It Was Love at First Sight
RAQUEL WELCH, who just left for New York to begin rehearsals for her June opening as Julie Andrews’ replacement in “Victor/Victoria,” has sold her Beverly Hills-area home of seven years and is buying another.
She sold her 4,000-square-foot house for $1.2 million and is purchasing an 8,000-square-foot-plus house for a bit more than $2 million.
Welch, 56, was considered a sex symbol in her first movies during the 1960s, but she earned critical acclaim when she made her Broadway debut in the 1981 production of “Woman of the Year,” succeeding Lauren Bacall.
Last year, she was in the one-month airing of “CPW,” the revamped CBS series “Central Park West.” She signed to replace Andrews for six months in the Broadway musical.
“It’s funny, because she’s just signed all of the papers to buy this mansion in Beverly Hills and now she’s looking for a place to live in New York while doing the show,” said Brett Lawyer of Nourmand & Associates, Beverly Hills. He represented Welch in the Beverly Hills deals.
The house she sold was on a cul-de-sac in Trousdale and has four bedrooms plus maid’s quarters. A physician from San Diego bought it.
The house she is buying has five bedrooms and two staff quarters. Welch had wanted to buy it since she first saw it after it was completed two years ago. The seller is a builder who built the house for himself but then decided to return to Texas for business reasons.
The gated Mediterranean villa has a two-story entry, 14-foot ceilings and a master suite with a sitting area, his-and-her baths and two-story closets.
The house also has an elevator, four fireplaces, an office, a full gym and a gourmet kitchen suitable for Welch’s full-time chef. (Welch is also known for her “Total Beauty and Fitness” books and videos.)
She sold her New York apartment on Central Park West a few years ago and intends to make her new Beverly Hills-area house her primary residence.
SHELL KEPLER, who has played nurse Amy Vining on the ABC soap “General Hospital” for 17 years and racked up gross sales of $20 million a year for the past seven years over the Home Shopping Network with her Lacy Afternoon fashion line, has listed her Malibu home at $2.5 million.
Kepler has been quoted in published reports as saying she’s so busy she doesn’t get to spend much time at her Malibu residence. Kepler, 34, not only acts and designs clothing, but she also recently wrote her first book, “Make Fashion Magic” (Oxmoor House; $14.95).
She also decided to sell her Malibu home to “move back to town, to be more convenient for work,” said listing agent Katie Ribnick-Bentzen, Fred Sands Realtors, Malibu.
Kepler and her husband, Robert DeSantis, who is also her business partner and manager, have been living in the home since she bought it, newly built, in 1992. The house has six bedrooms and baths in about 7,000 square feet. It is on 1.2 acres with ocean views, a rock pool and waterfalls.
KEVIN WENDLE, a founder of CNET: The Computer Network and a founder of the Fox TV network, has purchased a Bel-Air home for close to its $2.8-million asking price.
Wendle, 38, spent the past three years in the San Francisco area as CNET president. He bought the Bel-Air house as part of his plan to make Los Angeles his home.
Before moving to Northern California, he spent 12 years in L.A. He was executive producer of the NBC sitcom “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and was president of Quincy Jones Entertainment Co. He is now on the CNET board.
He bought a home on the ocean in Laguna Beach about a year ago, but was looking even then for what he describes as a “great house” in L.A. His Bel-Air home is on nearly 1.2 acres behind gates. The Mediterranean-style house sits on a knoll, surrounded by gardens and lawns.
The walled, 5,200-square-foot estate was built in 1934 and has five bedrooms plus maid’s quarters, a guest house, city views and a pool. Wendle plans a major refurbishing.
Jeff Kohl of John Aaroe & Associates, Beverly Hills, represented Wendle, and Doris Littman of the Prudential-Rodeo-Douglas Co. had the listing.
DARREN STAR, who created and wrote the pilot for Fox’s series “Beverly Hills, 90210” before producing it from 1990-95, has sold his Sunset Strip-area house to producer Christopher Eberts for $875,000.
Star, 35, produced the “90210” spinoff “Melrose Place” and created, wrote and produced the CBS drama “Central Park West,” which became “CPW” last year.
Built in the 1930s, Star’s former home has four bedrooms in 2,400 square feet. Star sold the Spanish-style house furnished. He had owned the home since August 1991, when he paid about $1 million for it. He now has a home at the beach, industry sources have said.
Sherona Alpern of Dalton, Brown & Long had the listing, and Richard Klug of Douglas Properties represented the buyer, other sources said.
A Los Feliz house that served as a Russian consulate from 1935 to 1951 has been listed at about $2.8 million.
The 34-room, 10,000-square-foot mansion is known as “The Glendower Estate” because it was built as a tribute to the 14th-15th century Welsh hero Owen Glendower. His unsuccessful rebellion against England was the final Welsh attempt to throw off English rule, but he became a hero when Welsh nationalism resurfaced later.
Paul Chevalier, a former labor lawyer for Carter Hawley Hale Stores, is the seller.
Jodi Hodges of Fred Sands’ Los Feliz and Sunset Strip offices is co-listing the property with Dorothy Carter of the Prudential-Jon Douglas Co., Sunset Strip.
