NHL legend buys in Arizona

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and his actress wife, Janet, are buying a newly built second home in Scottsdale, Ariz., for about $2 million.

The couple, who live primarily in the Lake Sherwood area of Southern California, are buying in Arizona so they will have a place to stay when he is working as managing partner of the Phoenix Coyotes, an NHL team. He is also a member of a group that in August bought the Columbus Landsharks, a National Lacrosse League team that is moving to Phoenix for the 2003-04 season. The former L.A. Kings star played lacrosse while growing up in Ontario, Canada.

The Gretzkys’ new Scottsdale home was designed by architect Jeff Berkus, son of veteran California architect Barry Berkus. Scott Edmunds oversaw construction and development.

The home, with a brown tile roof and off-white exterior, is on slightly more than an acre. There is a 5,100-square-foot main house and a 700-square-foot guesthouse. The residence is in a gated and walled development of 13 homes.

The Gretzkys are also putting finishing touches on their new 17,000-square-foot home on 6 acres overlooking Sherwood Country Club near Thousand Oaks. They recently moved into the home, which they started building in November 2001. The Georgian-style house was designed by architect Richard Landry of Santa Monica.

The couple have maintained a home in the L.A. area since they were married in 1988. Known as “The Great One,” the Hockey Hall of Famer retired as a player in April 1999 after spending 20 years in the NHL, playing more than seven seasons with the L.A. Kings. During his career, he earned four Stanley Cup championship rings.

Now 42, he owns Wayne Gretzky’s Restaurant in Toronto, where in September a 90-minute interactive radio show dedicated to hockey fans began airing weekly across Canada.

Gary Jones, Janet Gretzky’s brother, represents the couple in buying their Scottsdale home. Jones is now affiliated with Osman Realtors, a new Beverly Hills firm.

Judge’s Pasadena home on market

L.A. Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito and his wife, retired Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Margaret York, have listed their Craftsman home in Pasadena at $1.7 million.

Ito, who presided at O.J. Simpson’s criminal trial in 1995, and his wife have owned the home in the Madison Heights area for 22 years. They restored and updated the five-bedroom, 4,200-square-foot house, which was built in 1911. They’re selling because they bought a larger home in the same neighborhood. They also plan to restore that house.

The house for sale was designed by Joseph J. Blick and is on the California Register of Historic Resources.

The home has five bathrooms, a black-bottom pool, two fish ponds and a cedar Japanese teahouse with green roof tiles imported from Japan. Among vintage details are box-beam ceilings, a Batchelder-tiled inglenook and a library with original built-in bookcases. The kitchen was remodeled in 2002.

The house is listed with the owners’ daughter, Cynthia York Shadian of Coldwell Banker, Pasadena.

Ozzie, Harriet’s home for sale

Ozzie and Harriet Nelson’s longtime Hollywood home, which appeared weekly at the beginning of “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” on ABC in the 1950s, has been listed at $2.35 million.

The walled and gated, six-bedroom compound includes a pool, grassy area and pool house. The home, built in 1916, has been updated.

The sellers, who purchased the 5,200-square-foot house on a half acre about a year ago, are planning to move to a larger house. They had purchased the home from Ron Fair, president of A&M; Records, who had lived there nearly 10 years.

The Nelsons lived in the home when their sons, David and Ricky, were growing up. Ozzie swam nearly every day. Harriett decorated the house in red and green. Ricky used the pool house as a recording studio. As a teenage heartthrob, he drew many female fans to the house, near the end of a now-quiet cul de sac.

Billy Rose of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, has the listing.

Director buys Beatles’ home

Sheri Hellard, a music video director and actor who recently directed her first feature film, “Mothers and Daughters,” starring Sally Kirkland, has purchased a Hollywood Hills home designed by architect Paul Williams for about $1.4 million.

The four-bedroom, 3,400-square-foot house was built in 1924. The Beaux-Arts Mediterranean-style home also has a guesthouse. Among the former residents were the Beatles. They lived in the home during the early ‘70s while recording an album in Hollywood. A Jean Cocteau dance short was filmed there in the ‘30s.

Hellard purchased the house from J. Russell Brown, co-chairman of the Hollywood United Neighborhood Council, which focuses on the redevelopment, preservation and improvement of Hollywood. Brown spent nine years restoring and remodeling the home.

Hellard’s “Mothers and Daughters” won best feature film in September at the San Diego Film Festival. She is also involved in production of the documentary TV series “Mavericks of Modern Architecture.”

Boni Enten Bryant of DBL, Los Feliz, represented Hellard in her purchase. Andrew Jelmert and Michael J. Locke of Coldwell Banker, Los Feliz, had the listing.

Guess co-founder sells his home

Armand Marciano, a co-founder of Guess Inc., has sold his Beverly Hills-area home for just under $8 million.

He had owned the eight-bedroom, nearly 10,000-square-foot house, on close to an acre, for about six years.

He lived there while building a home nearby, which took more than seven years to complete.

The house he sold was built by producer Mike Medavoy in 1991. It has a family room that can be turned into a screening room. The gated Mediterranean-style villa also has a tennis court and a pool.

Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, represented the buyer.

To see previous columns on celebrity transactions visit www.latimes.com/hotproperty