Yolanda has just returned from the honeymoon for our latest marriage. We thought it’d be fun to journey somewhere different this time around, so we forewent our usual Italy or Greece for a more exotic jungle destination in some unpronouncable faraway land. Great fun. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring the new Mr. Yolanda back home with us. Last we saw he was being chased through the rainforest by a man-eating native tribe, a herd of water buffalo and a pair of angry baboons. Hope he’s okay.
Anyway, today seems like the perfect time to discuss this sexy house in the ever-expensive Trousdale Estates neighborhood. If there ever were the residential equivalent of a trophy wife, this place would take top prize. It’s brand-new, gorgeous and classy. And it just oozes money. One step in the door and your friends will realize how loaded you are. Watch them seethe!
The new build was developed by the high-end specialists at Mendez Clark Ventures. Records show they acquired the .61-acre property in early 2015 for exactly $5 million, and the existing residence was soon leveled to make way for the sleekly slick pad you see here. Upon completion, the home was put up for sale in April (2018) with a $17 million asking price. It would eventually transfer for a discounted $15,000,000 after six months on the market.
As for the all-cash buyer, he is a gentleman named Curtis Macnguyen. He’s a hedgie — also known as a hedge fund manager in more proper society.
Our Mr. Macnguyen’s life story is distinctly unlike most other hedge fundies: now in his late 40s, he was born in Vietnam and grew up with nine brothers and sisters. As a young boy, his parents immigrated to the United States, where he was raised in relative poverty.
After graduating summa cum laude from Wharton, Mr. Macnguyen was hired on at now-shuttered investment bank Gleacher & Company. There he learned about hedge funds — and how profitable they could be — before founding his own fund, Ivory Investment Management, in the late 1990s. Ivory performed very well during the last economic recession, and at its peak had billions of dollars in assets under management (AUM). But sometime around 2010, things began to go south for Mr. Macnguyen. His fund started losing its stock market bets, and losing badly — something that has irked him to no end.
Just a few months ago, after a significant loss in AUM, Mr. Macnguyen finally announced Ivory would be closing its doors after 20 years. Despite this, Mr. Macnguyen is still (obviously) plenty rich — he has his own family office, a firm dedicated to investing and managing his extensive personal assets.
We really haven’t an inkling about how much money Mr. Macnguyen’s got, but given that he now owns at least $60 million worth of mortgage-free luxury real estate, it’s probably a safe bet that his net worth is well into the nine figures.
And on a personal note, our boy is married to Sandy Le Macnguyen — she’s also Vietnamese, in case y’all were curious — and he’s got a young son and an adult stepson.
Located on the main Trousdale thoroughfare, the low-slung contemporary appears deceptively modest from the street out front. All passers-by can glimpse is a simple gate guarding a pair of two-car garages, both adorned with vertical wooden slats. Most of the property is hidden behind a dense thicket of new-planted privets.
Once beyond the glassy front door, however, the house reveals its 7,000-square-feet of open luxury living. The enormous great room features an eye-catching walnut hardwood ceiling, gleaming stone floors, a fireplace, formal dining area and vanishing walls of glass Fleetwood doors.
On the far end of the great room is the rather austere Bulthaup kitchen, with its shiny (and very Germanic) stainless steel countertops and ludicrously pricey Gaggenau appliances.
The residence packs in a total of 5 beds and 7 baths, and the master is discreetly tucked away on the western end of the house. There are hardwood floors in the bedroom, marble floors and countertops in the bathroom, and there’s also a private outdoor oasis with a sitting area and an outdoor shower. For those of y’all exhibitionists who feel like letting it all hang out in the breeze, naturally.
A groovy (if rather compact) family room/lounge has a fancy wet bar with barstool seating, and somewhere there’s a 600-bottle wine room. Out back is a large stone terrace with plenty of seating options, a classy rectangular pool with inset spa, and a custom outdoor kitchen.
Nice as this place may be, we really can’t say if Mr. and Mrs. Macnguyen will ever spend a night on the premises. That’s because they already own not one but two equally fancy Los Angeles mansions.
Since 2012, the Macnguyen family’s main residence has been their Richard Landry-designed tennis court compound in Brentwood. Located deep in Mandeville Canyon within the exclusive Brentwood Country Estates community, the Tuscan-style mansion has an 11,000-square-foot main house and two acres of lush grounds.
Our Mr. Macnguyen forked over $18,000,000 to acquire his Brentwood residence. While that may seem like a lot of cheddar (and it is), records reveal the seller — the late band-aid heiress Libet Johnson, may she RIP — paid a whopping $23,450,000 for the property in 2007. Ouch!
And in case y’all were not aware, Brentwood Country Estates is the same exclusive gated enclave where other residents include Dr. Dre and our former Governator (Arnold Schwarzenegger).
In late 2016, for unknown reasons, Mr. Macnguyen paid $11,750,000 in cash for the Pacific Palisades mansion of NBA star DeAndre Jordan. Located in the exclusive Riviera neighborhood, the “modern Traditional” home has more than 10,000-square-feet of living space and virtually every luxury amenity imaginable.
Despite being firmly entrenched in the LA real estate market, Mr. and Mrs. Macnguyen actually spend a significant portion of their time out on Hawaii’s Big Island. It is there, on the volcanic Kailua Kona coast, where they own an oceanfront mansion with an infinity-edged swimming pool overlooking the deep blue waters of the Pacific. Now that’s a trophy property!
Listing agents: Branden Williams, Hilton & Hyland; Mauricio Umansky, The Agency
Curtis Macnguyen’s agent: Enzo Ricciardelli, Sotheby’s International Realty