Son of $1B Beverly Hills vineyard owner lists home for $17M

Victor Franco Noval is looking for greener pastures.

Noval, whose father is one of the owners of the Beverly Hills property known as the Vineyard, has listed his 7,677-square-foot home for $17 million, The Real Deal has learned.

The six-bedroom, seven-bathroom estate on Marilyn Drive in Beverly Hills was recently renovated. It features an alfresco dining and entertaining pavilion with a Chicago pizza oven and full bar, as well as a putting green. From the pool, you can see a two-story wall of glass that showcases a serpentine staircase.

Jeff Hyland of Hilton & Hyland has the listing but could not immediately be reached for comment.

The contemporary Mediterranean-style estate was built in 2004. It was purchased by a trust connected to the Noval family for $6.1 million in 2012, property records show. Victor Franco, son of one of the Vineyard’s owners, Victorino, is listed as a trustee on the deed.

The elder Noval has become the public face of one of the most controversial pieces of land in Los Angeles. Two years ago, Noval and his then-partner Chip Dickens listed the mostly undeveloped Vineyard land for $1 billion.

The property, once owned by Mark Hughes, the founder of Herbalife, has been embroiled in drama since Hughes death in 2000. Multiple legal battles ensued over the property’s ownership, involving Noval, Dickens and a mysterious foreign investor. The property was pulled from the market in 2015 after a Hollywood Reporter expose detailed the drama.

Victorino Noval leads the Victorino Noval Foundation, established in 2010. The for-profit company donates to charitable causes via Victorino’s late father’s estate and has assets of more than $1.2 billion, according to its website.

Noval served federal time in 2003, after pleading guilty to tax evasion and mail fraud in connection with a multi-million dollar mortgage scheme.