ellen DeGeneres, Jeff Bezos, Pamela Skaist-Levy, Nathalie Marciano, Stavros Niarchos, Isaac Oberfeld, Sam Gores, and many more.
In November 2016, Mr. Julis threw down $21,000,000 in a fierce bidding war for a low-slung contemporary in the highly desirable Trousdale Estates neighborhood of Beverly Hills. The house is one of the most private in the area: completely hidden from the street behind an epic long driveway.
Soon after acquiring the Trousdale house, Mr. Julis made it available for lease at the heart-stopping rate of $100,000 per month. The house was taken off the rental market just a couple weeks ago, so it appears as though he may have found a tenant. Yolanda will let y’all know if we find out who the lessee is and how much they are payin’.
Over on the Malibu sand, the Julis family has a vacation compound that they scooped up for $21,475,000 back in 2010. (This is the property that is currently leased out to Ed Freedman for the next four years).
The Julis clan also keeps a foothold out in the Big Apple: in Manhattan’s venerable (and seriously expensive) 15 Central Park West building, to be specific.
Mr. & Mrs. Julis coughed up $10,300,000 in 2008 for their three-bed, three-bath unit, records show. In 2012, our friends at The Observer reported that the couple had tossed their NYC vacation abode onto the market with a heavy-duty $26 million asking price, though the spread does not appear to have been sold and has long since been delisted.
Some of the couple’s high-profile 15 CPW neighbors include Vitasoy heiress Karen Lo, actor Denzel Washington, Russian heiress Ekaterina Rybolovleva, fellow hedgie billionaire Daniel Loeb, Garmin billionaire Min Kao, clothing guru Elie Tahari, and tech entrepreneur Omid Kordestani.
Listing agents: David Findley & Mauricio Umansky, The Agency
Mitch Julis’s agent: Victoria Risko, Sotheby’s International Realty