A Palm Springs home that once served as an escape for a mob-affiliated family is now available for purchase.
The three-bedroom, five-bathroom manse at 1255 East Via Estrella is on the market for nearly $6.8 million, Robb Report reported. The home was commissioned in the 1960s by venture capitalist Jerome Factor, the son of Chicago mob affiliate and Las Vegas casino owner John “Jake the Barber” Factor. Besides the mob ties, Jake the Barber also had another notable relation: cosmetics mogul Max Factor, who was his half-brother.
When Jerome Factor died in the late 1990s at age 84, his family sold the home to Harold Kapelovitz, owner of the Desmond’s department store chain, and his wife Lee. The home sold again in 2017 to Jamie McFate, a longtime senior executive at Limited Brands, the former parent company of retail giants like Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works.
McFate acquired the roughly half-acre estate overlooking the Indian Canyons Golf Resort for about $2.2 million. The current owner and his partner Nick Bouchard renovated the pool and property’s other outdoor areas during their ownership and are now looking to sell for about $6.8 million. The art and furnishings in the 5,400-square-foot home are also available for purchase separately.
Coincidentally, the Palm Springs house isn’t the only property with ties to Max Factor to come up for sale over the past month.
Dean Factor, co-founder of Smashbox Cosmetics and a great-grandson of Max Factor, and his wife Shannon listed their 8.5-acre estate in Los Angeles’ Sullivan Canyon last month for $48.5 million. The couple bought the property in 2011 for $8 million and executed a property-wide makeover during their ownership tenure, demolishing the existing home and replacing it with a roughly 17,000-square-foot mansion. Dean and Shannon Factor previously offloaded their Malibu mansion in 2023 for $37.5 million.
— Chris Malone Méndez