Westlake Village melodrama
There is movement afoot in the soap-opera-like world of Denise and Charlie and Heather and Richie. Actress Denise Richards has listed her Westlake Village home at $4.3 million.
She’s owned the 7,400-square-foot house, on about 1.2 acres, for just over a year, having bought it shortly after she separated from her soon-to-be ex-hubby, actor Charlie Sheen.
Richards spent just under $4 million for the home, so she won’t realize much in the way of profit after the realty commission and fees are paid, assuming she gets her asking price. But profiting from her home sale may not be one of her big concerns.
People magazine reported that she is seeking part of Sheen’s pension from the Screen Actors Guild, $100,000 a month in child support and sole custody of their two children.
The plot thickens. Richards was introduced to the gated Westlake Village house by actress Heather Locklear, who lives down the street. The friendship ended when Locklear found out that her estranged husband, 46-year-old Bon Jovi rocker Richie Sambora, and Richards were dating.
Apparently, when her relationship with Locklear became colder than a scoop of Cherry Garcia, Richards decided to sell and move to another area.
The two-story Westlake house, built in 1996, has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms, a golf course view, a pool, spa, three fireplaces, breakfast area, patio, a deck and a garage for four or more cars.
One possible lesson learned from this episode is that those who work together may not stay together.
Richards, 35, appeared on several segments of “Spin City,” costarring Sheen, 40, and Locklear, 44. Richards and Sheen also were in “Scary Movie 3.”
Sheen costars in the CBS series “Two and a Half Men.”
A Westside dock for shipping heir
Paris Latsis, Greek shipping heir and onetime fiance of Paris Hilton, has purchased a newly built, three-story, Beverly Hills-area house for $9.2 million.
It has five bedrooms and 5 1/2 bathrooms in close to 7,000 square feet. The home has panoramic views, from downtown to the ocean, a courtyard entrance that opens to a glass-and-stainless-steel staircase, walls of glass, a bar, a breakfast area and a media room.
Vince Murphy built the house. Mike Mueller Design Inc. completed the interiors.
Barry Peele and Alexis Valentin Ramos of Sotheby’s International Realty in Beverly Hills had the listing. Latsis was represented by Valerie Fitzgerald and Kathy Villa of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills, and Stephen Shapiro of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills.
Showtime again for film producer
Jonathan King, who recently joined Focus Features (“Brokeback Mountain,” “Pride & Prejudice”) as executive vice president of production, has put a Venice home he remodeled on the market for close to $1.4 million. King likes to fix up houses and then move on. He’s already working on another house in the same area.
The house he listed is a mid-century modern on a coveted pedestrian-only street in Venice.
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom home also has a landscaped yard, a deck for entertaining, vaulted ceilings and a mosaic-tiled shower.
Jory Burton of Sotheby’s International Realty, Beverly Hills, has the listing.
The epicenter of historic research
The Kresge Seismological Laboratory, a.k.a. the former Richter Lab in Pasadena, has come on the market at $4.2 million, which includes 3 park-like acres.
The lab was where Caltech scientist Charles F. Richter conducted earthquake studies and developed the first accurate measurement of earthquakes in the world.
Caltech moved most of the earthquake research studies to its campus in Pasadena in 1974, but data kept pouring in from the Richter Lab until it was sold 1 1/2 years ago to architect Rod Youngson.
Youngson, a native of Pasadena, had planned to restore the Pasadena landmark and make it his private estate, but after buying the lab from Caltech, he altered his plans.
He did some cosmetic work and attended zoning hearings with the city, and now he says that the property, across the street from Annandale Country Club, may be developed into one estate or three home sites.
The Mediterranean-style lab, designed by architect Reginald Johnson in 1925, will remain on the property.
The 6,000-square-foot, two-story lab has 18-inch poured-concrete walls, concrete floors and ceilings, and tunnels that reach into the hillsides, where seismometers were placed.
Interiors of the building could be made more residential. The tunnels cut into rock could serve as a wine cellar.
The lower level could become a screening room or a gym.
The upper floor, where there is a fireplace, might be transformed into four or five bedrooms.
Gary Gold of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, has the listing.
To see previous columns on celebrity realty transactions, go to latimes.com/hotproperty.
