Hot Property newsletter: Where money is no object
There’s a rarefied sphere of the residential real estate market that sees properties changing hands among the unfathomably rich. A music and film titan joins the fray this week with a Beverly Hills property as his prize. Also of note: L.A.’s mayor dons his landlord hat.
Our Home of the Week packs nearly 11,500 square feet of living space onto a third of an acre in coveted Beverly Hills. Horizontal bands of wood siding, stone accents and artistic metalwork set a modern tone. Retractable glass walls in the living room and kitchen open to an infinity-edge swimming pool. The asking price is $17.995 million.
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— Neal Leitereg, Jack Flemming and Lauren Beale
A gold-medal affair
Entertainment mogul David Geffen is buying the Beverly Hills home of Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee President Casey Wasserman. The property was last listed publicly for $82.5 million.
The striking modern mansion, set on 3.25 acres, combines stone, glass and white oak in a design by Pritzker-winning architect Richard Meier, whose works include the Getty Center and the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art.
The museum-like18,543-square-foot interior holds a movie theater, a gym, an art studio, six bedrooms and 14 bathrooms. A deck adjoins an 85-foot tiled infinity pool near the pool house.
Geffen, last seen riding out the pandemic on his $590-million super yacht, founded the music labels Asylum Records, Geffen Records and DGC Records, now Interscope Geffen A&M Records. In 1990, he co-founded DreamWorks Pictures with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Earlier this year, the 77-year-old music and film executive made headlines when he sold his Beverly Hills mansion to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for $165 million.
The mayor’s own fiefdom
A Mid-Wilshire home owned by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is available for lease at $5,000 a month.
The single-story rental is part of a triplex that Garcetti and his wife, Amy Wakeland, purchased in 2016 for $1.6 million.
Designed in English Country style, the updated unit has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and more than 1,400 square feet of space. A brightly tiled backsplash and a chrome farmhouse sink are among amenities in the updated kitchen. The living room centers on a tiled fireplace.
Garcetti, 49, took office in the summer of 2013, becoming L.A.’s 42nd mayor. He and Wakeland currently make their home in Windsor Square at the Getty House, the official residence of the mayor of L.A.
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Fit for a first lady
“Grease” and “West Wing” actress Stockard Channing has put a Midcentury home in the Laurel Canyon area up for sale at $2.495 million.
The three-bedroom house blends old and new details in a single story. Whitewashed beams, original stained glass windows and walls of glass are among details within the 2,157 square feet of living space.
The backyard features a Saltillo tile patio with a swimming pool and spa overlooking the hills.
Channing, 76, won Emmys for her role as first lady in “The West Wing” and for the TV movie “The Matthew Shepard Story.”
Where he took his meals
Jonathan Sadowski, known for his role in the sitcom “Young & Hungry,” has listed his property in Valley Village for $1.098 million.
Two structures occupy the lot: a two-bedroom bungalow and a garage-turned-lounge decked out with skylights, exposed rafters and a brick accent wall.
The bungalow’s 1,671 square feet of living space are adorned by white walls, hardwood floors and coved ceilings. The master suite opens to a backyard with a patio, a spa, a fountain and an avocado tree.
Sadowski, 40, was in “She’s the Man,” “Live Free or Die Hard” and “Friday the 13th.” More recently, he appeared in the “Lethal Weapon” series.
Name a home buyer in Atlanta
Steve Harvey just landed an impressive estate in Atlanta. The nearly 35,000-square-foot French Provincial-style mansion was once owned by Tyler Perry, the director, writer and actor known for his Madea character. Perry sold the mansion to comedian turned TV host Harvey for $15 million.
Set on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, the property spans 17 acres containing rolling lawns, formal gardens, a swimming pool, a tennis court, a guesthouse, a guardhouse and a caretaker’s suite in addition to the main mansion.
Among features are a billiards room, a den, a wine cellar, a movie theater, a fully equipped gym, a sauna, a massage room, seven bedrooms and 14 bathrooms.
Harvey, 63, gained fame as a comedian in the ’80s and ’90s before moving to television, where he starred on “The Steve Harvey Show” and hosts “Family Feud.”
From the archives
Thirty years ago, David Geffen cut a $47.5-million deal for the Beverly Hills estate of late movie mogul Jack Warner. The all-cash transaction, which included all the furnishings in the price, was a U.S. record at the time and hardly Geffen’s last. The entertainment mogul sold the storied estate earlier this year to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for a California-record $165 million. He’s since found new accommodations in Casey Wasserman’s estate, also in Beverly Hills.
It was 20 years ago when physician turned novelist-screenwriter Michael Chrichton sold his Santa Monica home for about $5.5 million. Chrichton had recently finished the techno-thriller “Timeline” around the same time the 5,500-square-foot home was being quietly shopped around off-market. He had owned the home since 1993.
A decade ago, country music superstars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw finally bid adieu to their Beverly Hills Post Office-area home, selling the two-story Mediterranean for $9.5 million. The couple had been trying to sell the four-acre estate for about two years and had asked as much as $14.8 million for the place.
What we’re reading
An egg-shaped prefab got us thinking about how nice it would be to have a private getaway — even if it were just in the backyard. The 88 square feet of Space, as it is called, is described by Dwell as an “affordable, sustainable structure that can go nearly anywhere and be used however you deem fit.” The price tag for the stock model, featuring plywood paneling, wood veneers and laminate floors, is $56,000.
While we were dreaming, this castle home in San Francisco caught our eye. The $1.8-million fixer features ornate details, a secret passageway and a window with a likeness of Queen Elizabeth I. Realtor.com reports that whoever buys the house should be prepared to put at least $500,000 into renovation work. Built in the early 1900s, the place has three bedrooms, one bathroom and 1,735 square feet of living space, but there’s room for expansion on the multi-dwelling zoned property.
