Infamous ghost manse near Runyon Canyon listed as $15.9M teardown

The mansion that abuts Runyon Canyon Park at 2450 Solar Drive has long been one of L.A.’s most infamous.

The grandiose property, which spans nearly 10,000 square feet on 16.5 acres with top-dollar views from a pricey perch in Hollywood Hills West, has never been occupied. Instead, it’s lay abandoned, becoming a draw for gangs, drug dealers and even Satanic rituals, according to news reports.

Now, its current owner, an entity connected to Nicholas Keros, has listed it as a development site for $15.9 million, or $1,621 per square foot.

Aaron Kirman of John Aaroe Group and Joe Babajian of Rodeo Realty have the listing.

The Keros entity purchased the property for $10.3 million in 2014. Though records show contractors were hired in the years since, it is unclear if the property ever became legally habitable — the original mansion that was built exceeded the city’s zoning limits on height and lot coverage.

Dining room rendering of 2450 Solar Drive

Accordingly, the property is now being marketed to spec developers, sources said. Renderings included in the listing reveal what could be built on the site: an elegant three-story glass-walled structure, with open living spaces that have panoramic views of the city.

“The dirt value is high,” one source said. “If someone can buy the land and put $5 to $7 million into developing it, they can build a house you could sell for $45 million.”

The subject of many a myth and rumor, the property started off on the wrong foot. The mansion was commissioned in 1995 by a couple that divorced and sold it unfinished, according to a 2011 story in the New York Times. One of its later buyers declared bankruptcy amid accusations of fraud, and sold it to a partnership headed by Timothy Devine, a former Columbia Records executive, for $3.7 million in 2004.

The mansion once stood on an even bigger plot of land, but a previous owner sold almost 15 acres to the Trust for Public Land, which incorporated it into Runyon Canyon Park.