Sprawling Rolling Hills compound to be sold at auction

If you’re looking for a deal on a 51,000-square-foot hillside mansion, you may be in luck.

Frozen food tycoon John Blazevich spent 17 years building Hacienda de la Paz, a sprawling 7.4-acre estate in Rolling Hills. Now, five years after listing it on the market, he’s ready to sell it to the highest bidder next month in a no-reserve auction, Bloomberg reported.

Blazevich listed the nine-bedroom, 25-bathroom mansion in 2013 for $53 million. He has since lowered his asking price to $40 million.

The price chop hasn’t been enough. Blazevich said the property itself is “in immaculate shape” but told Bloomberg that its location could be throwing off high-end buyers looking to stake a claim in a more well-known location like Malibu or Beverly Hills.

Rolling Hills is a large gated community on the Palos Verdes Peninsula with a population under 2,000 people. While not as high-profile as neighborhoods in the Santa Monica Mountains, it’s had some notable residents in the past, including Pete Carroll, the coach of the Seattle Seahawks.

Hacienda de la Paz offers sweeping views of the city and a slew of custom amenities, including a 10,000-square-foot underground Turkish bath that was built in northern Africa, disassembled, shipped to Rolling Hills, and then reassembled.

There’s also a 15,000-square-foot indoor tennis court “styled as a ballroom” with trompe l’oeil paintings, according to Blazevich, who said he “had no budget and… exceeded it” when building the mansion. There’s an outdoor clay court, too.

Much of the Spanish-style home, designed by architect Rafael Manzano Martos, was built underground to comply with Rolling Hills zoning laws. Much of the grounds are meticulously manicured gardens.

New York-based Concierge Auctions is handling the auction, and while there’s no reserve, the firm reserves the right to cancel it if it does not attract enough qualified bids. The auction house has a system that promotes bids before the actual July 26 auction. A buyer only has to pay the 12 percent premium that Concierge collects from the sale if they do not tender a bid before the sale. Blazevich is on the hook if they do. [Bloomberg] – Dennis Lynch