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      Shaun White Lists His Midcentury Modern Hideaway in the Hollywood Hills for $5 Million

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      Almost a year ago, Shaun White and his longtime partner, The Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev, jointly purchased an updated midcentury modern home secluded high in the hills above Hollywood. So it’s hardly surprising that White’s old house—a smaller but no less stylish and glass-walled midcentury modern elsewhere in the Hollywood Hills—has now popped up for sale, asking exactly $5 million.

      White bought his former bachelor pad in 2018, paying $3.8 million, and has since given the circa-1955 post and beam-style structure a much-needed contemporary makeover, transforming the dowdy and dated interiors into terrazzo-floored and white-walled open spaces that more accurately reflect the home’s groovy heyday.

      Due to the floor-to-ceiling windows throughout that flood the place with natural light, the house feels larger than its cozy stats would suggest. Per tax records and listing information, the structure has three bedrooms and two bathrooms in less than 1,900 square feet.

      The house itself lies out of public view, shielded from passersby by a concrete wall and a gated entryway.

      Google Earth

      Tucked away on a little-known cul-de-sac in the Outpost Estates neighborhood, the 0.33-acre property offers a two-car carport and a petite driveway. The house itself is screened off from the street via a cement block wall painted a crisp white, while a gated walkway leads past a long thicket of bamboo on its way to the front door.

      Once inside the residence, guests will be wowed by the combo living/dining/kitchen area, which is essentially one huge room full of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Hollywood and the L.A. skyline. The kitchen sports new cabinetry and premium stainless appliances, while sliding glass doors effortlessly blur the line between indoors and out.

      Neither of the bedrooms or bathrooms are particularly large, but they all are nicely updated. At least one of the bedrooms has direct access to the backyard, where a classic kidney-shaped pool reigns supreme and is surrounded by tropically-landscaped patio area ideal for dedicated sunbathers. Beyond that, a big grassy lawn tumbles down to a fire-pit seating area with more big views of the city lights.

      In an odd coincidence—or maybe it’s really not—White’s for-sale Hollywood Hills home happens to sit right next door to much larger contemporary mansion that he also used to own. After buying that larger house in 2015 for $6.4 million, White flipped the place two years later for $6.7 million to Shark Tank judge Robert Herjavec, who eventually sold the house at a loss to its current owner, a non-famous businessman.

      White, 37, is a retired professional snowboarder and three-time Olympic gold medalist in half-pipe snowboarding. The San Diego native is also an entrepreneur with an ownership stake in Mammoth Mountain and his own lifestyle brand.  More

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      Lori Loughlin Is Seeking $17 Million for Her Lavish L.A. Mansion

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      Four years after she and longtime husband Mossimo Giannulli bought the place for $9.5 million, Lori Loughlin is returning her impressive “Full House” in guard-gated Hidden Hills back to the market, asking a much-increased $17.5 million. Fashionably dressed in the modern farmhouse architectural style and featuring a host of top-of-the-line amenities throughout, the 2019-built structure boasts six bedrooms and 7.5 baths in nearly 12,000 square feet of open-plan living space.

      The big jump in price reflects Hidden Hills’ increased desirability, as buyer interest in L.A.’s gated communities has soared over the past few years. And it’s certainly worth noting that Loughlin and Giannulli have made some noteworthy improvements to the 1.5-acre property during their ownership tenure. The couple installed new landscaping—more than a dozen mature olive trees now hug the front of the property, providing increased seclusion and serenity. There are new contemporary chandeliers inside, a darker paint on the home’s outside, and a fully re-landscaped backyard with elegant new hedges, a fire-pit seating area, a bocce ball court and the same tranquil views of the hills that surround Calabasas.

      Built on speculation in 2019, the modern farmhouse sits at the very end of a particularly prestigious cul-de-sac.

      Google Earth

      Behind equestrian-oriented Hidden Hills’ ubiquitous white picket fences, a short pathway leads to the house itself. Inside, guests will be impressed by the colossal foyer, which features soaring ceilings and clerestory windows that bathe the interiors in light.

      The decor theme of warm tones — reinforced by creamy white walls and maple floors — continues throughout the home’s open-plan living spaces. The great room offers a chunky marble fireplace and a unique ceiling with parallel rows of skylights, while the dining room lies directly across from a temperature-controlled wine closet—which is currently equipped with a motorcycle—and can easily seat a dozen merrymakers.

      As expected, the chef’s kitchen is undeniably lavish, sporting custom white cabinetry, marble countertops, and a bevy of high-end appliances. Wide banks of glass sliders blur the line between indoor/outdoor living and spill out to a massive covered dining loggia overlooking the backyard lawn and pool.

      Other luxe spaces include a home gym with plenty of space for a row machine or two, a movie theater, and a large executive office. Upstairs, the primary suite offers a bedroom with a marble fireplace and private balcony, plus a spa-style bath and a bespoke dressing room.

      Even if Giannulli and Aunt Becky were to sell their Hidden Hills house tomorrow, they assuredly won’t be homeless. The couple also still owns a $13 million desert vacation retreat at the Madison Club in California‘s Coachella Valley, where some of their nearest neighbors include Apple’s Tim Cook, Nike’s Phil Knight, Justin Bieber and multiple members of the Kardashian clan. More

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      ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Director Unloads Pastoral California Estate for $5 Million

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      About six months ago, Hollywood producer/director Jon M. Chu dropped $11 million to buy Halsey’s lush estate in the semi-remote mountains between Malibu and Calabasas. So it’s hardly surprising that the prolific filmmaker—he’s best known as the director of the 2018 blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians—has now sold his old house, a smaller but likewise gated and lush estate in the same general neighborhood as Halsey’s former spread.

      Tucked into the unincorporated region known as Monte Nido, the nearly 2.7-acre ranch is about as quiet and secluded as any property in the greater L.A. area, set at the very end of a hidden cul-de-sac accessed via a whimsical wooden bridge. Screened behind stone walls and big gates, the estate features a Craftsman-style main house originally built in 1954, per tax records. Painted a rich henna color with teal trim, the nearly 4,800-square-foot structure packs in five bedrooms, lustrous pine floors, and numerous custom upgrades.

      The house sold for just a hair under $5 million, a healthy jump over the $3.7 million Chu paid for the place just over three years ago. Per records, the buyer is an LLC linked to New Jersey-based real estate developer Robert Paulus.

      Secreted away behind gates and ancient trees, the bucolic property spans about 2.7 acres.

      Google Earth

      On the main level, the house offers an airy living room is accented by massive wooden ceiling beams, triangular clerestory windows, a stone fireplace, and two sets of glassy French doors leading to the gardens. Likewise, the formal dining room also sports French doors of its own and a vaulted ceiling, while the adjoining kitchen has a distinctly 2000s flare with speckled granite countertops, plus custom cabinetry and top-of-the-line Wolf and SubZero appliances.

      There’s also a huge den with enough space for large-scale events, and somewhere lies a so-called “bonus den,” with wood-paneled walls and big picture windows, that could be a home office or library. For social-distanced exercising, Chu and his wife Kristin (née Hodge) will enjoy a private gym. Upstairs, the master bedroom includes a cinematic wraparound wall of windows with  views of the oak tree-studded grounds, and shoehorned into one corner of the room is a unique circular banquette-style lounge, perfect for curling up with a good book. For its part, the master bath is somewhat dated but offers dual vanities, redwood cabinetry, and a built-in soaking tub overlooked by skylights.

      But the real star of the property show are the sprawling, ultra-private grounds, which contain native plantings, a canopy of mature oaks, fields of California poppies, and a fruit/veggie garden with plum, peach, and apricot trees. Various play and picnic areas line the trail to the far rear of the property, where there’s a large swimmer’s pool set into a stone patio, plus a BBQ and spa. Elsewhere on the lot is a detached five-car garage, plus off-street parking for several more vehicles.

      Chu, 41, was born and raised by a Taiwanese mother and a Mainland Chinese father in California’s Silicon Valley. Before “Crazy Rich Asians,” he was perhaps best-known for directing the second and third installments of the critically-panned “Step Up” film series, in addition to directing Justin Bieber’s lucrative 2011 and 2013 concert films. More

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      A Chinese Billionaire Just Spent More Than $250 Million on Lavish Mansions Spanning Half the Globe

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      Three months ago, Asia-based real estate blog Mingtiandi reported on the sale of one of Hong Kong’s most extravagant homes, a nearly 12,000-square-foot hilltop mansion in the ultra-prestigious Peak neighborhood. The house, a limestone-faced and liberally embellished two-story structure with unobstructed views of the city skyline and Victoria Harbour, sold for HK$838 million, or roughly $107 million USD.

      The sale was notable not just because it ranks as one of Hong Kong’s biggest real estate deals over the past couple of years, but because it’s one of the few ultra-luxury Hong Kong homes that have sold to a Mainland Chinese buyer in recent years, amid an ongoing Hong Kong housing slump and a sluggish mainland economy. Per property records, the house was acquired by an entity controlled by a Shenzhen-based woman named Gu Fang.

      The palatial mansion sold for a discounted $107 million in early 2024, a rare bright spot in Hong Kong’s sluggish real estate market.

      Google Earth

      People familiar with the properties now tell Robb Report that the same woman, Gu, is also directly linked to the purchase of three of the most expensive U.S. homes that have sold in the past 18 months, two of them being high-profile estates with Hollywood celebrity ties. In October 2022, a mystery buyer paid $55 million for the Newport Coast mansion of reality TV personalities Dr. Terry and Heather Dubrow. Four months later, a mystery buyer dropped another $55 million on the wildly extravagant Beverly Hills mansion of actor Mark Wahlberg.

      Although the new owner’s name was not revealed at that time, it was widely reported that both the Dubrows’ home and Wahlberg’s estate were acquired by the same buyer, an anonymous Mainland Chinese billionaire now believed to be directly associated with Gu.

      In late 2022, Heather Dubrow’s 20,000-square-foot Newport Coast mansion sold for $55 million to an LLC linked to Gu Fang.

      Google Earth

      Gu, believed to be in her 50s, is the longtime wife of Xu Hang, one of China’s richest men and the co-founder of Mindray Medical, China’s largest medical device manufacturer.

      It’s perhaps not such a surprise that Xu and Gu would be on the hunt for ultra-luxury homes, despite China’s broader economic slowdown. The Covid-19 pandemic proved extraordinarily lucrative for Mindray; in 2020, the net worth of company cofounder Li Xiting—Singapore’s richest man—was reported to be increasing by a mind-bending $1 billion per month due to high worldwide demand for ventilators. As for Xu, Forbes says his personal net worth has likewise ballooned over the past few years, from $1.8 billion in 2018 to a peak of $19.5 billion in 2021. The Bloomberg Billionaire Index pegs his current wealth at $12.1 billion, making him Shenzhen’s richest man, while Forbes notes he is the world’s fourth-wealthiest man in the healthcare industry.

      Located in the Beverly Park gated community, Mark Wahlberg’s house sold in early 2023 for $55 million to an LLC linked to Gu Fang.

      Google Earth

      As it turns out, the Beverly Hills, Newport Coast and Hong Kong mansions are not the only extravagant homes in Xu’s portfolio. In early 2023, billionaire real estate developer Stephen Ross sold his mansion-sized penthouse at the Time Warner Center in New York City for $40 million, a major discount off the unit’s original $75 million ask. The buyer, records show, was yet another LLC with links to Xu and Gu.

      A lavish penthouse at Manhattan’s Time Warner Center sold in early 2023 for $40 million to an LLC linked to Gu Fang.

      Getty Images

      Putting all four purchases together reveals Xu has spent $257 million—in cash—on luxury real estate since late 2022, though it’s also worth noting that the tycoon has scored major discounts on at least three of his four new properties. The Hong Kong manor, sold for $107 million, had been originally offered at a lofty $166 million. Similarly, the Wahlberg house and Manhattan penthouse were also acquired at substantial discounts—the Wahlberg property at a 37% discount off its $87.5 million list and the N.Y.C. place at 47% below the original ask.

      In all, Xu shaved off a combined $126 million from the asking prices three homes alone. The fourth property, the Dubrow estate, was never officially listed on the open market, though it had reportedly been marketed as a pocket listing with an asking price of more than $60 million. More

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      Kanye West Is Now Facing an $18 Million Loss on His Tadao Ando-Designed Malibu House

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      Four months ago, Kanye West put his infamously wrecked Malibu house on the market, asking a steep $53 million. To nobody’s particular surprise, there were no takers. This week, the price tag was slashed all the way down to $39 million by the home’s listing agent, Selling Sunset star Jason Oppenheim.

      It’s worth noting that the current ask is a staggering $18 million less than what West himself paid for the place less than three years ago, back in September 2021. The music mogul-turned-Yeezy fashion designer shelled out $57.3 million—in cash—for the 4,000 square foot residence, which was completed circa 2013 and designed by famed Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando.

      But it remains unclear if West ever spent a night at the oceanfront home, which sits cheek-to-jowl between two other houses on surfer-friendly Malibu Road. Almost immediately after he bought it, West set about tearing the place apart, ripping out all the windows, doors and interior finishes. The formerly four-bedroom, five-bath house is now a vacant and uninhabitable concrete shell, with its rooms open and exposed to the unforgivingly corrosive sea air.

      Shortly after buying the house in 2021, West tore out all the furnishings and fixtures, leaving it a concrete shell.

      Backgrid

      Despite the big price reduction, buyers should be warned that the house will require many months and likely millions of dollars in renovation costs. And the current $39 million ask, while substantially improved, is a lofty figure. Other homes along this same stretch of sand typically top out around $20 million—and that’s for a brand-new or freshly rehabbed residence.

      Still, those other homes lack a Tadao Ando pedigree. West’s Brutalist white elephant remains one of only a handful of U.S. buildings designed by the 82-year-old, who’s been called “Hollywood’s favorite starchitect” and whose homes are “the hottest must-have[s] among the super wealthy.”

      Last year, Jay-Z and Beyoncé paid $190 million for a different—and substantially larger—Malibu estate designed by Ando, an amount that remains the most ever paid for a California home. Kim Kardashian is planning to built an extravagant Ando-designed vacation mansion near Palm Springs. In 2021, Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield and his wife Jen Rubio dropped $40 million to buy a Tom Ford’s Ands-designed New Mexico ranch.

      West, who remains one of the world’s most successful record producers and one of the best-selling musicians of all time, seems to be shifting away from real estate ownership—when he’s not out traveling the globe with wife Bianca Censori, he frequently bunks up for months at a time in some of L.A.’s poshest hotels, including the oceanfront Nobu Ryokan. More

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      Facebook’s Former CFO Drops a Record $52 Million for a Mansion on Malibu’s Point Dume

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      Three years ago, after many years of living in California‘s Silicon Valley, Gideon Yu traded his Atherton mansion for the bright lights of Los Angeles. The veteran technology executive and his longtime wife Susie dropped $9.5 million on a large house in the suburban neighborhood of Sherman Oaks, where the couple has quietly resided ever since.

      But with the heat of summer approaching, the Yus have done what countless other wealthy L.A. families before them already did—they’ve bought an expensive vacation home in the seaside town of Malibu. Records indicate the Yus were the buyers who recently shelled out $52 million—in cash—for a blufftop estate on Malibu’s Point Dume.

      Never on the market, the $52 million house recently underwent a major contemporary remodel.

      Google Earth

      That sale price ranks as the most ever paid for a single-family house on Point Dume, a neighborhood known for its many famous faces. Current residents include Bob Dylan, Sean Penn, Chris Martin, Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson; also in the area are high-profile businesspeople and political figures—Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Jordan’s King Abdullah, billionaire hedge fund manager Chase Coleman and Jeff Bezos, who rents a compound owned by Kenny G.

      Because Yu’s new house was never on the market, photos are scant and current details few. But the 0.76-acre property last sold in summer 2020 for $22 million to Stuart and Stephanie Liner, the married real estate developers who have bought and flipped dozens of other luxury estates in the Los Angeles area.

      At the time of the Liners’ acquisition, the blufftop compound was an extravagant fixer, supremely well-located but saddled with dated interiors and amenities. The couple subsequently embarked on a multi-year, multimillion-dollar remodel that transformed the 1980s modern-style structure into a chicly contemporary home that happens to feature unobstructed ocean views.

      The house sits behind gates and a full-size, lighted tennis court.

      James McClain

      Robb Report is not sure if these figures are still accurate, but tax records say the house offers five bedrooms and seven bathrooms in about 6,000 square feet of living space. There’s also a full-size tennis court and a backyard swimming pool overlooking the Malibu coastline. Naturally, the residence also transferred with a coveted key to Little Dume Beach, the semi-private and difficult-to-access beach that lies just below the cliffs of Point Dume.

      The clifftop property happens to sit right next door to Johnny Carson’s former compound, which was sold in 2019 for $40 million to billionaire Juul investor Riaz Valani. The previous Point Dume sales record was held by another blufftop mansion that transferred for $49 million in early 2022.

      Yu, 52, has held multiple high-level tech executive positions over his career, including at both Yahoo and YouTube. However, he’s perhaps best-known for serving as CFO of Facebook from July 2007 until March 2009. Despite Yu’s relatively short stint as CFO, unconfirmed reports say he may have left the social media giant with as much as $500 million in stock.

      Today, Yu is a private investor and a member of the ownership group that controls the San Francisco 49ers football team. In 2012, he became the first president of color in NFL history. More

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      A Baby Formula Billionaire Just Dropped $27 Million on This Massive Beverly Hills Estate

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      In a prime pocket of Beverly Hills, just a literal stone’s throw from the longtime 90210 estate of Taylor Swift, this grand Spanish-meets-Mediterranean-influenced house was on the market for nearly a year, originally listed with an asking price of $33 million. The exceedingly lavish spread just sold for nearly $27 million—or $26.8 million, to be exact. Despite the discount, the deal still ranks among the priciest real estate transfers recorded in Los Angeles so far this year.

      Records indicate the all-cash buyer is an entity tied to billionaire “Roger” Hua Liu, the vice chairman and CFO of Feihe International Inc. Headquartered in Beijing, Feihe is the largest and most famous supplier of infant formula milk in China, with approximately 20% of the country’s market share. Per Forbes, Liu’s personal net worth tops $1.4 billion.

      The 15,000-square-foot house was completed in 2000 and lies just a short walk from Taylor Swift’s home.

      Google Earth

      According to records, the sizable 90210 property last sold back in 2011 for $17.5 million. The buyer then was Russian oligarch Sergey Sarkisov, who amassed a fortune in Russia’s insurance industry and later dabbled in film production.

      If Sarkisov’s name sounds familiar, it’s probably because he also owned the smaller tennis court estate next door to this $27 million compound. Sarkisov’s smaller “spare” property was sold last year for $15 million, and the buyer was prominent Hollywood actress Mindy Kaling, who reportedly intends to radically redesign and refurbish the house.

      Set high above the street, the giant house is mostly obscured from public view by a sea of trees and hedges.

      Google Earth

      As for Liu’s larger house next door, photos are scant and details remain sparse. But tax records confirm the mansion was built circa 2000 and is sited on a knoll-top lot of nearly 1.5 acres. Spanning more than 15,000 square feet of living space, the house is large even for this affluent neighborhood, and includes some 10 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms. Despite its size, the place is mostly invisible from the public roadway out front, carefully cloaked behind big gates, a very long driveway, and a forest-like canopy of mature trees and other shrubbery.

      In addition to the main house, there’s a backyard swimming pool and a full-size tennis court on the south side of the There’s also a detached guesthouse or staff building of some sort on the premises, which itself stands some two or even three stories tall. In addition to garaging for four cars, the property features off-street parking for up to 15 more vehicles. The entire property is ringed by a collection of specimen trees, and there are also rose gardens and several patches of grassy lawn. More

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      Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger Just Tore Down This Stunning Midcentury Modern Home

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      Last year, preservation-minded fans of midcentury modern architecture were devastated when another one of L.A.’s historic gems was surreptitiously demolished with little warning. Located on one of Brentwood’s most prestigious streets, the so-called Zimmerman House by modernist architect Craig Ellwood was razed in a matter of days. In its place, a new and much larger mansion is currently rising.

      According to the USModernist nonprofit, the Zimmerman house was commissioned in 1949 by Martin and Eva Zimmerman, and completed in 1950. Once featured in Progressive Architecture magazine, the 0.83-acre estate featured gardens and mature trees carefully placed by esteemed landscape designer Garrett Eckbo. Inside, the blocky modernist structure offered five bedrooms and three bathrooms in 2,770 square feet of single-story living space.

      Completed in 1950, the Zimmerman House was one of pioneering modernist architect Craig Ellwood’s earliest projects.

      Julius Schulman/The J. Paul Getty Trust/Getty Research Institute

      The house changed hands in 1968 and again in 1975, when it sold for the paltry sum of $205,000 to Sam and Hilda Rolfe, he the co-creator of the classic 1960s spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and the CBS series Have Gun — Will Travel. Sam Rolfe died in 1993, but his widow Hilda continued to own and reside at the property until her own death nearly 30 years later.

      Although the Zimmerman house was never listed on the open market, the property was quietly sold last January, just months after Hilda’s death, for $12.5 million. The off-market buyers were Hollywood actor Chris Pratt and author Katherine Schwarzenegger, who wasted little time in demolishing the midcentury structure to make way for their own new Brentwood dream home—which is currently still in the early stages of construction.

      After buying the property for $12.5 million, Pratt and Schwarzenegger quickly razed the house.

      Google Earth

      Permit records indicate the upcoming new house, which stands two stories tall and includes a full basement, was designed by prolific L.A. architect Ken Ungar, perhaps one of the Westside’s most prolific and successful designers of large modern farmhouse-style mansions.

      The property will also contain a backyard swimming pool, plus a pool house or poolside cabana of some sort. No word about whether it will feature a full-size tennis court, however, as the original Zimmerman property did.

      The Zimmerman House (right) sits almost directly across the street from two Brentwood homes owned by Maria Shriver.

      Google Earth

      It’s probably little wonder that Pratt and Schwarzenegger selected the Zimmerman house as the lot they wanted, because the tree-shaded property happens to sit almost directly across the street from a two-house compound owned by Schwarzenegger’s mother Maria Shriver. Other nearby neighbors include Arianna Huffington and Sofia Richie.

      While they wait for their new Brentwood digs to be completed, Pratt and Schwarzenegger continue to own their “old” house, a heavily renovated mansion in the hills of Pacific Palisades. The contemporary Mediterranean-style manor, given an extensive refresh during the couple’s tenure, remains on the open market, asking $30 million. More