10-acre parcel in Benedict Canyon gets half asking price

Beverly HIlls property pitched as site for five ‘mega-houses.’

144 Benedict Canyon Drive (Credit: Rancho Photos/Jason Klein)
144 Benedict Canyon Drive (Credit: Rancho Photos/Jason Klein)

A 10-acre plot of land in Beverly Hills that was being pitched as the site for five “mega-houses” recently sold for about half of its asking price.

The property, at 1444 Benedict Canyon Drive, changed hands in a $9.6 million deal. It was first listed for $19 million in April, according to a listing from Zillow. It went into contract in November.

The site, which sits near the Beverly Hills Hotel, consists of two single-family homes and four buildable parcels. The listing for the property showed plans for five structures dotting a downward slope on Benedict Canyon. The development site comes packaged with architectural plans for a 12,000-square-foot home, according to the listing.

144 Benedict Canyon Drive (Credit: Rancho Photos/Jason Klein)

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The seller is BW America Development, an entity managed by Ricky Liu, property records show. BW America bought the site for $2.7 million in 2013. The buyer is unknown.

The transaction adds to the list of pending land acquisitions in exclusive enclaves of Los Angeles. In November, a subsidiary of Beijing-based film studio Huayi Brothers went into contract to sell an 8.4-acre site in a gated community in Bel Air. The property, the only remaining undeveloped lot in a community with four private homesites, went into contract with a last asking price of $35 million. Later that month, an 18-acre hilltop property in the Hollywood Hills that was once owned by former First Lady Betty Ford found a buyer. The property, at 2864 East Cahuenga Boulevard, went into contract with a last asking price of $30 million.

The deal for the Benedict Canyon property closed on Monday. The Agency’s Maria Hellmund, the broker in charge of the listing, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.