Sunday, June 3, 2007

Sandy Gallin's 40th Flip Out in Beverly Hills

SELLER: Sandy Galllin
LOCATION: Summit Drive, Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: around $20,000,000
SIZE: 7,500 square feet, 4 bedroom, 5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: A few weeks ago Your Mama told the children about a big ol' house on Summit Drive that music tycoon Sandy Gallin bought, renovated, and flipped even before it ever hit the market. Today, Miz Ruth Ryan, the doyenne of celebrity real estate who writes the Hot Properties column for the LA Times, also discussed this property, telling us it was the 40th renovation project of Mister Gallin.

Since the house never really hit the open market, we don't have any specifics on the renovation other than what our little tipster told us a few weeks ago, so we have to go with what Miz Ryan tells us in terms of square footage and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.

Mister Gallin is known for working his flip properties into frothy confections of contemporary traditional design...you know, libraries covered in pickled paneling, huge Aubusson rugs that cost a small fortune, wing-backed chairs, glittery chandeliers, and some serious artwork on the walls. And let's not forget the photos of his diva lady friends who require only one name like Cher, Dolly and Whoopie.

Your Mama would like to tell you that we got some covert photos of the renovated house he just sold on Summit Drive, but we don't. Instead, thanks to our fairy godmother, we managed to get our greedy little fingers on some photos and information about the house PRE-renovation.

According to the listing information, the house was purchased in November of 2005 for $5,350,000 after being listed initially at $6,495,000 and later reduced to $5,750,000. Prior to Mister Gallin getting his hands on the property, the house was listed as having 5,969 square feet with 6 bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms. Miz Ryan reports the house at 7,500 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. Your Mama presumes Mister Gallin expanded the size of the house while reducing the the number of bedrooms.

Children, please note, the photos above are of the house PRE-renovation. You got that? PRE-renovation. We can only hope that Mister Gallin did some fine tuning of the exterior of this place, because if anyone were to ask Your Mama, and of course no one did, that was one butt-ugly house. Extremely well located and wonderfully sited on a uber private flag lot, but ridiculously ugly. Your Mama does however adore that oval swimming pool which harkens back to the glory days of Hollywood when starlets married closeted gay actors and everyone, and we mean everyone, had butlers to serve them pool side martinis.

Now please, Mister Gallin, send us some photos of the renovated property. The children are hungry for photos and Your Mama is very curious what you've done to the place.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

He must have done some truly amazing renovating to ask for a 300% profit amounting to $15,000,000 just 1 1/2 years later. I can't help but wonder when the housing market slump is going to hit L.A., and I feel sorry for the last buyers of these ridiculously overpriced properties when it does.