Beverly Hills Scores $25 Million Mansion Sale

Beverly Hills continues to rack up big-money listings and sales, a trend the wealthy enclave likely owes in part to being beyond the reach of Measure ULA.

On the sale side, a more than 10,000-square-foot manse at 703 North Arden Drive traded for $24 million, or $2,345 per square foot, on May 27 after just a few weeks on the market. Westside Estate Agency’s Kurt Rappoport represented the seller and buyer of the five-bedroom, 12-bathroom Mediterranean style estate that was listed in late April for $25 million.

Measure ULA applies to the City of Los Angeles, and puts a 4 percent tax on real estate deals starting at $5.3 million. It goes up to 5.5 percent on sales of $10.6 million or more. The tax would have come to $1.2 million on the Arden Drive sale if Beverly Hills were not its own city and outside the jurisdiction of neighboring L.A.

The sellers of the property were Kevin Wall and Sue Smalley, founders of investment firm PTK Global. The home includes a chef’s kitchen, paneled library, theater, gym, a guest house, pool and staff suite and sits on a roughly 23,000-square-foot lot.

Also in Beverly Hills, another over-10,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style home, located at 1017 North Roxbury Drive, hit the market for nearly $25 million. The seller is Les Bider, former chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group’s Warner/Chappell Music publishing firm, and his wife, Lynn Bider.

In addition to the music scene, the Roxbury estate has attracted the film industry in its tenure.

“Casablanca” director Michael Curtiz and wife, silent film actress Bess Meredyth, purchased the six-bedroom house in 1930, one year after it was built. Previous Hollywood owners also include actress Jeanne Crain and her husband Paul Brinkman who purchased the home around 1955 for roughly $64,500 and sold it eight years later for nearly double that.

The Biders have lived in the home since purchasing it in 2001 for $7.4 million, and have spent $9 million in renovations over the years.

Measure ULA program note

The price thresholds that trigger the so-called mansion tax will change slightly — to $5.4 million for the 4 percent tax and $10.9 million for the 5.5 percent charge — with the City of L.A.’s new fiscal year on July 1.

Condo reform

As condo sales in Los Angeles hit a 20-year low earlier this year, relief from state legislators could breathe new life into the market. The California State Assembly unanimously supported Assembly Bill 1903, which was authored by Berkeley Assemblymember Buffy Wicks and would amend the state’s current condo defect liability law.

The bill, which now must pass in the state Senate, would allow developers the chance to fix any defects in their condo projects before they could be sued. As it stands now, any mistakes made in the construction of a condo for up to 10 years from the sale of a newly built unit could land a developer in court, subject to hefty fees.

The hope is by reducing liability risk for developers, the state could see more condo units built as California grapples with a housing shortage. Since 2005 — two years after the condo defect liability law went into effect — condo construction across the state has decreased by 90 percent, according to a report from UC Berkeley. Housing experts have pointed to the state’s defect liability policies as a key factor in the decline.

Plus, more condos could increase homeownership opportunities for middle-class families, pro-housing organization California YIMBY argued.

“By spreading relatively higher land costs across denser housing, builders can offer middle-income families the chance to own a part of the California dream,” California YIMBY said.

Single-family switchouts

Developers are pitching more and more single-family home demolitions to make room for multifamily construction.

Developer Mehrzad Shirani Lapari submitted an application for a project that would tear down a single-family residence at 2217 South Fox Hills Drive in Century City to build a seven-story building with 17 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments above a parking structure.

Over in Pasadena, TJ Unity and architect Steven Chen are looking to demolish two single-family homes at 1045-1055 Locust Street. If approved, the site would then be redeveloped into a mixed-income 40-unit, four-story apartment building.