Hollywood sign saved again!

Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Hollywood sign

Residents and celebrities alike were concerned when the land behind the Hollywood sign went up for sale for 22 million dollars in 2008. Possible plans for the land included building 4 mega mansions, each to be sold for 40 million dollars once built. These homes would sit directly above the Hollywood sign and some say would destroy the view and landscape.

Hugh Hefner, Playboy Founder

On Monday it was announced that the last of the money was raised through a donation from Hugh Hefner, of $900,000 and then a matching donation from Tiffany and Co Foundation and Aileen Getty of a further $500,000,  to help the City purchase the property to keep it out of the hands of real estate developers. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Trust of Public land led by Will Rogers have been raising money with the help of donations from Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, the studios, and with fundraisers held by the locals. Finally on Monday Hugh Hefner’s donation brought the grand total to 12.5 million dollars, the agreed amount the owners would sell the property to the City for. This is not the first time Hugh Hefner has come to the rescue of the sign, back in the late 70′s he played a major role in fundraising for the rebuilding of the then dilapidated sign.

Howard Hughs and Ginger Rogers

The land in question approximately 138 acres was once owned by billionaire Howard Hughes who purchased the property in the 1940′s to build a castle for his then fiance Ginger Rogers. However their romance was not to end in marriage and Miss Rogers was not fond of the idea of living so far up in the hills isolated from everywhere. Despite the fact that Hughes battled with the city and won, allowing him to put in a private road and utilities onto the property, the home was never built. However it did stay a part of his estate until 2002 when it was sold to a Chicago based investment company for 1.7 million dollars. Once the sale is complete the land will now become part of Griffith Park which is already the largest municipal park in the United States.

Hollywoodland - Real Estate development Advertising Campaign 1920's

Of course the irony here is that the sign was originally placed as an advertisement for a real estate development called Hollywoodland in the 1920′s. The developers, General M. H. Sherman (founder of West Hollywood), Harry Chandler (Publisher of the LA Times) and developer Sidney H. Woodruff, planned a Mediterranean Riviera in the Hollywood Hills, situated between Griffith Park and Lake Hollywood. The successful development was described in the LA Times as “one of the most attractive residential sections of the City of Los Angeles”. And now the Hollywood sign, the adopted emblem of the movie industry has become the icon that has saved the landscape from the clutches of further real estate developement the very idea the sign first served.

Santa Monica Town House for Sale

Pool Area

Living Room

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Beautiful warm & inviting two storey town home. Living room is decorated with venetian plaster & has a fireplace & double glazed sliders to patio with hand painted floor. Custom details through out; crown molding, air vent grills, balustrade. The light & bright kitchen has a cooks island with granite counter top, the bedrooms both have walk-in closets and lots of storage. washer and dryer is in the unit & bathrooms are all remodeled. The complex has a heated pool and spa.

 

The home will be open on Sunday April 18 2010 between 2-5pm and again on Tuesday April 20 2010 between 11-1pm. For all other appointments please call Michelle at 310 413 8780.

 

Trump Tower Architect Der Scutt Dies

Der Scutt died this past Sunday of liver failure according to his son Hagen. Hagen worked with his father in the same way that Der formerly Donald worked with his own father.

He was educated at Pennsylvania State university, and then went on to Yale. In between he worked for the world famous architect Philip Johnson and after graduating Yale he worked in the offices of Paul Rudolf, the Dean of Yale at the time.

Some of his most famous work was done for Donald Trump, first the Grand Hyatt next to Grand Central Terminal and then Trump Towers on 5th Ave when he was working at Swanke Hayden Connell Architects.

He opened his own offices in 1981 at the age of 50, and designed 100 Nations Plaza Tower, a 52 story residential condo project and the Corinthian at First Avenue and 37th Street a 57 story building.

In Donald Trumps book, “the art of the deal” Mr Trump remembers his first meeting with Der Scutt and describing to him that he wanted to transform the area and the “dingy” Commodore Hotel. After the completion of the smoked shiny glass tower Mr Trump wrote, “It was obvious to me that Der understood what I had in mind.”

For Sale

9541 Cedarbrook Dr Beverly Hills CA 90210

Listed at $1,295,000 (also available for lease)

This is a great 2 bedroom get away house – it is private serene and lushy landscaped and ready to move in. The location is supurb, 10 minutes from Rodeo Dr, shopping and restuarants but feels like you are in your own private oasis in the country. It is also a fun house for entertaining with great flow between the indoors and out doors, and a magical setting for swimming and outdoor dining. If you like hiking the home also boasts its very own mountain trail which ends in a small flat pad where you can sit and enjoy views of the Ocean, century City and Downtown. The home is the least expensive pool home in the area, is tremendously good value and waiting for you to come and enjoy.

 

For a private viewing please contact us.

 

What is the Market doing?

Year to date of the areas we cover the most single family home sales happened in the Sunset and Hollywood Hills area where the current medium house price is $1,250,000. This area also had the highest sales price this year with the sale of 1415 Oriole Dr to the daughter of a Russian Oligarch. It took 478 days to sell the property that was first listed at $29 million and finally sold at the more reasonable price of $19.5 million. In contrast to that, the lowest sale of the year was located in Rancho Park and was a tear down that sold for $525,000 a small house that sat on a lot just over 6000 sq ft.

The area with the highest price per sq ft for single family homes, year to date is in Malibu Beach where the average sq ft price is $1,735.74, this is a massive jump from the other areas which range from the lowest in Westwood of $622.31 to the highest in Beverly Hills of $910.47. However only 5 homes sold in the area and on average took 246 days to sell.

Whilst Westwood of the areas we cover has the lowest price per square foot it is also the area where homes sell the quickest with an average days on market of 32, the average time on market of all the areas as a whole is 100 days making Westwood a great place to be if you want the deal done quickly.

Following are a list of the areas we cover and the information year to date

Beverly Hills with 24 Sales and average sq ft price of $910.47  

Beverly Hills Post Office with 20 Sales and average sq ft price of $673.76

Sunset/Hollywood Hills with 61 Sales and average sq ft price of $629.18

Bel Air/Holmby Hills with 18 Sales and average sq ft price of $725.78

Westwood with 11 Sales and average sq ft price of $622.31

Brentwood with 36 Sales and average sq ft price of $665.86 

West LA with 8 Sales and average sq ft price of $513.53

Cheviot Hills/Rancho Park with 10 Sales and average sq ft price of $540.51 

Santa Monica with 31 Sales and average sq ft price of $717.55

Pacific Palisades with 50 Sales and average sq ft price of $674.81 

Malibu Beach with 5 Sales and average sq ft price of $1,735.74

Of all the above areas year to date there have been 274 single family homes sales and the total sales volume for February alone was $241,794,260 which is up by 24% over Feb 09. Overall the medium sales price is $1,567,500 which is down 3.8% from this time last year but the ratio of sales price to list price is 90.72% an encouraging note that shows properties are selling within 10% of asking price.

 

Information obtained from Combined L.A./Westside MLS, Inc. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Broker/Agent does not guarantee the accuracy of the square footage, lot size or other information concerning the conditions or features of the property provided by the seller or obtained from Public Records or other sources. Buyer is advised to independently verify the accuracy of all information through personal inspection and with appropriate professionals.

 

Another piece of Candy

This 123 room French style Chateau is on the market for $150,000,000 making it the most expensive home for sale in the Country at the moment. The home sits on more than  4 acres of flat land in Holmby Hills and includes the prerequisites of a LA mansion – pool, pool house, tennis court and then the completely lavish, 100 car capacity drive way, an orchard, a living room that transforms into a screening room (see video) a bowling alley, a wine tasting room, a doll room, a silver room, a gift wrapping room, a flower cutting room and on and on the specialised room count goes. This house has it all.

The property was once owned by Bing Crosby, the home that he lived in designed by George Kaufman in the 1930′s was taken down by Aaron and Candy Spelling and the 50,000+ square foot mansion designed by James Langenheim and Associates was put in its place to much criticism at the time in the early 90′s.

So the question is who can afford to buy such a property and will it really sell for $150 million? According to Forbes magazine 2010 Billionaires list, there are 937 billionaires worldwide, this would be a good list to start with! As to price, it is listed at approx $2600 a square foot, a far cry from the properties being sold in London even in this current market and Candy Spelling has herself purchased a Penthouse suite in Century for $2848 a square foot, so it’s not unreasonable, is it?

Two other sellers have tried to sell their mega mansions without success, 1011 N Beverly Drive was on the market for just shy of a year in 2007 with the even bigger price tag of $165,000,000. This was the property once owned by William Randolf Hurst and Marion Davis, and the location where Jaqueline and John F Kennedy spent their honeymoon and the famous horse head scene in the Godfather movie was shot. The Fleur de Lyes estate at 350 Carolwood in Bel Air was listed for $125,000,000 but was also withdrawn from sale. Time will tell if this one gets sold or could it get passed down the family line?

Daily Deal

Today we have two great properties.

The first is a remodelled three bedroom home in Westwood. It has great curb appeal with a white picket fence and is completely ready to move into. The very attractive thing about this home is the lot size which exceeds 10,000 sq ft, unusual for this location. The home is priced to reflect great value for money, within the last 12 months no home in Westwood has sold below 1,400,000 with a lot size equivalent to this one. For anyone looking to be able to access their yard from both the entertaining area of the home and the bedrooms, this is the house for you, If you want to put in a pool there is room to do just that or if you are looking for a great family home with room for the kids to play this will be a delight for you to see.

The second property that really stands out in the market is a condo in a 1930′s Beverly Hills Building. This is a small one bedroom unit, completely upgraded and located close to the four seasons Hotel. With a price tag of $399,000 it also happens to be the cheapest unit on the market in Beverly Hills, and not only that but there have been no sales in the last 12 months as low as this condo is priced. This would make a great starter home and a fabulous deal for anyone looking to buy in Beverly Hills.

To request a showing to either of these properties please contact us