Just a couple weeks ago, fashion/lifestyle designer (and bonafide real estate baller) James Perse — he of the $100 white T-shirt — sold one of his three Malibu mega-bucks pads for a startling $12,995,000. That’s the full damn asking price, every little penny. Every grain of sand.
We say “startling” because Mr. Perse acquired the landlocked celeb-pedigreed perch only three years ago for just $6,690,000 as an investment and appears to have done little more to it than having painted its “Euro farmhouse-inspired” facade a trendy charcoal grey and tossing a bunch of his furniture stuff into it. Somehow he thought all that made the spread worth double what he originally paid, and obviously at least one other individual agreed with him.
For the record, documents show the house actually transferred for $12,500,000 but the MLS says $12,995,000. We’d hazard a guess that the half-million bucks difference might be attributed to the value of all the furniture in the place.
Naturally, Yolanda was curious about who the big bucks buyer was. Well, kiddies, property records show that the Point Dume house was acquired by a mysteriously-named LLC that Yolanda just happens to know is a front for a very wealthy heiress named Aileen Getty. And yes, we’re talking those Gettys — the Getty Museum, Getty Villa, oil, all of that. She is a granddaughter of industrialist J. Paul Getty, who was named in the 1966 Guinness Book of World Records as the planet’s richest private citizen.
Ms. Getty herself — reared in Italy, educated in the U.K. and California — has been HIV+ for more than 30 years. As some of you may know, once upon a time she was married and had a couple kids with Liz Taylor’s son Christopher Wilding. It was Ms. Taylor who encouraged Ms. Getty to get tested and supported her in the aftermath of her diagnosis.
For her part, Ms. Getty now speaks often and openly about her very personal fight against AIDS and her years as a junkie who overdosed more than once. Today, Ms. Getty has reportedly been sober for more than a decade and runs a couple of LA-based charities — Gettlove and the Aileen Getty Foundation.
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The house is accessed via electronic gates that swing open to a broad, flat driveway and commodious motorcourt. Looks like the material underfoot might be pea gravel. Is there any better sound than a new Range Rover or Benz rolling slowly over some crunchy pea gravel? We really can’t think of a single one.
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A step-down living room steps up into the formal dining room. The fairly minimalist design incorporates white walls, unvarnished wooden floors, and mostly casual (but definitely expensive) decor. Although the house sadly lacks an ocean view, we think the interior succeeds in giving the place a calm, cool, California beach house feel.
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There’s yet another pricey James Perse surfboard in the corner of the light-filled family room. The open air kitchen has a massive glass-fronted fridge that probably costs as much as an off-lease Range Rover, and there is a wooden (portable?) center island with bar stool seating. A second dining room table completes the open area.
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Although property records say the house has 5,255 square feet of living space, marketing materials put it at a substantially-larger 7,400. Whatever the case, it’s plenty spacious with 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. Oh, and it’s also got a wee bit of celebrity pedigree. In late 2012, Maura Kaplan (actor Leslie Nielsen’s daughter) sold the house to Stefan Lessard of The Dave Matthews Band fame. It was Mr. Lessard who flipped the home just six months later to Mr. Perse.
Point Dume is, of course, the most celebrity-filled pocket of Malibu and some of Ms. Getty’s nearest new neighbors include Kid Rock, Chris Martin, Julia Roberts, Linda Hamilton, Chad Smith, and Don Rickles.
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Out back there’s a large and picturesque pergola-covered terrace with a full set of lounge chairs, dining room table, etc. Just send the assistant to Nobu for takeout and you’re good to go.
Listing information makes a point of calling out that the house comes with a coveted key to all-but-private Little Dume Beach. We say “all-but-private” because by law, all California beaches are actually public. But Little Dume is about as private as beaches come in CA.
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We don’t mind a charcoal-colored house at all — actually we find it a rather fetching color when used correctly — but for some reason, it just ain’t working here for Yolanda. Looks a bit dour or something, no?
Anyway, avid real estate watchers know that folks in the Getty family — particularly the two sisters, Aileen and Ariadne — have a penchant for buying and selling luxury LA residences at breakneck speed. Ariadne recently paid $6,000,000 for the Toluca Lake mansion of Miley Cyrus (it is occupied by her son, up-and-coming fashion designer August Getty). And back in 2013, Aileen sold a compound on legendary Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills to pop music superstar Katy Perry for $11 million.
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Although the property is mostly quite private, it does border the always-packed Runyon Canyon hiking trail… and the always-overflowing parking lot. Hmmm.
As for Mr. Perse and his wife Brandi Briskman (her mama was once mayor of Beverly Hills), the couple’s primary residence is a blufftop minimalist spread also on Point Dume that they bought from The X-Files creator Chris Carter. They paid a brutal $16,000,000 for the house in 2010, according to public records.
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But that’s not all. The couple also own yet another house on Point Dume — this one landlocked — that they picked up for $12,500,000 just last year. And let’s not forget their massive horse ranch up in Thousand Oaks, which they acquired back in 2013 for $10,850,000 from her royal real estate highness herself — Ellen DeGeneres.
Just for kicks and giggles, here’s a video of the DeGeneres-cum-Perse ranch in all its rustic, scenic glory.