Spec builder Scott Gillen has first buyer at Malibu site

Five years ago, Malibu spec developer Scott Gillen bought a 24-acre piece of blufftop land in Malibu that boasts, in his words, “the most spectacular views that anybody has ever seen.” Gillen paid $50 million, a record for undeveloped property in the enclave, and planned to build five mid-century modern homes, he later told TRD.

Now, for the first time, one of those five has found a buyer.

The Flat House, a 10,500-square-foot, four-bedroom home that sits on 3.5 acres, went into contract last week. The property had been unlisted but last week was entered into the MLS with an asking price of $60 million.

Gillen and one of his brokers, The Agency’s Sandro Dazzan, confirmed that the property had gone into contract but declined to give a price range or reveal anything about the buyer, citing a nondisclosure agreement.

“I can’t tell you anything,” the agent said.

But Dazzan was happy to talk up the home itself — named The Flat House because of its flat roofs — which features luxe amenities such as terrazzo floors, custom kitchen cabinetry, a primary suite patio with its own firepit, an all teek library and “glass walls that graciously open to an epic deck with a 104-foot infinity pool,” in the words of the listing.

The property is located at 24188 Case Court, in eastern Malibu near Pepperdine University and the Malibu Country Mart. Assuming the deal closes, it will be the first sale in Gillen’s five-home project, which he calls “the most exclusive residential development in the country.”
Gillen has more inventory in The Case, as his five-home development is called. The Edge, a 10,500-square-foot mansion with five bedrooms, is currently on the market. And The Cantilever House will be on the market in a few months, Dazzan said.

The remaining two homes, The Butterfly House and The Glass Tunnel, which has a 6-acre lot, will come on the market next year, he added.

For much of the pandemic era Malibu has been something of a global epicenter for luxury residential sales, with deals that included the Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen’s $177 million purchase last October, which set a California record, and a $52 million trade, last June, for the former home of the late billionaire Eli Broad.

While the global economy — and the country’s residential market — has taken a big turn south this year, some of the beach city’s toniest property owners seem to be betting that the Malibu show will go on. In April the former Disney CEO Michael Eisner listed a 5-acre compound for $225 million; the next month, a seller relisted a relatively modest home on Malibu Road for $43 million — almost $10 million higher than when it was previously listed several months earlier. In addition, Kim Kardashian just bought Cindy Crawford’s old place, although the price dropped from nearly $100 million to $70 million at close.

“There is tremendous wealth and a lack of product” in Malibu, the broker Jay Luchs said this spring. “So naturally prices will go way up.”

The beach town’s limited supply makes Dazzan optimistic for The Case, a mini-community that will have its own 24-hour guard. There are currently only around 100 homes for sale in Malibu, the agent pointed out, about half the number before the pandemic.

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