Hot Property: Record heights
Asked to name the most exclusive communities in the Los Angeles, gated Beverly Park — with its large-lot homes and affluent homeowners — would make our short list. Last year, sales in the area included the former home of baseball home run king Barry Bonds, which sold for $26.5 million, and the former home of actress-comedian Reba McEntire, which fetched $25.15 million. This week’s curation leads off with a $32-million sale, the highest publicly recorded deal in the enclave so far this year.
For a look inside a luxury home, tune in to this video from Fox 11. The Hot Property Home of the Week is a hilltop Hidden Valley estate with a castle-like profile. A contemporary take on the Queen Anne style, the two-story house has 10,285 square feet of living space and is listed at $7,999,950.
Once you’re done reading about these deals, visit and like our Facebook page, where you can find Hot Property stories and updates throughout the week. That’s also a great place to leave us a tip about a celebrity home transaction.
– Neal J. Leitereg and Lauren Beale
One for the record books
A French chateau-inspired mansion designed by celebrity architect Richard Landry has sold in Beverly Park for $32 million — a high for sales there this year.
The buyer is reportedly timepiece entrepreneur John Simonian, the founder and owner of the luxury watch company Westime.
The 22,906-square-foot home, built in 2009, is at the heart of a two-plus-acre compound that includes a tennis court, indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a large motor court. Designed for large-scale entertaining, it features a ballroom, a Moroccan-themed movie theater and a library with a glass-bottom floor that looks into a brick wine cellar.
TV producer’s vintner life
A vineyard estate built as a second home for “Dynasty” producer Douglas S. Cramer is for sale in Los Olivos for $8.9 million.
A gated entrance opens to a driveway that winds past vineyards and a pond to the main residence on the 64-acre site. The 20,000-square-foot home blends Southwestern and Mediterranean styles.
A swimming pool, a guest cabana, a tennis court, a guesthouse and 35 acres of vineyards complete the grounds. There are eight bedrooms, eight full bathrooms and two half-baths.
Cramer has produced such hit series as “The Brady Bunch” and “Mission Impossible.”
She judged it time to move
Nicole Scherzinger, an entertainer and TV-competition judge, has sold a Waianae, Hawaii, home she owned in a trust for $1.35 million.
The contemporary plantation-style house, built in 2004, is surrounded by 1.25 acres of tropical landscaping. The 3,475-square-foot house has four bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms and a vaulted-ceiling living room. Also on the property is an art studio.
A blue-tiled swimming pool, a cabana, lawn and native plantings make up the grounds.
Scherzinger, who was born in Honolulu, was the lead singer and frontwoman of the burlesque-pop dance troupe the Pussycat Dolls, which disbanded in 2010. She has appeared as a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars,” and a judge on “The Sing-Off” and “The X Factor.”
Endless views from Malibu
Irish actor Stuart Townsend has listed his dramatic aerie in Malibu at $5.25 million.
Sited to take in panoramic coastline views, the Spanish-style home sits on about three acres with a swimming pool, a spa, a tennis court, an abundance of fruit trees and an olive grove.
Built in 1974, the gated estate features a main house with three bedrooms, two offices, vaulted wood ceilings and tile floors. A detached guesthouse provides additional living space with a more modern aesthetic.
Townsend, 45, has been on such television shows as “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Salem” and “Elementary.”
Buyer, where are you?
The Studio City home where Heather North, the longtime voice of Daphne Blake on television’s various “Scooby-Doo” series, lived for more than four decades has come to market for $3.599 million.
The rustic Traditional, built in 1954, includes a multi-car garage, a guesthouse, a swimming pool and a separate art studio on more than half an acre.
The 5,230 square feet of living space features five bedrooms, six bathrooms and living and dining rooms split by a freestanding brick fireplace.
North, who died last year at 71, made her debut as Daphne in 1971 in the Saturday morning cartoon “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” and voiced the redheaded, fashion-conscious teen in various installments for three decades.
Coach’s place is in play
Retired basketball player and former coach Paul Westphal has put a home in Torrance up for sale at $1.899 million.
The remodeled 1948 house features an entry-level living room with a fireplace, a formal dining area and a kitchen that opens to a large family room with a fireplace. There’s also a balcony, two bedrooms and two bathrooms on the main floor. Downstairs are two guest suites.
Westphal, 67, was a guard with the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns. He has coached the Suns, the Seattle SuperSonics and the Sacramento Kings.
Her favorite room
Cortney Novogratz, who reigns over an interior design empire and has been featured on reality television shows on Bravo and HGTV, finds peace in the master bedroom of her family’s 7,700-square-foot castle-inspired home in Hollywood Hills. The space features a bold combination of unique art including an expensive Rene Ricard painting above the bed, $20 flea market finds and rare collectibles. “I like a mix of everything,” said the mother of seven.
Novogratz put this artwork across from the bed in the master bedroom so she could “wake up to it every day.”
From the archives
Ten years ago, Hot Property originator Ruth Ryon penned her last installment of the feature she created in the 1980s. She wrote more than 1,300 columns, kicking off on Nov. 25, 1984, with an item on Johnny Carson’s purchase of a Malibu home for $9.5 million, a record-setter at the time.
Twenty years ago, pop star Tom Jones purchased a home in a gated Beverly Hills-area community for about $2.7 million. The Welsh superstar had recently sold a larger, longtime home in Bel-Air. The house he bought was newly built and had five bedrooms, a family room, formal dining room and a library in about 8,000 square feet.
What we’re reading
Curbed.com looked at tiny house developments in Detroit, Las Vegas, Reno and Portland, Ore. — four cities trying to supply more affordable housing. They found an eclectic group of owners enjoying a quirky lifestyle.
There’s an industrial vibe these days at this 1920s onetime neighborhood church in Chicago. The single-family-home conversion, with three bedrooms and 3,400 square feet of newly remodeled living space, is listed at $1 million. Check out the dramatic photos.
