NBC exec sells $100M Malibu manse, Oceanwide’s troubles and debt grows amid stalled DTLA megaproject: Daily digest

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Jan Koum, Ron Meyer and the Malibu house (Credit: Getty Images, Westside Estate Agency, iStock)

Another monster mansion sale has added to L.A.’s summer sizzle. NBC Universal vice chairman Ron Meyer has sold his Malibu compound, reportedly to Whatsapp co-founder Jan Koum. Meyer had been shopping the home around since last year, and officially listed it in January for $125 million. [TRD]

Stalled Oceanwide Plaza’s DTLA megaproject faces mounting challenges. It’s been seven months since Oceanwide Holdings Company suspended work on its $1 billion mixed-use development. Now, escalating U.S. and China trade tension have added to the project’s uncertain future. Some local industry pros think the project is in a death spiral while others are hopeful the company will resolve its financial struggles before year’s end. [TRD]

Clockwise from top left: 1171 Chantilly Road, 1677 North Doheny Drive, 2601 Summitridge Drive, 1200 Laurel Way and 750 Sarbonne Road

Here are the top 5 residential listings of last week. The most expensive property in Los Angeles County was a Bird Streets pad, on the market for $29.8 million. Combined, the top five add up to $99.6 million. [TRD]

Nick Jonas has made a quick exit out of Beverly Hills. The Jonas Brothers star has sold his home in the area for $6.9 million in an off-market deal. He paid $6.5 million for the home about a year ago. The contemporary pad has five bedrooms. [LAT]

Actor William Powell’s former home in Beverly Hills (credit: Realtor.com)

Beverly Hills villa with ties to Old Hollywood stars hits the market. On the market for $14 million, the 7,200-square-foot Spanish Revival-style home was built for film star William Powell in the 1920s. Television host Merv Griffin, actor George Hamilton and celebrity plastic surgeon Brian Novack have all owned the home in past years. [LAT]

Insurers have shed 350,000 home insurance policies in wildfire-prone areas. New state research — tracked more than 15 years of data — shows that more homes have been built in fire-prone areas. Insurance providers are also hiking premiums for at-risk properties. The data does not include non-renewals in some areas hard hit by wildfires last year, including Redding and Paradise. [LADN]

Monrovia retail center trades for $31 million. The sellers, Pasadena-based Telos Capital and Warner Pacific Properties, picked up the Aldi-anchored property in 2016. HomeGoods and T.J. Maxx are also tenants. [LABJ]

IWG wants to launch a new company that will challenge WeWork. The shared-office-space provider’s chief executive Mark Dixon is planning to spin off part of the company into a separate business that would be publicly traded in the U.S., and compete with WeWork. The plan is still in its early stages, but Dixon believes such a company could be worth about $3.7 billion, and the firm will only hire bankers if they do not have a role in the We Company’s IPO. [Sky News]

Related Chairman Stephen Ross (Credit: Getty Images)

Stephen Ross thinks a housing slowdown is coming. Ross made his comments during an interview with Yahoo Finance, saying that the real estate industry is “certainly not starting something fresh. You know, we’re at a point now where I think there will be a slowdown because it has to happen.” [Yahoo Finance]

Another factor in gentrification? Trendy grocery stores, a new report says. There is a fairly strong correlation between home prices and the location of grocery stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, Yahoo News reported, citing a study from Zillow and ATTOM Data Solutions. People selling a home near a Trader Joe’s saw a 51 percent average return on investment, while those selling a home near a Whole Foods saw an increase of 41 percent. Houses near the two chains start to appreciate faster once the stores move in and do so twice as quickly as an average home in the United States. [Yahoo News]

FROM THE CITY’S RECORDS:

Burbank-based Chandler Partners filed plans for a 30,000-square-foot, 33-unit mixed use apartment complex with four units reserved as affordable. Chandler requested density bonuses granted to affordable housing developments. [LADCP]