Nicolas Berggruen, a real estate investor who earned the nickname “homeless billionaire” through his outdoor lifestyle and lack of a permanent address, has just disbursed $ 63.1 million for the estate Hearst of Beverly Hills, winning the prized property at a bankruptcy auction that was more competitive than some expected.
The co-founder of the Berggruen Institute thought group on Tuesday defeated five other bidders in the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and the U.S. in downtown Los Angeles courts in a heated auction that lasted about 45 minutes.
Twenty-four people – bidders along with lawyers and agents – crowded into the courtroom and some others saw the action on a monitor in an overflow room, said Anthony Marguleas of Amalfi Estates, who he had the listing on the estate.
The bidding began at $ 48 million, $ 1 million more than Berggruen’s original offer, which was accepted by the seller, attorney Leonard Ross, in August. The accepted bid resulted in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy sale through an auction, the proceeds of which will go to pay off the approximately $ 50 million debt Ross has accumulated on the property after years of not selling the home. .
With bids rising in $ 100,000 increments, all but two bidders have dropped $ 52 million: Berggruen and MBRG Investors, a West Hollywood real estate investment company, according to records.
Berrgruen’s winning bid of $ 63.1 million is the highest paid for a home at auction, surpassing an Italian-inspired mansion in Beverly Park that sold for $ 51 million this year.
This is a record sale, but still a long way from the $ 195 million Ross originally wanted for the property. It set the ambitious price after the sale of Playboy Mansion for $ 100 million in 2016, but years of relists and price cuts brought it down to $ 69.95 million earlier this year.
Like William Randolph Hearst’s other home – the famous St. Simeon’s Castle – the reputation of the Beverly Hills Hearst estate precedes it. In addition to being tied to the newspaper’s tycoon, it was also rumored to be the honeymoon of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy in the 1950s. His countless film credits include “The Godfather.” and “The Bodyguard,” as well as Beyoncé’s visual album “Black Is King”.
Built in 1926, the salmon-colored lounge was designed by Gordon Kaufmann, the prolific architect of the Hoover Dam, the Greystone mansion, and the Hollywood Palladium. He designed it for local banker Milton Getz.
Covering an area of 29,000 square feet, the Mediterranean mansion captures the spirit of glamor and glamor of old Hollywood with 22-foot-tall hand-painted ceilings, a library with two-story panels, two projection rooms, and a nightclub. Art Deco with a bar recovered from the house of Hugh Hefner now defunct Touch disco. In the billiard room there is a stone fireplace down from Hearst Castle.
Elsewhere there are nine bedrooms, 15 bathrooms and large public spaces with a capacity for 1,000 people. The 3.5-acre complex also includes two guest apartments, a swimming pool, a tennis pavilion and a five-bedroom front door between terraces, lawns, waterfalls and an Olympic-length pool lit by vintage lanterns.
“You can no longer build such a big house in Beverly Hills, and getting 3.5 acres is very rare,” Hilton & Hyland agent Gary Gold told The Times.
As the property went on sale in April for $ 89.75 million, there were 71 inquiries, 41 private screenings and 12 written offers. Marguleas and Gold kept the list with Zizi Pak and John Gould of Rodeo Realty.
Born in France, Berggruen founded his private investment company Berggruen Holdings in 1984 and also created the independent think tank Institut Berggruen in 2010.
Outside of Southern California real estate, he bought 450 acres in the Santa Monica Mountains in 2015 with the goal of building a headquarters for the think tank. Forbes puts its net worth at $ 1.7 billion.
The institute annually awards a prize of 1 million dollars “for the great successes achieved in advancing ideas that shape the world.”
The estate is the last property to reach the auction block due to bankruptcy. The owners of the mountain, a 157-acre plot in Beverly Hills, considered the best undeveloped plot of land in the city, amassed a $ 200 million debt to the property, which led to sold for $ 100,000 at a foreclosure auction in Pomona.
Two of the most notable bankruptcy sales come from Bel-Air. Offers are accepted until September 27 for the famous house of Mohamed Hadid, which was ordered by a shooting judge who declared the 30,000-square-meter mansion a “danger to the public.” The proceeds of the sale will go to the destruction of the home and the winning bid will get the dirty land.
Just across the hill from Hadid’s site, Nile Niami faces more than $ 110 million in debt to “The One,” a 100,000-square-foot megaposition that has been trying to sell for $ 500 million. . A court-appointed receiver prepares it for sale.
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.