Newsletter: Hot Property: J-Lo is leaving Hidden Hills for Bel-Air
Times they are a-changing, to borrow from Bob Dylan’s 1964 album. This week’s new listings brought a cast of Old Hollywood flair, above-asking-price sales that were anything but rare and J-Lo making herself at home in Bel-Air.
From our eye to your inbox, here’s another curated look at the latest and greatest from the real estate scene.
Her new block is a familiar one
Jennifer Lopez is moving her high heels to another neck of Greater Los Angeles. The singer-actress, who is selling her home in Hidden Hills, shelled out a whopping $28 million for the sophisticated Bel-Air home of actress Sela Ward.
Set across eight park-like acres, J-Lo’s new spread boasts 14,000 square feet of living space, two guest cottages, an infinity-edge pool and a man-made swimming pond. There’s even an outdoor amphitheater with seating for 100 when she wants to have karaoke night.
Ward sold her estate in Bel-Air to Lopez for $28 million. (Simon Berlyn | Inset: Getty Images)
Parting with a ridiculous view
Pro skateboarder and television personality Rob Dyrdek has parted ways with his view property in Laurel Canyon, selling the single-story home for $3.575 million. That’s a pretty solid return on investment for the host of MTV’s “Ridiculousness,” who bought the house four years ago for $1.075 million.
Remodeled during his ownership, the single-story home features a contemporary aesthetic with textured tile work, flannel limestone floors and a massive stacked-stone fireplace. Varying windows and glass doors center on canyon and city views.
Dyrdek sold his home in Hollywood Hills West for $3.575 million. (Shooting LA | Los Angeles Times)
Arresting detail in WeHo
Shiri Appleby sold her home in West Hollywood for $1.855 million, a $60,000 bump over her asking price. That was no surprise considering the home’s classic curb appeal. The 1920s cottage charms with its broad shutters, a brick-lined driveway and tapered roofline.
Inside, an open floor plan pairs gray-hued accents with modern fixtures and white floors for a contemporary look. A wooden breakfast booth and an updated chef’s kitchen are among the other eye-catching details.
Appleby sold her renovated English-style cottage in West Hollywood for over the asking price. (The Agency | Lester Cohen)
FabLife at a discount
Will the third price be the charm for Tyra Banks? Time will tell. The model and TV personality this week relisted her 1920s Spanish Colonial in Beverly Hills for $6.5 million, down from $6.9 million earlier this year and her original asking price from a year ago: $7.75 million.
Banks has invested an estimated $2 million in the home since buying it a decade ago. Among the features of the 6,000-square-foot pad are vintage French doors, hand-crafted tile risers and wrought-iron chandeliers.
Banks relisted her home in Beverly Hills for $6.5 million, down from $6.9 million earlier this year. (Teague Hunziker | Los Angeles Times)
Between a rock and a high price
A Studio City home once occupied by leading man Rock Hudson saw a changing of the guard this week as “Pitch Perfect” director Jason Moore sold the residence for $1.175 million. That’s $80,000 more than the asking price and nearly double what Moore paid for the 1950s post-and-beam four years ago.
Designed by architect Ralph Bowerman, the flat-roofed house above Coldwater Canyon has such quintessential Midcentury details as exposed beams, walls of glass and an open floor plan. Gardens, patios and a plunge pool highlight the grounds.
Moore sold his Studio City home with ties to Rock Hudson for $80,000 over the asking price. (Luke Gibson Photography | Getty Images)
Malibu times two
Whereas some celebs were moving on to new locales, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy decided to double down in Malibu. The alt-rocker recently bought his second home in the Point Dume area for $2.6 million.
The buy comes about a year and a half after the English musician bought a nearby property from comic and radio personality Adam Carolla for $3.6 million.
Bellamy paid $2.6 million for a remodeled home in Malibu's Point Dume. (Realtor.com | Associated Press)
Rams of Calabasas
At least one Los Angeles Rams player is putting down roots in Los Angeles. Tight end Lance Kendricks recently bought a 4,500-square-foot Mediterranean home in a gated Calabasas community for $1.8 million.
With the purchase, Kendricks bucks the popular trend among Rams players, which is to lease rather than to buy.
Compound interest in the Valley
Actress Connie Stevens of “Hawaiian Eye” fame has been in buy-and-sell mode. She recently sold her longtime estate on the Westside for $17 million and picked up a new compound in Studio City to the tune of $2.036 million.
Her new house, a 1940s rancher on about an acre, centers on a 5,300-square-foot main house with Saltillo tile and hardwood floors, walls of windows and a wealth of open living space. Also on the grounds is a detached casita, a swimming pool and a glass-walled studio.
Stevens bought a ranch-style compound on about an acre in Studio City for $2.036 million. (Realtor.com | Los Angeles Times)
From the archives
Twenty years ago this week, astronaut Buzz Aldrin landed in the Hot Property section when he listed his condo in West Hollywood for $225,000. Aldrin, one of the first two men on the moon, made his home in Laguna Beach at the time and used the unit overlooking Beverly Hills as a pied-à-terre.
The onetime Malibu home of Carroll O’Connor, known for his role as Archie Bunker in “All in the Family,” recently returned to market this week with an asking price of $31.5 million. That’s about what the house listed for a decade ago. The 4,200-square-foot compound includes four ocean-view bedrooms and a detached guest house. Pair that with a game room and a beachside volleyball court and you could say Archie never lived so well.
What we’re reading
— As interest in the electric car sector has picked up, so has demand for in-house charging stations for vehicles. The Wall Street Journal reports that the amenity is “particularly big in California” — since April 2011, 39% of homes listed with a charging feature were found in the Golden State.
— Hollywood’s Redbury Hotel changed hands this week for $41 million in a deal with ties to Microsoft. A company owned by co-founder Paul Allen was the buyer for the boutique hotel designed by celebrity photographer Matthew Rolston and hotelier Sam Nazarian, report L.A. Times staff writers Andrew Khouri and Hugo Martin.
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