Monday, June 21, 2010

Is Oprah Moving to Los Angeles?

Rumors are beginning to swirl that soon to be retired chat show queen bee and multi-billionaire Oprah Winfrey may be in need of a new house in LaLa Land. Oh lo-ward have mercy, did the children hear all the Mercedes S-Class driving high end real estate agents in the Platinum Triangle hoot and holler with joy and then order their long suffering assistants to, "Get Oprah's people on the phone! Now!"

The buzz began in earnest last fall when it was announced that Miss Winfrey's new and eponymous television station–that would be The Oprah Winfrey Network, natch, otherwise known as OWN, natch–would be based in Los Angeles' historic Miracle Mile District. Was there ever a question in anyone's mind that La Oprah, a gal prone to bellowing and grandiose statements, was going to name that tee-vee channel after herself? No, there really wasn't, was there?

Anyhoo, the beat of the scuttlebutt drum has only gotten louder with the more recent news that the self-made media maven hired Los Angeles-based money manager Peter Adamson to set up and run a so-called "family office" to handle her personal investments and fat fortune. La Oprah's Mister Adamson happens to be the very same Peter Adamson who serves as the chief investment officer for the private wealth of real estate billionaire and art collecting king Eli Broad. Birds of a feather and all that.... It stands to reason that if La Oprah's new bizness venture is located in Los Angeles and her money man is in Los Angeles–or more specifically in Santa Monica–then the impressively driven diva will also want a place to hang her Louboutins in Los Angeles too.

Of course, Miss Winfrey already owns a conspicuously flatulent 42-acre compound with a lavish 23,000 square foot manor house in Montecito, CA that she's rather preciously dubbed The Promised Land, but unless she commutes daily by private helicopter–and who would put it past the ladee if she were to do just that?–it seems likely that Miss Winfrey will want and require a pied a terre in Tinseltown.

Certainly it would not surprise celebrity real estate watchers or any of her army of done drank the Kool-Aid Oprahites iffin the big livin' billionairess splashed out twenty or thirty million clams for a grand estate like, say, mortgage making mogul Mark Cohen's recently overhauled 7 bedroom and 11 pooper Paul Williams designed digs in the Holmby Hills listed at $28,500,000, or maybe even airplane leasing pooh-bah Lou Gonda's 24,000 square foot, 12 bedroom and 21 pooper Peter Choate designed spread, also listed at $28,500,000, located up behind the Beverly Hills Hotel in the 90210.

However, iffin Your Mama were the betting type–and we are most definitely not–we would probably put money on the majorly moneyed media maven scooping up a posh penthouse apartment in one of the better and more expensive but boring full-service buildings along the Wilshire Corridor that will provide a modicum of privacy from the pack of paps likely to follow her around town like white on rice. Besides, it's not like La Oprah hasn't owned about a million and one condos over the course of her rich life–on Florida's Fishers Island and in Atlanta, and Chicago–and, at the risk of looking like a total ass, Your Mama assumes that the full figured tycoon's primary west coast fiefdom will remain her $40,000,000 promised land in Montecito.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always marvel at the trouble and expense super super rich celebrities go to to take care of their fortunes, paying people (who might just turn out to be crooks; not saying, just commenting) much moola to "manage" their money for them. In contrast one has Warren Buffett who has a fortune (aside from his holdings in Berkshire Hathaway) worth about 1.8 billion that he has invested in just 9 stocks. He leaves it sitting there to grow and bloom and has no need at all to pay somebody zillions to keep fussing over it and churning it endlessly.

StPaul said...

I get it! These super rich celebrities should pay Warren Buffet to take care of their fortunes. Everybody wins.

Anonymous said...

I think it's a little simplistic to compare Oprah's money management situation to that of Warren Buffett, widely regarded as the most sophisticated and successful investors ever. Oprah made her fortune in entertainment, not investment selection.

Anonymous said...

She should buy an estate in Palos Verdes.

Jimbo said...

What seems like a very long time ago I was visiting LA and see some sights in my spare time. I drove pretty much the length of Mullholand Drive.

Today, I have no idea where along that fabled road I was; but I came across a small building with a helicopter pad attached -- no doubt used for commuting downtown. Then, almost across the way, set well back, was a nice large house with it's own helicopter pad. So flying to work doesn't seem like a new idea.

lil' gay boy said...

"...done drank the Kool-Aid..."

Never begrudged Orca, um, I mean Oprah, a single nickel; for all that she's accomplished I say good on her.

Her followers, however, have always left me feeling that they're just one folksy pericope away from another Heaven's Gate...

Anonymous said...

Silver Lake? Ha!
She is DEFINITELY landing in Los Angeles soon. FACT.

Anonymous said...

11:55 Yes she made it in entertainment, but now one presume she would simply like to keep it and increase it. Passive investment in selected stocks would be the Buffett way to do that.

Anonymous said...

Considering the high end properties being marketed thru their website, the hilton hyland website sucks! Lousy photos, crappy interface, limited info. A total dud!

Madam Pince said...

Mama, far be it from me to tell you what to do, but in my opinion you'd be the perfect bee to buzz in Miss Oprah's ear that her Montecito estate is enough California real estate for any sane person. A helicopter and pilot would cost a hell of a lot less and there wouldn't be any of that plebian messing with the legendary Los Angeles traffic.

Viva! said...

I'm with Mama, O will select a full service building along the Wilshire Corridor to be her LA base. She'll undoubtedly spend the majority of her time in Montecito, but she will be in need of an LA pad and a plush condo seems to be up to O's alley.

That said, she may just surprise us and buy a little place in Malibu.

You never know with lady O.

Jeannified said...

WOW! Mark Cohen's place is BEAUTIFUL!!! I say she scoops THAT place up! (Although the other property isn't shabby either, by any means!)

Anonymous said...

would anyone happen to know the address of OW Management LLC? I believe it might be 5700 Wilshire Blvd in LA. But I would like to confirm it. Kindly let me know and many thanks.