Hard Rock founder’s Malibu mansion nabs title of priciest home sale in LA County

The most expensive home sale in Los Angeles County is expected to close Tuesday, putting aside rumors that have swirled around the lavish property.

Hard Rock Café founder Peter Morton has agreed to sell his beachfront Malibu home for $110 million to a billionaire couple, according to the Los Angeles Times. The transaction edges out a pair of $100 million deals in Holmby Hills in 2016 — Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores’ purchase of a new estate on North Carolwood Drive and Hostess Brands co-owner Daren Metropoulos’ purchase of the Playboy Mansion.

The buyers are Michael S. Smith and Iris Smith, whose identities were uncovered by real estate blog Yolanda’s Little Black Book last week. Michael Smith is CEO of Houston-based natural gas exporter Freeport LNG. The couple runs a private investment firm called Blue Spruce Capital Corporation.

Their home was designed by Richard Meier — the now-disgraced architect — for Morton in the mid-2000s. He purchased the parcels that make up the property over the course of three decades, according to the Times. It’s located on a stretch of Carbon Beach nicknamed Billionaire’s Beach for its high net worth residents.

It includes a 4,600-square-foot main house with four bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, a screening room, and a garden. There is also a 2,300-square-foot guest house with three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. The house is clad in teak wood and includes motorized teak shutters that require a full-time maintenance worker to oil year-round, Morton told W Magazine in 2006.

Branden and Rayni Williams brokered the sale.

Williams worked with the Smiths over two years to secure a sale. Sotheby’s International Realty agent Barry Peele represented the Smiths in the deal. [LA Times] — Dennis Lynch