Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt plunked down $300,000 over the $4.9 million asking price of a 1970s house in Beverly Hills Post Office for a small victory among larger real estate wins.
In May, he paid $61.5 million for the 2.6-acre estate next door–a spread once owned by the late hotel magnate Barron Hilton.
The previous fall, he and his wife Wendy shelled out $30.8 million for an 11-acre property in Montecito.
And now the billionaire tech titan has been identified as the buyer who paid $65 million in December for the 120-acre Beverly Crest property known as Enchanted Hill, owned by late Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, the Wall Street Journal reported.
But his recent buy of the next-door property in the Beverly Hills’ Post Office neighborhood–which is in the City of Los Angeles of the area covered by the famous 90210 zip code– sets it apart from his other baronial estates.
He paid $5.2 million for the 3,700 square-foot wood-clad house 1059 Angelo Dr., at the intersection of Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Holmby Hills and Benedict Canyon, according to Dirt.
1059 Angelo Dr, Beverly Hills (Realtor.com)
Built in 1972 and since remodeled, the four-bedroom, five-bath home sits high above the street next to Schmidt’s new 15,000-square-foot estate at 1060 Brooklawn Dr.
The Holmby Hills estate, known as the Jay Paley Residence for its first owner, dates from the 1930s and was designed by noted architect Paul R. Williams. The 13-bedroom home was purchased by William Barron Hilton in 1961. He died in 2019.
Schmidt was CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011 and held several key positions before stepping down from the board of parent company Alphabet in 2019. Forbes pegged his net worth at $22 billion. His primary home is in the Silicon Valley town of Atherton.
His Enchanted Hill property, one of the largest undeveloped properties in the region, offers sweeping views of Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. It was once the site of a 20-room Spanish Colonial Revival-style mansion owned by screenwriter Frances Marion and her husband, movie star cowboy Fred Thompson.
Real estate agents say the ridgetop parcel could be developed into a compound as large as 80,000 square feet.