Hawaii Home Sold: It’s Not a Little Grass Shack
The most ever paid in these parts--probably in the whole U. S. until now--for a single-family home is the $20.25 million that oilman Marvin Davis forked over in 1984 to singer Kenny Rogers for “The Knoll” in Beverly Hills.
Now a house has been sold in Hawaii for $21 million.
John Poss, a Honolulu realtor, shared the news, published a few days ago by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, that the Japanese corporation Yugen Kaisha Shima bought “Casa Blanca del Mar” (White House by the Sea), a 2-story French Colonial on about 1.5 ocean-front acres in the ritzy Kahala area of Oahu.
That’s where wealthy Saudi Arabian Essam Khashoggi owned a place until he sold it last June to the Japanese-owned GRC Co. Ltd. for Hawaii’s previous record price of $18 million, but that home was in leasehold.
“Casa Blanca del Mar,” a favorite site for charity events with its impressive marble entry and manicured grounds, was owned by seafood magnate Richard Fowler and his wife, Louvette. Bob Myers Co. had the listing, and Linda Wu of LNW Investments was the buyer’s agent.
*
Some hefty residential sales are also in the California trade winds, with closings in a few days, but get these for some big prices on new listings:
--A Bel-Air compound, built in 1936 for William R. Wilkerson, publisher of the Hollywood Reporter and an owner of the famous but long-closed Trocadero Cafe on Sunset Strip.
Kaz Rudaitis of Gilleran, Griffin Co. in Westwood represents the current owner, who bought the mansion in 1979, rebuilt it and acquired adjacent property. It is on 2.5 acres with a sunken tennis court, pool, spa, guest house, pool house, two master bedrooms and a total of seven maids quarters and 17 baths. The owner is selling because he wants to buy a ranch.
Price? $17 million!
--Next, shades of the movie “Funny Girl.” It’s a former estate of the late comedienne/singer Fanny Brice.
The 50-year-old Georgian Colonial is on one of Holmby Hills’ largest lots--over 2 flat acres--and has six bedrooms, a 15th Century walk-in fireplace from an estate of William Randolph Hearst and a master suite with his and hers bathtubs.
The dining room can comfortably seat 30, and there are also projection, game and card rooms as well as a tennis court, pool and vegetable garden.
Jeanne Valvo at Fred Sands Beverly Hills office has the listing. The owner is selling because her children are grown and gone. As Marsha Bolyanatz, a spokeswoman for Sands, put it: “It’s an empty nest, but what a nest.”
Price? $12.95 million!
*
Newlyweds Tracey E. Bregman Recht, star of the daytime soap “The Young and the Restless,” and her husband Ron Recht, a commercial real estate developer, just bought their first home, on 2.5 acres in a nifty neighborhood.
They’re just up the street from Merv Griffin’s house (which I’ve heard is about to be listed at some astronomical price), and they’re just down the street from Pickfair, now owned by Pia Zadora and her husband.
The Rechts bought a house that was built in 1957 on San Ysidro Drive in Beverly Hills for an undisclosed price, believed to be several million dollars, and now they’re fixing it up to suit their tastes. No realtors were involved in the purchase.
*
Since the director and executive consultant of Garry Shandling’s new TV show, called (what else?) “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” are moving to Malibu, can the comedian and Johnny Carson stand-in be far behind?
Director Alan Rafkin bought a house on Carbon Beach from one of Rudi Gernreich’s first models for about $1.5 million, and consultant Sandy Wernick bought a lot from actor/singer Dean Martin for $700,000. Linda Hamlin of Jim Rapf & Associates, Malibu, represented the buyers, and Colleen Rose of Fred Sands’ Malibu office, represented Martin.
*
Seals Entertainment Corp. has leased about 2,000 square feet in Luckman Plaza, 9220 Sunset Blvd., as a headquarters while filming the motion picture “The Standout.”
Scott Baio, who played Chachi in the TV series “Happy Days” and currently stars in the syndicated show “Charles in Charge,” will play the lead in the movie, which is due to begin production next Saturday in Atlanta. Susan Loranger and Don Ferris of the Beverly Hills office of L. J. Hooker International represented Seals in negotiating the five-year lease, and Celeste Yarnall & Associates represented Luckman Management Corp.
