Real Estate newsletter: A notorious castle trades hands

Welcome back to the real estate newsletter, in which a wild first week of May was marked by two bizarre real estate offers, two massive announcements of mega-projects and a fascinating new opportunity to bring one of the country’s fabled properties to market.

Tyrese Gibson’s Woodland Hills home features a prop from a movie, while an infamous Alhambra home features a dark past. Known as the Pyrenees Castle, the property was the location where the late record producer Phil Spector shot and killed actress Lana Clarkson in 2003 after a drunk night in Hollywood. After years on the market, it finally found a buyer.

A new proposal in the Los Angeles Arts District hopes to turn an 1890s cold store into a $ 2 billion complex of apartments, offices, shops, and a hotel. Hollywood is also getting a major post-pandemic project when a real estate developer submitted plans to the city for a new film studio on Santa Monica Boulevard with five sound days.

A high profile divorce could have a huge impact on a handful of valuable properties. Depending on how Bill and Melinda Gates’ breakup battle goes, their trophy house in the Seattle suburb of Medina – a $ 130 million mansion with a trampoline room among amenities – could potentially be up for sale.

Meanwhile, check out our Facebook page for property stories and updates all week.

A murderer’s castle on a hill

Known as the “Pyrenees Castle”, it is located on 2.5 hectares in the Alhambra.

(Richard Hartog / AP)

Alhambra’s most notorious home, a castle-like property where the late record producer Phil Spector shot and killed Lana Clarkson in 2003, sold for $ 3.3 million.

Spector, the unpredictable and embarrassed producer of the late January recording equipment “Wall of Sound,” paid $ 1.1 million for the French chateau-style mansion in 1998 and told Esquire magazine that he was “a beautiful and enchanting castle.” bought in a hick town with nowhere not to go. “A neighbor compared him to a feudal lord among serfs.

The fateful day came five years later when Spector was arrested after Clarkson, 40, was found shot dead in the mansion’s marble foyer. In court, Spector’s chauffeur claimed that shortly after the shooting, Spector came out the back door of the house with bloody hands and said, “I think I killed someone.”

Known as the Pyrenees Castle, the mansion’s dramatic style lives up to its infamous history. Spiers and towers protrude from the roof, and inside, hand-painted stencils, crystal chandeliers, and mirrored walls create a scene right out of an Agatha Christie unit.

A blockbuster list

The Mediterranean-style property includes a back yard with a movie screen, swimming pool, street sign, and a giant Transformers replica.

(Carsten Schertzer)

There are plenty of perks in LA’s luxury offerings, but only one features a giant replica of Bumblebee, the heroic Transformer robot from the blockbuster film franchise. The Woodland Hills home is owned by Tyrese Gibson, who launched it for $ 3.5 million.

Gibson, the singer and actor who starred in three “Transformers” films and the “Fast and Furious” franchise, paid $ 1.385 million for the property a decade ago, records show.

During his stay, he completely redesigned the backyard and posted a street sign saying “Voltron Enterprises Pkwy,” the name of his limited liability company, and a neon-lit sign with the company logo above the pool. The bumblebee replica, which can be bought with the house, anchors the space.

Mega project worth $ 2 billion

Fourth & central aerial view at dusk. Master planning and project architecture by Studio One Eleven, tower to the right by Adjaye Associates.

(Studio One Eleven / Adjaye Associates)

Strikes on businesses during the pandemic have stunned the streets of downtown Los Angeles and threatened long-term changes in office life, but builders are pushing large projects believing the city has plenty of room for growth over time, the writes the commercial real estate reporter Roger Vincent.

An 1890s Arts District cold store would be replaced with apartments, offices, a hotel, and shops in a proposal put forward by Denver developers. Priced between $ 1.5 billion and $ 2 billion, the complex would be one of the largest commercial real estate developments in LA in recent times.

Continuum Partners initiated the approval process for a 10-building project that includes a residential skyscraper on Central Avenue and 4th Street, a historically industrial neighborhood of art galleries, apartments, and bustling restaurants that tech and entertainment companies like Apple always have TV, Sony and Warner Music have become more attractive.

Hollywood gets a new studio

Rendering of the proposed Echelon Studio on Santa Monica Boulevard on St. Andrew’s Place in Hollywood.

(Bob Hale / RIOS)

Although the pandemic has emptied office workers, soundstages have been a hot ticket as entertainment production continues to rise, writes Roger Vincent.

With this in mind, plans have been submitted to the city for a complex called Echelon Studios that could help meet growing demand for facilities as the industry eases restrictions on COVID-19 pandemics. Once production is back in full swing, companies are expected to ramp up to meet demand for content in theaters and new streaming services.

Soundstages “have long been in short supply,” said real estate developer David Simon. “Utilization has been over 95% for the past five or six years and we don’t see any decline in demand going forward.”

Simon plans to build Echelon Studios on the site of a long-closed Sears store and parking lot that was built in 1951 on Santa Monica Boulevard west of the 101 Freeway. A studio with five sound stages and support facilities is planned, including offices and rooms for production base camps, in which trucks, equipment and trailers will be set up by actors.

Billion dollar divorce

The 66,000-square-foot mansion is valued at over $ 130 million and has an annual tax burden of more than $ 1 million.

(NearMap)

With the Bill and Melinda Gates divorce bomb still reverberating, the process of splitting the world’s fourth largest fortune begins.

In addition to 242,000 acres of farmland, the couple owns a number of mansions across the country that they have put together over the past three decades, including homes in Washington, California, Montana, and Florida.

Her most impressive property is in the small suburb of Medina in Seattle. Valued at more than $ 130 million, the tech-heavy mansion, known as Xanadu 2.0, spans 66,000 square feet and imposes an annual property tax of more than $ 1 million.

Depending on how the divorce process goes, the futuristic smart house – complete with a 60 foot swimming pool, library with secret doors, and a trampoline room – could potentially be up for sale.

What we read

As if record demand and limited supply weren’t enough to drive house prices through the roof, a lack of wood is adding to the chaos, reports CNN. The lack of wood makes the average single-family home $ 36,000 more expensive to build and is so advanced that home builders are reporting stolen wood and other materials from construction sites.

Meet Sky Pool, the world’s first floating pool. Suspended in mid-air between two London towers, the 82-foot water-filled bridge was built in Colorado, transported to Texas, and then shipped across the sea to give Londoners a more aquatic way to explore the city. Architectural Digest has the details.