One-off redevelopment aims for record price in Encino

JNY Investments seeks $25M on ground-up flip in Royal Oaks enclave of San Fernando Valley

From left: Developers Yaniv Nehemia and Moshe Zaga in front of 15930 Woodvale Drive in Royal Oaks (Realtor.com, Moshe Zaga)
From left: Developers Yaniv Nehemia and Moshe Zaga in front of 15930 Woodvale Drive in Royal Oaks (Realtor.com, Moshe Zaga)

California home buyers often get whiplash when they see how price tags for a home increase.

Someone should hand out neck brace in the Royal Oaks neighborhood of the Encino district of the San Fernando Valley.

That’s where JNY Investments is asking $25 million–or $1,185 per square foot–for the 21,097-square-foot house at 15930 Woodvale Dr., which was recently dubbed Woodvale Estate. The developer paid $5.4 million for a tear-down in 2020, and went to work on the manse that now aims for a record price–the $25 million ask is 25% percent above the previous mark for Encino, set in 2020 by singer Nick Jonas and actress Priyanka Chopra.

JNY Investments is pegging its hopes on a bid payday on a lineup of amenities it added to supercharge the listing. The property features eight bedrooms and 14 baths, with a hair salon, a 16-seat screening room, wine cellar, a gym, a spa, a basement pool, as well as a backyard with firepits, and a catering kitchen. There’s a 5,000-square-foot subterranean garage that can park 14 cars. If that’s not enough, the place has a two-story guest house with a three-car garage. It goes for nearly $1,200 per square foot.

“This is the Bel Air of the valley,” said Yaniv Nehemia, president of JNY Investments. “A house in Bel Air like this would cost $60 million. In Royal Oaks, it is 40 percent less.”

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Nehemia’s comparison holds up by square footage, too. A recent $25.9 listing at 890 Linda Flora Dr. in Bel Air comes to $2,830 per square foot, more than twice the Woodvale Estate in Encino.

Nehemia said that the home with resort amenities isn’t without precedent in Encino, considered to be more suburban than Bel Air. A neighboring house, dubbed Onin, located at 16041 Woodvale Rd., was listed for $26 million in 2021. Both Onin and 15930 Woodvale are represented by the same listing agent Adi Livyatan of Rodeo Realty. She believes one of them will eventually hold the record for the most expensive house in Encino. “They could be neck and neck. Let’s see what they sell for,” she said. Livyatan also represented the seller for an Encino home that celebrity Joe Jonas spent $14.1 million in 2019.

Nehemia and his business partner, Moshe Zaga, said that their privately funded company has built 20 homes in the past five years. One of their upcoming projects is located in Pacific Palisades. This home, located at 538 Chautauqua Blvd. in Pacific Palisades, which Nehemia anticipates selling for $35 million.

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