Self-storage billionaire lists Malibu estate in Paradise Cove

Tammy Hughes Gustavson asks $128M for 3.5 acre compound with private driveway to beach

Tammy Hughes Gustavson and 27628 Pacific Coast Highway (LinkedIn, Coldwell Banker Realty)
Tammy Hughes Gustavson and 27628 Pacific Coast Highway (LinkedIn, Coldwell Banker Realty)

A self-storage billionaire is selling her 3.5-acre estate in Paradise Cove in Malibu for $127.5 million.

Tammy Hughes Gustavson has listed the 10,700-square-foot cliffside compound at 27628 Pacific Coast Highway, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The property includes a four-bedroom main house and two guest houses overlooking the Pacific Ocean, said Jade Mills, listing agent for Coldwell Banker Realty.

The house was formerly owned by Gustavson’s father, the late B. Wayne Hughes, who co-founded self-storage giant Public Storage in 1972. Hughes, who paid $20 million for the property in 2003, died last year.

Gustavson, who lives mostly in Kentucky, serves on the company’s board and is a major shareholder. Her net worth is pegged at more than $8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The home, which Mills described as a “contemporary villa,” has a screening room, dining room and large terraces. There is a living room with a fireplace, while a large kitchen opens to an outdoor dining area.

One guest house has a space that could be used as a ballet studio or gym, and the grounds also include a tennis court., said Mills.

Staff quarters with a kitchen are located off the three-car garage, while above the garage there are two guest suites, each with bathrooms and terraces, and one with a kitchenette.

Unlike many Malibu properties, the home has a winding path allowing the owner to drive a golf cart down to the beach, whose frontage spans nearly 210 feet.

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The property may have an obvious suitor: WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, the newspaper reported.

For the last three years, Koum has spent nearly $190 million to buy two neighboring properties to the south, records show. Adding Ms. Gustavson’s home would give him one of the largest single-owner compounds in Malibu. Koum also recently paid $125 million for a Beverly Hills mansion owned by Jeffrey Katzenberg.

The listing of the Gustavson home for $127 million follows a series of record real estate listings and deals along the Malibu coast.

Last month, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner listed his 25,000-square-foot Malibu estate for $225 million – which could set a California sales price record.

That record was set six months ago, when venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and his wife, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, paid $177 million for a seven-acre beachside spread. They’ve since bought two more properties along the sand. Their combined purchases cost $255 million.

That deal surpassed the previous highest-sale record set in 2020 by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who paid $165 million for a Beverly Hills estate owned by music mogul David Geffin.

In 2018, a Richard Meier-designed Malibu estate owned by Hard Rock Cafe founder Peter Morton sold for $110 million.

[Wall Street Journal] – Dana Bartholomew

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