Condos

Hot property: L.A.

Home that Michael Jackson leased is sold

 

Los Angeles Times

The Holmby Hills mansion where Michael Jackson lived at the time of his death in 2009 has sold for $18.1 million. The estate, recently priced at $23.9 million, had been for sale for as much as $38.5 million before the pop star took up residency.

Although purchased in the name of a trust, the buyer has been reported by several media outlets to be Steven Mayer, a senior managing director for Cerberus Capital Management. The sellers are Roxanne Guez and her husband, Hubert, chief executive of clothing manufacturer Ed Hardy.

The French chateau, designed by Richard Landry and built in 2002, features a theater, a wine cellar with a tasting room, an elevator and a gym with a spa. There is a guesthouse with stained-glass doors near the pool for a total of seven bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and nearly 17,200 square feet of living space.

Jackson was leasing the 1.2-acre estate for $100,000 a month when he died after receiving the anesthetic propofol for insomnia. The 50-year-old was preparing for his “This Is It” concert tour during his time living at the mansion.

Maroon 5 singer

Although a traditional-style estate may not seem to blend with Adam Levine’s pop rock persona, the Maroon 5 frontman and coach on The Voice has bought one in the Beverly Crest area for $4.83 million.

The single-level ranch house, white with long black shutters and built in 1940, is set on a secluded 3.6 acres at the end of a long brick driveway in a gated community. The main home and guesthouse have a combined six bedrooms, seven bathrooms and 6,539 square feet of living space. There is a pool and tennis court.

Levine, 33, is the lead singer and guitarist for the Grammy-winning band.

Ex DISNEY ESTATE

Investor and pro soccer team owner Gabriel Brener has put his estate in Holmby Hills up for sale at $90 million.

The 35,000-square-foot manse, built in 2001, sits on a 3.6-acre site that once contained motion picture giant Walt Disney’s personal residence.

The three-level mansion features a two-story oval foyer, statuary, a wine cellar, a movie room, three bars, a library, a gym, eight bedrooms, 17 bathrooms and two safe rooms. Staff quarters are accessible from a service entrance at the garage. There is a pool with a pool house, a tennis court and a putting green.

Brener, who owns the Houston Dynamos, heads Azteca Acquisition Corp.

In the early 1950s, Disney tinkered in a barn on the property, building a 1/8-scale train he named the Carolwood Pacific Railroad and giving the neighbors rides, according to Los Angeles Times archives. The barn was later dismantled and sits in Griffith Park.

Artist’s QUARTERS

The former live-work compound of artist Sam Francis is on the market in Santa Monica at $18.75 million.

The reinvented property features two houses, waterfalls, a bridge, glass walkways over stream beds and Japanese gardens on nearly half an acre. There are eight bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, a bar, a media room, an office, a wine cellar and a sauna in an 8,000-square-foot main house and a 4,400-square-foot secondary home.

Francis, who died in 1994 at 71, was a painter, muralist and printmaker whose works were influenced by Abstract Expressionists and, later, Zen Buddhism. He is known for his large, brightly colored abstracts. His work can be found in museums around the world.

The property last sold in 2006 for $1.56 million, public records show.

TV actor sells

Actor Scott Grimes has listed his house in Woodland Hills at $1.199 million.

Designed for entertaining, the gated home features a media room, a den-office, a bar, four bedrooms, four bathrooms and about 3,400 square feet of living space. The Mediterranean-style house sits on a third of an acre with a pool, a pool house and a sports court.

The versatile actor, 41, has been one of the stars of the animated series American Dad! since 2005. Grimes bought the property in 2005 for $1.2 million, according to public records.

BAND MANAGER

Bret Disend, who manages the boy band Big Time Rush, has bought a condo in Beverly Hills for $844,000.

The two-bedroom, two-bathroom pied-a-terre includes 1,415 square feet of living space. The French-style building, built in 1937, features a courtyard.

Big Time Rush was assembled for a Nickelodeon show in 2009 and has since made two albums and toured.

Disend also manages the pop rock band Boys Like Girls.

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