Gateway computer co-founder picks up Malibu pad for $34M

Gateway computer co-founder Ted Waitt paid $34.2 million for a Malibu estate in an off-market deal.

Fashion designer James Perse sold the 1.3-acre property on Zumirez Road in Point Dume, according to the Los Angeles Times. The sale price is twice what Perse paid for the 4,200-square-foot home in 2010. He had listed the property in March 2019 for about $40 million. It was also on offer recently to rent for $125,000 a month on the Multiple Listing Service, the Times reported.

The deal closed in mid-June. The National Association of Realtors’ rule against so-called pocket listings took effect May 1, but it’s not clear whether the sale had violated that rule.

The sale appears to be the priciest deal to close in Malibu this year, topping the $21.5 million deal for a five-bedroom home on the Pacific Coast Highway in late May.

Waitt’s new bluff-side property has a single-story contemporary home with four bedrooms and five bathrooms. There is also a detached guest house. There are views of the Pacific Ocean, and the property includes a gated staircase that leads to the beach.

Perse owns another home on Point Dume that he bought for $12.5 million in 2016. Three years ago, he sold another home there to oil heiress Aileen Getty for $13 million.

Malibu has had several ultra high-priced listings appear during the pandemic.

NeuroDrinks founder Diana Jenkins listed her 3-acre spread in May for $125 million. A sale above $110 million would break the Malibu record set in 2018 when Peter Morton sold his Carbon Beach home to natural gas billionaires Michael and Iris Smith.

In early May, a home designed by architect Tadao Ando hit the market for $75 million. Before the coronavirus, Scott Gillen listed one of his “Case” spec homes for $100 million in February. [LAT] — Dennis Lynch