Outta the ballpark in Malibu
If there is one thing -- besides a great baseball franchise -- that Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt like, it’s a fine home.
They bought one in Holmby Hills for about $25 million when they first came to L.A. from Boston in 2004. Now, they have purchased a Malibu house for close to its $33.5 million asking price. Escrow closed last week.
The sellers were actress Courteney Cox Arquette, of “Friends” fame, and her husband, actor David Arquette, star of the “Scream” series of films. They paid nearly $10.2 million for the home slightly more than six years ago and put it on the market in February.
The architectural trophy home was designed by John Lautner, who studied with Frank Lloyd Wright. Lautner, known for his modernistic designs, died at age 83 in 1994.
The four-bedroom, 5,500-square-foot house -- known as the Segel residence -- has ocean views from almost every room and sits on a double lot with 80 feet of beach frontage, according to the Multiple Listing Service. It has exposed concrete, natural wood, skylights, a curved roof line and a pool.
Among Lautner’s best-known works is his Chemosphere House, resembling a UFO hedgehopping the Santa Monica Mountains. Encyclopaedia Britannica called the two-bedroom, 2,200-square-foot house “the most modern home built in the world.” It’s mounted on a single concrete column near Mulholland Drive.
Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, represented the McCourts in buying the home. Jonah Wilson of Sotheby’s International Realty, Sunset, had the listing.
--
G’bye, marriage and Hancock Park
It’s a long commute to her work in Canada, and they are getting a divorce, anyway. So actress Anne Heche and her estranged husband, cameraman Coleman “Coley” Laffoon, have listed their Hancock Park home at close to $3.8 million.
They acquired the house nearly two years ago, for close to $3.2 million.
Since buying the home, they have done some renovating but not as much as a previous owner, who added a wing, upgraded the heating and air-conditioning systems and installed a screening room.
The architectural integrity of the house was maintained during all of the work, said co-listing agent Barry Sloane of Sotheby’s International Realty, Beverly Hills. The Country English-style residence, built in 1928, was designed by architect Paul Williams. It is described in marketing materials as “a charming example of Williams’ early English historic revival work.”
The home has four bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms in slightly more than 3,800 square feet. The house also has a large living room that opens to gardens and a pool, an eat-in kitchen, a butler’s pantry, and a master-bedroom suite with a terrace, a steam shower, a spa tub and an oversized walk-in closet. The rolling lawns are fenced for pool safety. There’s also a guesthouse above the garage.
Heche, 38, and Laffoon separated in January after five years of marriage. She stars in the dark comedy “Suffering Man’s Charity” and the recently released “What Love Is.” She is also a regular on the ABC-TV series “Men in Trees,” filmed in Vancouver Canada.
Sloane has the listing with Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills.
--
Valley life for ‘ ‘Til Death’ star
Joely Fisher, costar with Brad Garrett of the Fox sitcom “ ‘Til Death,” has purchased a home in Sherman Oaks for $3.5 million.
The house, built in 2006, has seven bedrooms and 7 1/2 bathrooms in about 9,900 square feet. There is also a guesthouse. Spanish in style, the main house has high ceilings, tile and hardwood floors, a media room, a wine room, a stone-and-tile bathroom and a three-room maid’s suite. There is a pool, a spa and a grassy yard.
Co-listing agents were Joe Babajian and Ed Solorzano of Prudential California Realty in Beverly Hills and Peter Buonocore of the same firm in Hancock Park.
Jory Burton of Sotheby’s International Realty in Beverly Hills represented the buyers.
--
Something extra: a lakeside retreat
Dayna Devon, co-host of “Extra,” and her husband, Brent Moelleken, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, have purchased a retreat at Lake Arrowhead for $4.5 million.
The French Normandy-style house, built in 1927 and recently refurbished, has six bedrooms and five bathrooms in 4,000 square feet, plus a lake view, dock facilities and a four-plus car garage.
The house is on 1.4 acres on the lake. There is a sports court, a dock house, a single-slip dock, a billiards room and a caretaker’s suite.
Tami Lewis of Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty, Blue Jay, represented the buyers.
--
L.A. hot again for ‘Latin Loren’
Sofía Vergara, “The Latin Sophia Loren,” is back -- trading New York again for L.A.
The Colombia-born actress-model recently came to L.A. from New York for a second time; this time, Vergara, who has added fashion-line creator to her résumé, purchased a condo on the Wilshire Corridor for close to $2 million.
It has three bedrooms and three bathrooms in about 3,600 square feet. The contemporary tower has south-facing views.
Vergara, 36, played the role of Lola Hernandez in the 2005 ABC sitcom “Hot Properties,” and she is now filming “Meet the Browns.”
Barry Peele of Sotheby’s International Realty, Beverly Hills, represented Vergara in her condo purchase.
--
He’ll spin his CDs in Manhattan
David Kahne, producer of current top-charting CDs by former Beatle Paul McCartney and “American Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson, has sold his home in the Beverly Hills post office area for $1.62 million.
The home, a few doors from the legendary Rock Hudson estate, has three bedrooms and three bathrooms in about 2,000 square feet. It also has canyon and ocean views.
Kahne, who also produced albums by Tony Bennett and Stevie Nicks, and his wife, Ava, have moved back to Manhattan, where they purchased a penthouse.
Niki Rosenfeld of Sotheby’s International Realty represented the Kahnes in their purchase.
Kris Benveniste of Re/Max All Cities Realty represented the buyer of the Kahnes’ California home.
--
To see previous columns on celebrity realty transactions, go to latimes.com/hotproperty.
