Hockey superstar Chris Chelios lists Malibu home for $75M

Retired NHL hockey champion Chris Chelios has listed his bluffside home in Malibu’s exclusive Paradise Cove for $75 million.

The three-time Stanley Cup winner has put his 3,800-square-foot home up for sale at 28026 Sea Lane Drive, the Wall Street Journal reported.

He and his wife, Tracee Chelios, bought the house in 2003 for $6 million. The hockey star, who retired in 2010, said they reside in his native Chicago, but the Malibu home has served as a getaway for the couple and their four adult children. 

They’re selling the 0.4-acre property because they’re now grandparents and want a vacation spot closer to their kids, Chelios told the newspaper. They’re thinking of buying a home on Lake Michigan. 

The four-bedroom, five-bathroom house is perched on what is dubbed “Billionaire’s Bluff,” with some of the most luxurious and sought-after homes in Malibu, according to listing agent Chris Cortazzo at Compass.

The tri-level home, built in 1982, has a private stairway that leads down to a one-bedroom guest house along the sand, which has three decks with a hot tub and a barrel sauna. 

The larger house above, festooned in white, has high ceilings, skylights, a fireplace and a wall of windows that opens onto Pacific Ocean views, with a loft-style bedroom on the top floor. 

Chelios’ love affair with Malibu began in the mid-1990s, when he was playing for the Chicago Blackhawks.

After a game against the Los Angeles Kings, he was introduced to actor Tony Danza, who had a home in Malibu and spoke of the joys of living near the beach. Chelios was intrigued. 

He and his wife ended up renting a Malibu home – and went on to own two homes there, spending summers on the beach even as they moved from city to city with different hockey jerseys.

In Malibu, “there were no distractions,” Chelios told the Journal.

He heard about the Paradise Cove house from a friend of a friend, who accepted his offer over several others. In the last decade, he and his wife have updated the main house, adding modern fixtures and redoing the windows and bedrooms, he said. 

Chelios, who enjoyed surfing with two of his kids at Point Dume, was among the longest tenured players in National Hockey League history, playing for the Blackhawks, the Montreal Canadiens, the Detroit Red Wings and the Atlanta Thrashers. Since retiring, he has worked as a commentator and coach.

Chelios said he finds it hard to fathom how much property values have risen in Malibu since he purchased there. “Never in a million years did I think this was going to happen,” he said.

Cortazzo attributed some of the price hikes in Malibu to the emergence of a new foreign buyer pool for homes.

A Chelios neighbor recently sold a home for $91 million. Other recent sales include a Malibu home bought last October by media billionaire Byron Allen for $100 million, and three beachside homes bought by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen for a combined $255 million.

— Dana Bartholomew