Billionaire Buys Rick Hilton’s Bel-Air Mansion at Discount

Chinese billionaire Zong Qinghou has bought a spec mansion in Bel-Air featured in “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” for $25 million — or $30 million less than its initial asking price.

The family of the beverage industry mogul bought the white-brick Georgian-style home at 419 Saint Cloud Road, according to the Robb Report. The sellers were Rick and Kathy Hilton.

Rick Hilton is grandson of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton and co-founder of the Beverly Hills-based Hilton & Hyland luxury home brokerage. His wife, Kathy, is a former star of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”

The parents of socialites Paris and Nicky Hilton bought the lower Bel-Air property with a modified 1930s home in 2015 for $9.3 million, according to Robb. They then razed it to build a house on speculation.

The three-story home with black shutters and trim, completed in 2021, was showcased on “Real Housewives” and had an asking price of $55 million.

But the property, designed by Hollywood-based Harrison Design with interiors by Nicole Gordon Studio and Kathy Hilton, didn’t sell. Early last year, the Hiltons lowered the price to $39.5 million, and it still didn’t sell — as headwinds from higher interest rates and the city’s Measure ULA “mansion tax” kicked up.

Along came Zong, who scooped it up for 55 percent off its initial asking price in an all-cash deal for $5,371 per square foot.

The eight-bedroom, 16-bathroom home has a long foyer with gray and white checked stone floors, according to Robb.

It has formal living and dining rooms with chevron-pattern hardwood floors, a walnut-paneled library with a black marble fireplace, a movie theater and a denim-blue colored kitchen.

One bedroom is in its own private wing, with dual closets and dual marble bathrooms. There’s also a basement-level entertainment room with a wet bar, a wine room for 850 bottles and a catering kitchen. A motor court can fit 10 or more cars.

In the back of the two-third acre estate is a swimming pool, lawn and a pavilion with a guest bedroom and kitchen.

The only question is the mansion’s size, which was undisclosed by Robb and on its listing website. Both Redfin and Realtor.com say it contains 4,655 square feet, which was the size of the house built in 1936 bulldozed by the Hiltons.

The Hiltons own a 15,000-square-foot, century-old stone manor house in Bel-Air, according to Robb. Rick Hilton was worth $400 million last year, according to Equity Atlas.

In 2021, Rick Hilton, son of the late Barron Hilton, the Hilton Hotels business mogul, sold his dad’s 15,000-square-foot mansion at 1060 Brooklawn Drive in Bel-Air for $61.5 million.

From 1997 until 2008, Zong, his wife and the couple’s adult daughter Kelly lived in a modest, hacienda-style home in upscale San Marino. Zong is worth $6.1 billion, according to Forbes.

— Dana Bartholomew