Billionaire real estate investors close on Malibu pads

Two billionaire real estate investors plunked down big bucks for beachfront Malibu homes, fueling an already hot market.

Oaktree Capital co-founder Howard Marks paid $29.2 million for a home and Hankey Investment founder Don Hankey spent $20.8 million, Dirt reported.

Marks bought the property at 31134 Broadbeach Road from Robyn Moore, the ex-wife of actor Mel Gibson. Moore had listed the 5,525-square-foot house for $32 million in February after spending $18.2 million for it in 2014 from Walt Disney’s grand-niece, Susan Disney Lord. It sits on an acre of land, and has four bedrooms, an inground spa and a volleyball court.

Home sales and prices in Malibu have soared in the last year as luxury buyers opted for more space and more privacy during the lockdowns.

For Marks, it’s his second Los Angeles area home purchase in six months. In December, the distress property investor shelled out $26 million for an 11,500-square-foot mansion in Holmby Hills. Marks and his wife Nancy also owned a much larger Malibu estate on the Pacific Coast Highway, which they sold for $74.5 million in 2013.

Hankey’s recent Malibu purchase was for a 9,715-square-foot mixed-use property at 22514 Pacific Coast Highway. It now includes three storefronts, three apartments and a home. The listing included renderings for a new mansion, though it’s unclear what Hankey intends to do with the property, according to Dirt.

Hankey Capital provided an $83 million loan to spec developer Nile Niami to complete construction on his gargantuan “The One” mansion in Bel Air. The debt has grown to $110 million and in March the firm served a notice of default on the property.

[Dirt 1 and 2] — Isabella Farr