Cortese Widow Sells Tustin Estate for About $5 Million : Realty: The hilltop mansion is among the county’s largest. The late tycoon developed Leisure World. Buyers asked anonymity.

The lavish hilltop mansion once owned by Leisure World developer Ross W. Cortese was sold Friday for about $5 million, brokers said.

Located in the exclusive Lemon Heights area, the 12,000-square-foot estate is among Orange County’s largest, brokers said.

A 13,000-square foot home is for sale in Laguna Beach for $10.8 million, brokers said.

“This sale signals that the sophisticated buyer is perceiving that this is the time to scoop up properties in the estate market,” said Nancy Peterson, a realtor with Waterfront Homes Inc., a realty company in Newport Beach. “You can’t replace the weather and the location of Orange County.”

The home was built in 1986 on three acres in the unincorporated area of the county in north Tustin. It has three bedrooms, five bathrooms, reflecting pools, fountains, a tennis court and a 14-foot-high marble statue of Venus.

The buyers, a California couple, want to remain anonymous, brokers said.

The original asking price for the home. which was on the market for more than two years, was $7.5 million.

It was sold by a trust controlled by Cortese’s widow, Eloise, who lived in the home. She will remain in the Orange County area, brokers said.

Cortese, who died in 1991 at the age of 74, also developed Rossmoor adjacent to Los Alamitos and created a series of retirement villages elsewhere.