Yesterday The Real Deal broke the news that major LA socialite Alexandra Dwek quietly sold her sumptuous East Gate Bel Air compound for $40 million — $39,865,000, to be precise — in a top-secret off-market deal. Well, sacré bleu! Spank Yolanda’s fanny! That’s way more than double what she paid for the property less than eight years ago. Such sums ought to be illegal — they’re just indecent!
Just kidding. We’ll calm down now.
For those who aren’t a member of LA’s upper-crust society, y’all may have never heard of Mrs. Dwek. But in her ladies-who-lunch circle she is a very big deal — one of the city’s most visible philanthropists, in fact. She has hosted scores of charity luncheons and galas at her Bel Air estate — the type of events where you will absolutely not find any Real Housewives in attendance. But you will encounter many ladies of the Wallis Annenberg and Betsy Bloomingdale (may she RIP) ilk.
Records show that Mrs. Dwek paid “just” $16,600,000 for the property in May 2011, back when the world was still emerging from a global economic recession. The sellers were Full House actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli.
The 1942 Georgian estate includes a two-story main house, a detached garage with staff/guest quarters, and a separate pool house. According to records, those three structures total 10,000-square-feet of living space with 6 beds and 7 baths.
During their nine years of ownership, the Loughlin-Gianullis hired Obama’s White House decorator Michael S. Smith to do up the interiors in his trademark style, which some might call “elegant Traditional”. Below are some old MLS photos from 2011, back when Mrs. Dwek picked up the spread.
Because the most recent deal was totally off-market, we’re not sure what exact alterations Mrs. Dwek has made since her purchase. But overall, we believe she has (wisely) changed nothing major.
How’d Mrs. Dwek become so wealthy? Well, she has long been married to a stupendously affluent but low-profile CEO named Joe Dwek. For some reason, Mr. Dwek appears to be a rather reclusive fella — we couldn’t find a single photo of him online, while there are hundreds featuring his lovely wife. All we know about this gent is that he’s elderly — in his 80s, apparently. And he’s extremely rich.
The Dweks have an adult daughter named Cairo Dwek, a budding model and and Instagram “influencer” who is semi-famous for dating Liam Payne of One Direction. But we digress. Back to the real estate.
The $40 million Bel Air buyer, Yolanda discovered, is none other than H. Ross Perot Jr., the billionaire Texas businessman and only son of Ross Perot Sr., best-known for his (in)famous and unsuccessful 1992 and 1996 Presidential campaigns.
Junior Perot has long been married to Sarah Fullinwider Perot, with whom he shares four children. Our Mrs. Perot, in case y’all didn’t know, also comes from big Texas money — she’s the daughter of oil tycoon Jerry Fullinwider.
And as it turns out, the Perots are former neighbors of Mrs. Dwek — they used to own an estate almost directly across the street, in a rather lovely 1930s Spanish-style compound.
Records show that the Perots paid exactly $18 million for their first Bel Air property in 2013. Four years later (May 2017) they flipped the spread for a whopping $33,900,000 to Hollywood legend George Lucas.
But anyway. Whatever you think of the Georgian architecture or the fairly stuffy (and high-nosed) East Gate Bel Air area, the Perots’ new estate is an indisputably beautiful property — the entire 1.43 acres of land is exquisitely manicured — sprawling lawns, sculpted hedges, graceful trees. And there’s a full-size tennis court, too.
So where will Mrs. Dwek take her $40 million check? We’re not sure! Presumably she and her phantom hubby are already on the hunt for a new property. And the couple seem rooted in LA, so we imagine they’ll soon bunk up in another stately spread somewhere in the Platinum Triangle.