Santa Monica

Up in the rarefied air of the ultra-high-end real estate segment, the market slowdown has hit with a major thud. And particularly so in Los Angeles, where numerous eight-figure homes continue to languish on the market. To get deals done, sellers have become creative in their strategies, and all-cash buyers have been scoring some impressive discounts.

Back in September, this breezy contemporary mansion came to market with a $33 million price tag. Located on one of Santa Monica‘s poshest streets, the property is certainly impressive, spanning more than half an acre and featuring a glass-walled house with six bedrooms and seven baths in 9,300 square feet of living space.

But with no takers, the home’s ask was slashed to $29 million in October. Earlier this month, the place closed escrow at $22.5 million—roughly 32% under the original list. According to a source close to the deal, the sellers agreed to the lowball offer because of the terms: a very short two-week escrow, all cash and with no contingencies, plus a free two-month leaseback term for them.

The 1980s modern home sits behind ancient trees on one of Santa Monica’s most prestigious streets.

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Delaram Rivani of Carolwood Estates represented both the sellers and the buyer, though she declined to identify either party. But according to public records, the sellers are Lebanese asset manager Ahmed Tayeb and his wife Cherine Magrabi Tayeb, both well-known art collectors. The discount-hunting buyer is Andrew Lessman, a vitamin mogul widely known for his numerous appearances on the Home Shopping Network (HSN).

Built in 1981 and crafted by the acclaimed late architect Peter Choate, the freshly updated house sits behind gates and manicured hedges. Though somewhat forbidding from the street, the place is cheerfully sun-filled inside, with enormous skylights, vaulted ceilings and abundant wall space ripe for a major-league art collection. Highlights include a vast great room with various living and dining areas, a renovated marble kitchen with premium appliances, and a master retreat equipped with views over the  Riviera Country Club golf course and Santa Monica Mountains.

The central living area features a book-matched stone fireplace.

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Out back, the lush grounds frame a sparkling lap pool and spa. For those prone to grand-scale entertaining, there’s a fire-pit and multiple al fresco dining areas, plus an indoor movie theater and a wet bar serviced by an 800-bottle wine storage space.

Lessman, 66, has lived in the Santa Monica area for years. And he’s certainly not new to high-end real estate; back in 2012, he bought a $13 million Malibu home atop Paradise Cove that was sold just five years later for $38.5 million to Richard and Laurie Stark, the owners of Chrome Hearts.

Click here for more photos of 2121 La Mesa Drive.

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Earlier this year, Bob Stiller inked an eye-popping $170 million deal to sell his oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. So it’s no surprise that the coffee billionaire—he co-founded Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in the 1980s—and his family have plenty of cash lying around to afford a “spare” home in California. Records indicate a Stiller-linked trust recently shoveled out $7.6 million to buy a property in a particularly desirable part of Santa Monica.

And while $7.6 million is still a substantial amount of money by almost any standard, it’s a mere 4.5% of what Stiller’s Florida compound fetched about six months ago. Still, that 4.5% buys plenty of nice toys: five ensuite bedrooms, a mirror-walled gym, a soundproof movie theater, a marble-topped wet bar and 22-foot-wide glass pocket doors, all packed into an all-new contemporary farmhouse.

Built new in 2019, the contemporary structure features about 6,000 square feet of living space.

Noel Kleinman

The swanky L.A.-area home was acquired by Stiller’s 35-year-old son Christian, the youngest of his three adult children and a Santa Monica-based advisor to the Zendo meditation device company. Christian formerly owned a bungalow in L.A.’s Venice neighborhood, sold last year for $2.7 million, and still owns a vacation home on the scenic shoreline of Vermont’s Lake Champlain.

The younger Stiller’s new residence also features an attractive façade flaunting a mix of creamy stucco and redwood siding, plus a tri-level floorplan ideal for a live-work situation. The main level offers all the main living spaces, which are highlighted by a sleekly Euro-chic kitchen, while the lower level includes the gym and theater, along with a guest bedroom squirreled out of sight. The four “family” bedrooms are all located on the home’s top floor, among them a primary bedroom with a marble-slathered rain shower and a freestanding soaking tub.

The home’s lower level packs in a gym, wet bar, wine tasting area and a movie theater.

Noel Kleinman

While the backyard isn’t huge, typical for tightly-packed Santa Monica, it’s smartly outfitted with a loggia-shaded al fresco dining area, an AstroTurf lawn and a full outdoor kitchen with a built-in barbecue and a bar area. There’s also a detached two-car garage that spills out into a discreet alleyway behind the main house, ideal for surreptitious egress and ingress.

One thing the property notably lacks is a swimming pool, making it a bit of an anomaly at this price point. But Stiller need fear not, because the listing reassures everyone by noting that the “impeccably designed backyard [is] permitted and ready for a beautiful pool.” More

Looking for a real estate throwback? Check out this fun and funky—but still remarkably luxurious and searingly expensive—house on the Westside of Los Angeles. Situated mid-block on what has long been considered one of Santa Monica‘s most prestigious streets, the property boasts panoramic views that sweep from the mountains to the sea. Neighbors include Paul Attanasio, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, and Steve Jobs’s sister Mona Simpson.

The well-positioned house just sold for $7.9 million to John Sykes, a veteran entertainment industry executive who co-founded MTV and has been iHeartMedia’s president of entertainment enterprises for over a decade. Sykes, 68, is also the former president of VH1 and the current chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.

Built in 1941 and expanded in the late 1940s, the offbeat traditional-style house sold in 1972 for just $150,000. Those lucky buyers held onto the property for 50 years, selling it last fall for exactly $9 million to a non-famous L.A. family. But unfortunately for them, that family appears to have had a change of heart — nine months later, the house was back on the market, asking $9.5 million. After a big price reduction, Sykes came along and negotiated an even deeper discount.

The 1970s-throwback interiors will have you hooked on a feeling.

Inside, there are five bedrooms and five baths in just under 4,000 square feet. And nearly every inch of those square feet is a 1970s time capsule, with wood paneling galore, groovy wet bars, charmingly outdated wallpaper and a smattering of pastel colors setting the beat. Dozens of oversized windows scattered throughout the house flood the place with natural light, while sliding glass doors allow ocean breezes to waft inside and back out.

Speaking of outside, the backyard definitely dates to a bygone era but is remarkably well maintained — much like the home itself. The generous half-acre lot includes grassy lawns, mature palm trees, a towering hedge wall for privacy, and a large swimming pool encircled by a patio sure to delight sunbathers and entertainers alike. Also on tap are rose gardens, flowering bunches of bougainvillea and an attached two-car garage.

Per the listing, “the property yearns for one to bring it back to all of its glory or reimagine the lot,” so it seems likely the estate will be altered considerably in the coming months and years.

No word yet regarding what exactly Sykes and his wife Laurie plan to do with their new West Coast outpost, or whether they plan to eventually make the spread their main residence, but records reveal the couple has long owned a compound that sits less than 50 yards from the beach in New York’s posh East Hampton neighborhood.

Click here for more photos of John Sykes’s new Santa Monica house. More