Chris Cortazzo reps himself in $39M Malibu deal

Chris Cortazzo is not only the president of doing Malibu home deals, he’s also a client.

The prolific Compass agent sold a 55,000-square-foot oceanfront plot at 28848 Cliffside Drive last week for $39 million, according to Los Angeles County records and sources close to the deal. Cortazzo bought the property for $17 million in 2016, and tore down a single-family home on site.

It is unclear who bought the property. Property records list the buying entity as PSCA Holdings, a Delaware incorporated LLC with no individual registrant.

Sources said the buyer was a local businessperson looking to build a residence on the property. Cortazzo has already obtained permits from L.A. County to build on the property, a source said.

Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency represented the buyer, while Cortazzo represented himself.

One of Compass’s best-performing L.A. recruits, Cortazzo, a former Coldwell Banker agent, is one of L.A. County’s top residential agent by sales volume, largely on the strength of dozens of Malibu deals each year.

He’s also a prolific investor in the area. A Propertyshark search found four other sites associated with “Christopher Cortazzo Trust,” all near the Cliffside Drive address. Past Malibu land deals Cortazzo has done include selling a single-family home at 33618 Pacific Coast Highway for $15 million in 2016, according to the site.

Cortazzo declined to discuss his most recent Malibu land sale.

In an email last week, the agent mentioned growing up in Malibu, and seeing the seaside town’s stature grow during his lifetime.

“Malibu is such a unique market, recognized around the world as a destination,” he wrote.