Businessman Chanchai Ruayrungruan, who founded Beijing-based conglomerate Reignwood Group, found a buyer for his Trousdale Estates mansion, but he could be set to take a loss.
Ruayrungruan, who also goes by Yan Bin, has been testing market appetite for 1620 Carla Ridge in Beverly Hills since 2016, when he first put it on the market with an asking price of $26 million, according to listing sites.
The Carla Ridge home has been on and off the market to rent or buy over the years and was re-listed in November for the current asking price of just under $19 million, or $1,900 per square foot.
Inna Santoso of Compass holds the listing.
The home topped last week’s Los Angeles County residential properties that went into contract based on its asking price, according to the Eklund Weekly Luxury Report Los Angeles.
The weekly roundup, compiled by Marcy Roth of Douglas Elliman’s Eklund Gomes team, tracks single-family and condominium properties listed in the Multiple Listing Service for $4 million or more.
The Beverly Hills home was one of 24 L.A. County that properties went into contract last week, which amounted to $148.3 million in total asking volume, Eklund Gomes reported. That’s about a 15 percent increase in listing price volume and six more contracts compared to a year ago.
Ruayrungruan will sell the home at a loss if it goes for the asking price. He paid $20 million, or $2,000 per square foot, for it in 2015, according to property records. Those records show the buyer was a Delaware shell company tied to Ruayrungruan’s Reignwood, which multiple reports on the home’s subsequent listing have pegged to the businessman.
Ruayrungruan launched Reignwood in 1984 in Thailand. The company invests and operates businesses in consumer products, entertainment, real estate, energy, hotels and other industries. Forbes estimated the businessman’s net worth in 2022 at $1 billion.
The home spans 10,000 square feet with six bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Highlights include a movie theater, game room, wine cellar, gym, infinity pool and courtyard with fountains.
It sits on over half an acre and was designed by Paul McLean for luxury speculative developer Nile Niami.
Niami is known for his prominent project in Bel-Air, nicknamed “The One,” at 944 Airole Way. The mega-mansion was originally valued at $500 million but ultimately sold at auction in 2022 for $141 million to Fashion Nova founder Richard Saghian.