Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Nightlife Impressario Sam Nazarian Wants to Unload in The Birds

SELLER: Sam Nazarian
LOCATION: Oriole Drive, Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $18,950,000
SIZE: 3 bedrooms, 5 full and 1 half bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Pride of place, cutting-edge design and stunning views make this a trophy property in one of Los Angeles' most fashionable celebrity enclaves. Secluded and discreet, all room look through walls of glass to unobstructed vistas of the entire Los Angeles Basin to the Pacific Ocean. Three bedrooms, five and one half baths. The media room and bar lounge open to an exterior resort with infinity pool and spa, outdoor dining, kitchen and an intimate viewing space with fire pit.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: For weeks now our dee-voonly well informed pal Luwanda Courvoisier and her sassy assistant Shantal Polo have been whispering in Your Mama's big ear that thirty-four year old L.A.-based entrepreneur Sam Nazarian was preparing to put his super slick house high above the Sunset Strip on the market. Sure enough, Mister Nazarian's decidedly modern and recently built residence on Oriole Way has indeed been hoisted onto the market with an eye popping $18,950,000 asking price.

The son of a telecommunications tycoon, young Mister Nazarian grew up wildly rich on the mean streets of Beverly Hills. He parlayed his childhood connections and–we hear but can not confirm–a million bucks given to him by his father for his high school graduation into a constantly expanding company called SBE Entertainment through which he owns a handful of celeb friendly hot spots in Los Angeles including Hyde, one of amateur porn star Paris Hilton's favorite watering holes. He's also got several restaurants including a chain of successful and trendy sushi joints called Katsuya where if y'all can manage to look beyond the over-done Phillippe Starck frippery you can eat some mighty fine fish. Young Mister Nazarian also has his fingers and wallet in several hotel partnerships including SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills, the legendary Saraha Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and the Ritz Plaza in Miami's still swinging South Beach.

The entrepreneurial Mister Nazarian's mini-empire does not stop there. Through Element Films, he's involved in producing movies Your Mama has never heard of like Pride and Mr. Brooks, and through an entity called Bolthouse.Vox Productions his peeps plan swank parties for companies such as Prada, Target and Maxim magazine.

Anyhoo, let's get on with the real estate. Mister Nazarian, a man used to living high on the hog, has spent the last few years building a concrete and smoky glass party pad which property records show measures 5,976 square feet spread across three floors of quintessentially cliché Los Angeles real estate fabulolosity. However, we're not sure if that figure reflects the current house or the one that stood on the property before Mister Nazarian got his hands on it.

Listing information indicates there are 3 bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms. Entered on the top level, the voluminous entry features clerestory windows and a glass floor. Although he may prefer they don't, Your Mama recommends ladees with an ounce of modesty make sure they're wearing granny panties under their mini-skirts lest all the folks at one of Mister Nazarian's frequent festivities will be looking right up at their woo. The entry spills into the dining room which features a wall of floor to ceiling glass that tilts out at a funky, architecturally unnecessary and vertigo inducing angle. Your Mama, who is a bit squeamish about heights, would sooner run push pins under our nails that stand up next to that wall of windows. The lower floor, according to listing information, includes a media room and bar/lounge that opens to the rear terraces making for a seamless flow of indoor/outdoor entertaining.

The substantial rear terrace includes multi-level decking, an outdoor kitchen, a covered living room area with a giant flat screen tee-vee, a sunken viewing platform with a fire pit for warmig the tootsies and an infinity edged pool and spa all of which are cantilevered over a super steep hillside and have staggering jet-liner views all the way to the Pacific Ocean. We may not care for this particular brand of residential hyperbole, but even Your Mama can understand the appeal of paddling around in Mister Nazarian's swimming pool late at night with the glittering carpet of lights of Los Angeles spread out below like a giant Light-Brite screen.

Your Mama confesses that we have never seen a single episode of the enormously successful boob toob program Entourage, but we hear from Miss Courvoisier as well as Babbling Babette that Mister Nazarian's house appeared in several episodes, a fact that might be fun for a future owner to brag to the ladees about but not one that adds any particular value to the property.

This is not the first high priced and high profile domicile young Mister Nazarian has owned. Back in 2004 he paid bootylicious Jennifer Lopez $12,500,000 for a huge house in The Summit–the same celebrity packed and guard gated community where that twisted sister Britney Spears has been living the last few years. Property records reveal Mister Nazarian sold the 6 bedroom and 9 bathroom single story sprawler in August of 2006 for $13,250,000 to rock stars Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale.

Mister Nazarian's high profile neighbors include but are not limited to pap shy Leo DiCaprio who owns the two properties across the street and Keanu Reeves who shacks up around the corner on Thrasher Avenue. It's also just down the street from the long time home of recently deceased Ricardo Montalban currently on the market with a blistering asking price of $20,000,000 as well as the home of t-shirt tycoon James Perse who wants almost five million clams for his 1 bedroom bachelor pad.

59 comments:

Anonymous said...

Really nice but the price is completely outrageous. Price chopping to follow...

Anonymous said...

God, everything is for sale in the surrounding streets! ... I need more pics to decide whether I like it but I'm just stunned that he's only 34! I always thought he was in his 40's ... Definitely not aging well!

Anonymous said...

This house was on the market while it was being built with Valarie Fitzgerald. I don't know what year that was but it was $7.750,000. Other sizable luxury homes with just as spectacular of views have sold for much much less. THe price just isn't realistic. In fact it makes designer Marc Canadell's 9,000+ sq ft extravagonza at 9362 Nightingale look like a steal for $17,995/,000.

Anonymous said...

Saw it on Entourage last Sunday night.

Anonymous said...

Considering the high percentage of Mama's Children who are of the homosexual orientation, I'm surprised Mama didn't include a mention of his partnership in the wildly successful Abbey.

COCOCOZY said...

What does Zillow say this house is worth? Hmmm...

Cococozy
http://www.cococozy.com

Garfield said...

Who is it for sale with? I can't find it on the MLS.

Anonymous said...

another cold sterile overblown new money dope den.............

pch said...

From the terrace it looks like the superstructure of a Carnival cruise ship. Love, exciting and new, come aboard, we're expecting you...

StPaulSnowman said...

Yes, yes I know how importantly contemporary it is and probably designed by someone famous but it looks to me like a Skinner box for the rich and famous. Without the Bright Young Things as interior decoration it just looks unfriendly. I do think it would be wonderful to see the same photos retaken during a party with dolled-up guests everywhere to add a touch of warmth and humanity. I am trying hard to learn to love stark in residential architecture but it is really difficult.

Hedda Letus said...

Damn, Mama, your post have me in stiches. "pal Luwanda Courvoisier and her sassy assistant Shantal Polo" I think I've found my new drag name.

Anonymous said...

I do think it would be wonderful to see the same photos retaken during a party with dolled-up guests everywhere to add a touch of warmth and humanity.

Here's a look at the Nazarian place in party mode. In this case, a Jose Andres/SLS Hotel/Bazaar pre-opening party.

Another shot, poolside.

StPaulSnowman said...

Wow.......thanks for the links! I guess I was wrong about seeing it in party mode..........maybe if it were a Halloween party.......yeah, that might do it. Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

Also, the article fails to report that Sam is loosing his ass all around. His club, The Abby in West Hollywood, is up for sale, as is Hyde. He spread himself too thin on the SLS Hotel (who opens a high-end hotel in this economy?) and rumor has it, he lost the Sahara Hotel.

whitesaucemess said...

ouch! I hope they let the poor guy keep his Airstream.

K said...

He's 34?

Wow. I would have guessed mid-50s, judging by his occasional appearances on "The Hills." (His viceroy, Brent Bolthouse, is or was the loathesome Heidi Montag's boss at her faux-workplace, Bolthouse Productions.)

Counting all that money must have aged him prematurely.

Unknown said...

I saw this on Sothebys site yesterday & bam, mama's on it today.

Exterior is a little wierd looking,like the interior.The views are tremendous.

Priced a weeeeeee bit high.Thats an ego price.

Anonymous said...

Check out this link...

http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/68127/view/?service=1

It's this house Arial. Wow! Very impressive beautiful house. The asking price is a bit insane though. It's very comparable size, quality and view wise to Ryan Brown's house that recently sold for $10mm.

Anonymous said...

I posted this on link a few days back here. It listed by Sotheby's.

Anonymous said...

this one is just waiting to slide down the mountain.

Anonymous said...

Okay,

Leonardo owns the two houses across the street. The beautiful contemporary one with b-ball court, that much matches his PCH residence. The other home next door doesn't look at like like his style. Which house does he actually live in and why does he own the next door house?

Anonymous said...

I was at an event here awhile back. The views are amazing and the finishes are superb. However, I have toured several other homes in the area that have recently sold, for far less. This asking price really is just his ego. He'll be lucky to get over $10m for it given comparable sales and the market. I am not quite sure what his real estate agent was thinking pricing it this high. The numbers just don't add up.

Anonymous said...

What property records are you accessing Mama? According to LA Tax Website the house is 5,976 sq ft? Where are you getting another 1,000 sq ft?

StPaulSnowman said...

One of the great mysteries of real estate listing is the calculation of finished square feet. Some include hallways and bathrooms while some don't. Some exclude basements and attics, even when they have been "finished." Some multiply the foundation square footage by the number of floors. It can really be difficult to determine the actual size from the listing. There really should be some sort of standard.

Anonymous said...

Square-footage is calculated by the exterior foot print of the property. Exterior wall dimension to wall dimensional. Hallways, bathrooms, etc are always included in square footage. Basements can only be included if their is multiple egress and daylight windows. Attics must have minimum average ceilings heights in order to be legally including in the square footage (if you finish your attic and have 6' clearance at the ridgeline, but majority of the space you aren't able to fully stand up in, it cant be included).

Anonymous said...

Lots of fancy real estate seems up for sale suddenly. Is it more than normal? I have to think that many of these people may be suffering in the "downturn" and need to sell stuff to meet bills, etc. Or is that just my imagination. We hear a lot about what's up for sale. How about telling us more what has actually sold and for what price?

Anonymous said...

There really isn't all that much up for sale. Certain areas seem to have alot but considering all the multi-multi-million dollar homes throughout LA it's not like its reached anything even resembling epedemic proportions.

I agree, and have suggested. Would love to see Mama do a weekly round up of what some of the properties she's discussed sell for... listing them off like each week.

Anonymous said...

Cool house.
$19 million insane.

It looks like he has plywood on the walls like you you put over a busted window or door. lol

Lot of high end properties up for sale. Lot of broke or going broke people out there.

As my grandfather says, money done, fun done.

Anonymous said...

"Which house does he actually live in and why does he own the next door house?"

The one directly behind the newly built one [Thrasher Av] he lived in for years. Then bought the adjacent property & built what you see now. I would imagine he lives in the new one. Apparently when Tobey McGuire sold his place a few doors along from Keanu he stayed at Leo's Thrasher Av house. Also, Leo's new place apparently completely blocks Keanu's view & then another neighbor was suing him for a retaining wall or something I think - can't remember exactly.

Anonymous said...

Supposedly Leo owns all or part of the canyon between his house down to and to the east of the last house at the end of Devlin. I don't remember the acreage but a broker at the Devlin house told me that.

Anonymous said...

I have to laugh at all these super rich celebs suing each other over views, etc., since they all are packed like sardines in the Beverly, BelAir cans. Getting in each other way and hair. Why don't they go an buy a horse estate in the Virginia hunt country with nothing blocking the view for miles. They can afford private jets to get them back to LA when they (rarely) need to work.

Anonymous said...

Leo does own the vacant lot to the soth of his house, the lots stretches from Oriole east to Tangler, and south down to Devlin. It's about 3.44 acres. The legal address of the lot is 9046 ORiole Way.

http://lalife.com/address/9046_Oriole_Way_Los_Angeles_CA_90069

This house that Nazarian is trying to unload is overpriced. But I see what he's thinking. If you think back a bit, Mama reported when Simon Fuller sold his Tanager Way house, a 3,300 sq ft house just to the east with practically the same view. Mr Fuller paid $7,650,00 for the house in 2007 and then after his new house in Bev Hills was compoleted sold it. That house which was GORGEOUS sold for $8,500,000 in early 08. Double the house, double the price is Nazarian's thought I'm sure. However, the market a year ago was much better and that house really put this one to shame design wise.

http://bonurabuilding.com/2008site/pages/Portfolio/Tanager.html

Anonymous said...

bennett carr has the listing.

Anonymous said...

Tackyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!! But perfect for whoever wants to live in a place that looks like a nightclub at the beijing airport. Hate to sound snobby but asking $18 million dollars for a house that doesnt have a speck of class is kinda.... greedy.... but is the abbey really for sale??

Alessandra said...

The exterior looks like Terminal Five at LAX had nasty sex with The Queen Mary in Long Beach. Too stylized in a way I do not like, but the views are spectacular.

Alessandra said...

PCH, I did not read comments before I posted. Not a surprise that we're on the same wave-length...

Anonymous said...

This House is built on big concrete Stilts... the pool, the house is all housed above painted white stilts... The house is a huge eye sore from the LA basin looking up into the hills... One rattle and shake and it seems it would fall off the hill!

Crazy prices! YES SLS is in deep doo doo. At thegifting parties they gave away all sorts of free nights and weeks there to try to generate interest.... The Bazaar Restaurant is doing well though.. but no one stays in the hotel Sad.. Sam is a nice guy

Anonymous said...

I got confirmation from my lawyer (who is friends with Sam's lawyer). Apparently he lost the Sahara deal (didn't have enough money) and he's looking to sell The Abby (as I previously indicated), as well as Foxtail and Hyde. He's holding on to Katsu-ya (for good reason) and XIV for the time being but Sam is cash poor right now, which is why he's asking such an unbelievable price on his house.

pch said...

Definite hints of LAX, too, Alessandra...strange stuff, eh?

Anonymous said...

I think the house is pretty cool. A young bachelor pad house. I'd buy it, the views are phenom.. but the price is just crazy. Esp. bc it's one of those crazy mullet houses that are one story on the road side and trail down the hill 3 floors.

Anonymous said...

" Sam is cash poor right now, which is why he's asking such an unbelievable price on his house.
April 9, 2009 11:09 AM "

Isn't that counter intuitive? At that price it is going to languish on the market.

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous said...
What property records are you accessing Mama? According to LA Tax Website the house is 5,976 sq ft? Where are you getting another 1,000 sq ft?"

cuz she (he) got the (wrong) house next door (9100)

e

even mr big time got one wrong right down the street, saying john lennon had owned a house there in the mid 70's when apparently 'taint so...

Anonymous said...

I would love to do a pee over the edge.

Very good house to do a porn flick.

But with a earthquake, the structural damage would be expensive to repair

angeleyes said...

Another modern design gone a step too far trying to look cutting edge ends up looking commercial, check. Another home built on a lot where there isn't one so it can claim that street as it's address, check. Another ridiculasly inflated price. check. Yup, meets all the criteria for what passes as tinsel town hip in the new millenium. And the beat goes on but I'm getting bored.

Your Mama said...

Someone was right...we nabbed the square footage from the house next door...we made a mistake. It happens. We've corrected the error of our square footage ways.

Patsy Stone Canyon said...

right on, angeleyes. i can't tell one science fiction priced box from another anymore. i need a drink.................

Anonymous said...

As if the price wasn't ridiculous enough, that square footage reduction shoots it into the stratsphere.

Anonymous said...

I think this is on Oriole Wy on the bluff, and not Oriole Dr?

Mr Ricardo Montalbán's house is a stones throw from this one and it is on Oriole Dr.

Seems everyone is flipping out in this neighborhood and Ricardo's house is taking the point on the high asking price. Ricardo Montalbán, James Perse and now Nazarian. Is there something wrong with this area? Is the hill sliding?

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9050-Oriole-Way-Los-Angeles-CA-90069/20799201_zpid/

Nazarian paid $13,377,633 for this and he now wants a huge profit in this economy. Good luck bud. 10 million is now way to much for this cliffside stilt house that looks like an airport control tower!

Bobbie Ganoosh said...

i was just thinking, if i were an airplane, i might like that house.

Anonymous said...

I think it would be cool if leo bought it and then he could gate that side of the whole hill?

Anonymous said...

Leo can't afford it

Anonymous said...

It's just a bit bizarre. The highest sale price ever in the Bird Streets was $16,000,000 for 8892 Collingwood which was an acre compound with 2 residenial structures. WTF is with all these listings suddenly at astromomical prices in this area.

1380 Mockingbird Pl - $29,500,000
1415 Oriole Dr - $28,000,000
1423 Oriole Dr - $20,000,000
9050 Oriole Way - Nazarian's House - $18,950,000
9362 Nightingale - $17,995,000

Anonymous said...

bet j. heller is kicking herself she didnt take that ring.

Anonymous said...

Was indeed featured on Entourage a few times and a gorgeous place, but the asking price is laughable. What's with Mamma's comment on Phillip Stark? He's a very classy and amazing designer. She needs to look more at his stuff rather than that nasty mid-century trash.

Anonymous said...

nice house but too much color (decor)

Anonymous said...

I dont believe what was said about sam being broke? I know for a fact he didnt lose Sahara cause my friend is his driver there and I know he's still working for him so in that sense, I think thats incorrect. I could ask him about the clubs too but find that unlikely as well. Why would he sell Abbey, thats a cash cow. Plus I dont think that was an agreement Cooley had with him and Sam would be going back on his word to expand the business. You never know though

Anonymous said...

oh by the way that house is ridiculous. The view is unheard of and the pool looks like it spills over the edge. It really does need some decor in it cause those plain pics ruin it. When there was stuff in it, it really didnt look that plain. As was said before the view is spectacular

Anonymous said...

Work stoppage on renovating SBE's Ritz Plaza Hotel in South Beach tells me Sam has run out of money. (Was just there and seeing the empty shell of the hotel that's supposedly to reopen in spring 2010 made me sad. Stayed there pre-Sam and it was just fine.)

Anonymous said...
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