Monday, October 29, 2007

Mike and Irena Medavoy's Beverly Park Mini-Mega-Mansion

SELLERS: Mike and Irena Medavoy
LOCATION: Beverly Park, Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: $21,500,000 (reduced from $23,500,000)
SIZE: 10,769 square feet, 5 bedrooms 9 bathrooms (as per listing)
DESCRIPTION: Exceptional Hampton-Style Beverly Park Estate. Beautifully set on nearly 2 acres of rolling lawns. The best value in the area. Beautifully decorated & designed. Extraordinary 2-story entry. Fabulous living rm/projection rm. Study, double powder rms, sensational kitchen/family rm, & wonderful loggia out to the lush gardens, swimmer's pool, & guesthse. Amazing master suite w/beautiful dual baths. 3 add'l spacious family bdrms & maids. Excellent privacy in the most sought after gated community.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: The children just looove to hear about the residents and humongous houses of Beverly Park and when we can, Your Mama likes to feed the children just what they're asking for. So today we bring y'all some Beverly Park goodness to chaw on.

Only in uber posh and guard gated Beverly Park, where 20,000+ square foot steroidal houses are the rule rather than the exception, is a nearly 11,000 square foot house considered a cozy mini-mansion. But that's what Your Mama would have to say about big time film producer Mike Medavoy's modest by comparison mansion that Your Mama hears from our Fairy Godmother in Beverly Hills will soon be hitting the market with an ear piercing asking price of $23,500,000.

There's no question a man like Medavoy can afford to own and maintain a house in hyper manicured Beverly Park, where the lawns are always meticulously mowed, the hedges impeccably clipped and the swimming pools glisten like sunlight itself. After all, he's responsible for bringing any number of block buster films to the screen such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Rocky, The Terminator, The People vs. Larry Flynt, The Thin Red Line and many, many more.

So the man prolly deserves his vast riches that in the year 2000 allowed him to build his dream house in one of the most exclusive and expensive developments anywhere in the world. The white clapboard and black shuttered East Coast traditional style with 10,769 square feet, sprawls across it's 1.8 acre lot that includes a double gated driveway, large parking court, and swimming pool and guest house complex, and an expanse of perfectly green grass. There is not, however, a tennis court, which for $23,000,000 would be a deal breaker for Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter who like to swing a racket now and again.

No official or new listing exists for the house that we've been able to locate, but thanks to our Fairy Godmother in Beverly Hills we managed to get a hold of a few photos and information from when the house was on the market a few years ago for $14,500,000 (reduced from $15,750,000). The pretty center hall quasi-Colonial 5 bedroom house includes 8 bathrooms (or nine according to old listing information), 6 fireplaces, a living room that converts into "one of the best screening rooms," and "one of the loveliest master suites" (again according to an older listing).

Your Mama is quite impressed with the bold color that the Medavoy's nice gay decorator used in the dining room. Never before have we seen or heard of a hot pink formal dining room, and honestly, we'd never have imagined we would have anything positive to say about a dining room with screaming pink walls. But we do. Maybe it's because we're having an off day or maybe it's because Your Mama has an unhealthy attraction to bright colors. We are not in love with the execution of this room, but children, try to imagine the space pushed beyond traditional towards something kooky and contemporary. Keep the ka-razy chandelier and the side table with the too cute topiary and the wacky sea sponge looking thing underneath. Whatever that thing is, we're coveting it. We don't understand the abstract artwork hanging on the wall, but it too can stay unless you can afford a subtle Rothko or glorious Gary Hume painting to replace it. Lose the carpet, paint the moldings and doors the glossiest white paint you can find, replace the very expensive but ordinary table with a big tacky Lucite thing and cover all those faux-Louis chairs in an even tackier shiny white patent leather. Now that would be a fucked up hot pink dining room even Your Mama could love.

We don't feel as forgiving of the study/library. Somehow the room appears remarkably bright for a room with coal black walls and Your Mama is quite certain every single object in this room cost at least $2,000, but it's a strange hodge-podge that isn't quite working for us. Could be the grainy photo or it could be that upsetting scroll/map thing on the wall? Your Mama is well aware that art is subjective, but we can only hope that particular piece was done by one of the Medavoy's grandchildren (if they have any). Please don't someone tell Your Mama that chicken scratch depiction of the earth is worth more than a Mercedes.

Your Mama doesn't have a clue why the Medavoy's would chose to leave the private and secure environs of Beverly Park. Maybe they're downsizing to a house in the flats? Maybe they're up sizing to something larger? Maybe they're tired of looking at the sculpture next door. Whatever the care, it'll be inneresting to see what rich and/or famous person steps up to buy this house.

Now, let's move on to some other Beverly Park bizness. There has been some discussion in the comments section of this blog about a Beverly Park house owned by Jeanette and Robert Bisno, who among other alleged infractions, famously ired their ridiculously rich neighbors with statuary that some Bev Park residents felt was suggestive, possibly vulgar, and simply did not conform to the 70-page homeowners covenants to which all Beverly Park properties must adhere. Well, wouldn't you know, the Bisnos' happen to live right next door to the Medavoys in their own 11,894 square foot mansion. Oh children, the rich people up in Bev Park were all up in arms over the Bisno's gates, garbage cans and motor court statuary. Just imagine the shock and nasty stares as resident slowly rolled by in their shiny Bentleys, the shunning and whispered mortifications. The whole uproar ended up in a convoluted lawsuit that involved such allegations by the Bisnos that the ruling judge was mentally incompetent and as such unable to decide the case effectively. Wow. These Bisno people must really have wanted that damn statue. We're not sure what the outcome of the statue wars was, but it does appear that the very expensive piece of outdoor art is still in place in the Bisno motor court. Which means it's probably still tied up in courts. What a stellar use of our over-burdened judicial system.

An excellent article from the New York Times reports that during the bickering the Bisnos were in the process of getting a dee-vorce. But the article also reports that the couple bought another vacant lot a few doors up from their current residence where they intended to build another dream mansion and take their naughty statue with them. We don't find any evidence of them buying a second lot up there, but then again, the real estate dealings of the super rich are often obscured and difficult to track, so our lack of evidence really means nothing.

One of Your Mama's readers has also suggested in the comments section that the Bisno house is in foreclosure. Your Mama can't find any evidence of that in our rather lax research, so we can't confirm or deny that bit of unpleasantness. It does appear that the house is heavily mortgaged, but honestly puppies, that does not mean a thing. Many, many vastly wealthy people borrow enormous amounts of money against their lavish homes for any number of reasons. We can't comment on the state of Mister Bisno's finances, because we simply don't know anything about them. What we do know is Mister Bisno is and has been a controversial figure anywhere you turn.

Moving on from the Bisno bizness...Of course by now, all the children know that Beverly Park is filled to the gills with the rich and famous including Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington, Jami Gertz, Reba McEntire, Sylvester Stallone, Paul Reiser, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Avi Arad, Eric Schmidt, Martin Lawrence, Sumner Redstone, Barry Bonds, Michael Eisner, Samuel Jackson, Rod Stewart, porn king Norman Zada, Haim and Cheryl Saban, a couple of Saudi royals, Steve Udvar-Hazy, and of course, young Mister Russ Weiner, the Rockstar Energy Drink founder who is one of Bev Park's newest residents.

Mister and Missus Medavoy's little slice of residential heaven for the filthy rich is far from the only Beverly Park behemoth on the market. According to property records, mobile home maven Lee Kort is trying to get rid of a 3.35 acre lot for a shocking $49,000,000 (plans and permits for a 25,000 square foot house also available). Beer baron Adolf Coors owns a 9 bedroom and 9 bathroom monster mansion, dubbed "The Great 78," which backs up to the Medavoy mansion and is currently available for $34,000,000. George Santopietro, Vanna White's ex-huzband and current Bev Park resident, recently plunked a mammoth newly built spec-house on the market for a spine tingling $50,000,000. And the Moeljadi family have long been trying to unload their 20,612 square foot pile for $29,000,000. And these are just the houses Your Mama knows are on the market. You can bet that are at least 2 or 3 others that are quietly for sale for the right price.
YOUR MAMAS UPDATE: We take it back...after viewing more recent photos of the Medavoy mansion (above), we are not so keen on the dining room. It is not, after all, the modern and nutty color scheme we originally thought. The walls are not covered in unexpected hot pink paint, but rather with a light red damask wallpaper. Ugh. Dreadful. And in the study/library, we thought the walls had been painted a very progressive, if not particularly likable black. In actuality, they are green damask. DAMASK! On the walls! Yikes. We know damask wallpaper is not uncommon in a house with an old-guard sort of decor, but with all due respect and apologies to the Medavoys, damask wallpaper always reminds Your Mama of the "better" whorehouses in rural Nevada.

We realize many of the children relish in and prefer this traditional and safe form of interior decor, but Your Mama does not. Yes, it looks cozy and comfortable, which are indeed nice qualities in a house, but Your Mama gravitates to a more modern and eclectic sort of interior where one finds unexpected and quirky bits and pieces of person's life. But alas. That said, Your Mama will say, that to the Medavoy's credit, the mansion looks welcoming and not at all lavish and lurid in the way that many people, including Your Mama, imagine the homes in Beverly Park to be decorated. Remember Rod Stewart's obscenely over stuffed mess?

51 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Mama - we all love a bit of Beverly Park gossip! The Coors property has been on the market forever, I think they live down in Rancho Santa Fe so why they need such a huge place in L.A is beyond me but anyway ...You did miss the best Beverly Park story of this year when Kim Stewart was getting picked up by her friend in his helicopter, she allowed him to land in her garden - but before he could land a neighbor had called the gate who alerted the emergency services then the cops, firetrucks, paramedics all rushed up to Rods house to see what was going on ... nice to know where everyones tax dollars are going!

Anonymous said...

I posted the foreclosure comment I first found the info about five weeks ago. The last time I looked at it was last week. Today when I search I find nothing. It was from yahoo realestate. it gave the sq footage and number of bedrooms. There was also an maps.live.com pic.

It went on to say the house was in its first notice to begin foreclosure. The sq footage and bedroom numbers matched zillow.

but now I cant find the link. So Sorry. I hope that Mr. Bisno isnt reading this, but if you are Mr. Bisno, You are a Jack Ass. How can you even ask for rent control. how can he even ask that with a straight face. I can just imagine him parking his Bentley outside court. Then going in with a high priced lawyer and then trying to justify why he should get rent control.

Anonymous said...

This might be the least offensive bit of architecture in Beverly Park, but that isn't saying much in this neigborhood. My favorite part of the NYT article is learning that the paean to bad taste actually has an architectural review committee, and that it deemed someone's gates too "Vegas." That's rich.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know any details about that massive mansion opposite the Medavoy's house, kinda shaped like a U, its huge!

Anonymous said...

oh and a tour:
www.65beverlypark.com

-Sneaky Pete

. said...

Wow! Sneaky Pete's link is absolutely lascivious. You can even read the book spines in the library. There is nothing not to love in this uber tasteful abode. Mama I can even go for the pink wall paper in the dining room. I love the notty pine? wood throughout and the art collection is splendid and serious. Why would anyone want to leave this place? Maybe the neighbors are really, really annoying? Thanks Pete! I can feast on these pictures all day! How will I get any work done?

Anonymous said...

What a gorgeous house! I'm in love w/ the exterior. The inside is beeyootiful, too, although a little too bold for my taste. I'd have to pay my nice, gay decorator to tone it down a bit. I think it's gorgeous!

so_chic_darling said...

Does anyone remember that Irina Medavoy was the first person to sue Allergen corp.,the makers of Botox,back in 2002?She claimed that her skin doctor to the stars,Dr Arnold Klein,had given her too much and she suffered side effects like migranes.Anyway the jury sided with the makes of Botox.
Once again Mama fantastic reporting from you.This is what keeps the children happy,giant servings of the rich and vulgar lifestyles.It all seems so very tacky.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone heard of the botox heriesses?

Anonymous said...

**Heiresses

Anonymous said...

Great job Mama- thank you!

so_chic_darling said...

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh I just did the virtual tour of the house and I have to say It's a lovely house that looks like it was decorated by a former model/actress(Irina Medavoy).There is so much that is wrong,Mama has already talked about the so called art.I just want to mention that glass and iron coffee table in the living room,it is the ugliest one i've seen in a long time,and I have seen some ugly coffee tables in my life!

so_chic_darling said...

Aunt Mary,you can't be serious about THAT art can you?

Anonymous said...

is that to drive to sunset/rodeo area drive not terrible?? i don't get it.. ive been up to summitridge (the first part) and that was so windy and made me car sick!.. i just cant imagine doing it multiple times a day??

Anonymous said...

I actually quite like it - the architecture is pretty nice, very new england which is a nice change from the spanish & french palaces that predominate bev park ... would have to tone down the interior a bit though ... so surprised at how close it is to number 78's pool - considering the lots are pretty big it's surprising ... do we think they'll get their asking price? a lot of people that can afford $20M+ would probably prefer prime beverly hills or lower bel air, perhaps even the gorgeous paul williams on oakmont in brentwood - i know i would take all them over beverly park.

Anonymous said...

take 70-80% off of all of them and then you are at the right price.

23MM for a 5MM mansion ?

50MM for a 15MM mansion ?

these sellers should hold onto their estates until 2012, then they can get what they want, that is when the market should be back in prime territory.

btw Mel Gibson just took a million dollar hit on a mansion that he bought then sold in the same year in malibu and it could even be more as the US government rule is that if you sell a property and keep the cash or buy property outside of the US you have to pay up to 50% in taxes.

It was a perfect foolproof system for the real estate industry until the introduction of subprime mortgages, interest only loans.

Anonymous said...

now it makes sense why these sellers are asking for these ridiculously high prices for their estates, they want to walk away with enough cash to offset the taxes in case they want to put the money into stocks, oil, bonds, other properties outside of this country.

So if you bought a place for 1MM and sold it a year later for 2.5MM you walk away with a million cash? after agent fees, other fees, taxes ?

what a scam...

so I guess that you have to hold out long term 10 years or more and rent out your properties to others to eventually become a tycoon in real estate ?

. said...

Yes, So_Chic, I do love this house. And though I'm not an expert by any means that foyer seems chocked full of fine things. The furniture looks like the real deal and could that be a Matisse next to the door? Might those charcoal sketches be Renaissance? I don't have a guess about the round painting but I love it. I agree with Mama about the world map. But I'm guessing it might be a movie poster or some such advert art. I am so not getting my chores done today. Is this house feminine? Yes, but I'm a girly gurl.

Anonymous said...

It always amuses me when people build their 'dream house' and then are ready to dump it a few years later.

I also can't fathom why anyone would pay these prices to begin with. First of all, like it or not, this is not Beverly Hills, it's Sherman Oaks. (Nothing wrong with Sherman Oaks, I live about a mile from these houses)

If not for their fake zip code these homes would be going for 25-30% of their asking prices.

You would think that anyone who has enough money to pay the asking price would also be smart enough to know it's a scam. I guess we'll find out.

Anonymous said...

^^^^^
Oops... OK, I take back what I said above about Sherman Oaks, I was thinking of the other over priced enclave.

Still grossly over priced, but not as bad as I stated.

. said...

Mama, one more thing. This house is a home. It's lived in. Those books crammed everywhich way on on every horizontal surface are read, that desk with shit piled high is worked at, that saggy sofa in the familly room is lolled on and best of all, the dual tv's in the master bedroom for watching both Bloomberg and E. This is a home with substance over style. Too juicy, give me another bite.

Anonymous said...

what's with all the old tvs? has this house not been lived in for the past 10 years?

Anonymous said...

It is pretty cool. I would have the team of gay decorators up in there but I like how it isn't just a giant box like a lot of the houses up there.

so_chic_darling said...

OK Aunt Mary at least back me up on that iron and glass coffee table.I dare you to say you like it..........go on say you like it.

. said...

So_Chic_Baby, you're a hoot! Actually, and it pains me to have to say this, but I went back to have another look at the table, and as god is my witness, I think the table works in that space. Now, settle down gurl! That is a conversation space that would be ill served by a solid piece of furniture blocking all the line of sight and hiding all the body language that makes up half a conversation

. said...

Ooopps! I didn't get to finish that thought. Body language makes up at the least half the content of a conversation and when you can't see it, well, you're at a disadvantage. So bring on all the butt ugly coffee tables that you can see through. I will concede that the sitting room or whatever it is may be overly floral. And the blue and yellow scheme is so over. And all those chaises and ottomans (or is it ottomen?) look to be jammed in against the commodes. But on the whole, I'd say bring me my pocketbook.

Anonymous said...

When Mr Ross first met Irina Medavoy she was a "swimsuit model"honey the whole street looks like it was designed by the Swedish bikini team.

Anonymous said...

When Mr Ross first met Irina Medavoy she was a "swimsuit model"honey the whole street looks like it was designed by the Swedish bikini team.

Anonymous said...

Tim Mcgraw lives there? now THAT is klass (excuse me, Klass - i forgot it should be a capital "K") I can just see him a dashin' in and out of his gated driveway in his rediculous skintight jeans, white wife beater and cowboy boots...throw in the cowboy hat and big buckle for the ultimate Beverly Hillbilly look. I bet he wakes the neighbors coming home late in his jacked-up, 4X4 Dodge Ram diesel with straight pipes and the Banks chip.

Anonymous said...

NEWS NEWS CNN !!!!

housing prices drop another 5%

this is retarded, they should drop everything 50-70% and save us the trouble of a long and troublesome 5 years. These delays are really going to hurt us in the long term.

Anonymous said...

Now this is very dangerous:

A $915B bomb in consumers' wallets
7:00am: Americans have record credit-card debt and banks are starting to sweat an uptick in default rates, reports Fortune's Peter Gumbel. Why some fear this could be the next subprime.

Anonymous said...

The sky is falling!! Everyone watch out!!!!

High end housing is as expensive as it is because pretty soon there won't be enough room to build a 15,000 sq ft estate with gorgeous views on 3 acres in Los Angeles. It is a lifestyle that the very rich (and we all know LA is full of them) can afford and will pay for if they like the property.

Russ Weiner just paid over $15M for his house in Beverly Park... should the seller have reduced that 75%????? Gee, they would've ended up with $10M less. SOUNDS SMART!!!!!

Anonymous said...

well we really do not know what he paid, it seems that accurate information ends up coming out months later.

btw a payment on a 15mm house is around 100k a month, I wonder how many can afford that payment 1-2 years from now, if a very few ? then you will see real estate in BH, Bel Air, Malibu at 1994 levels.

Anonymous said...

A buyer purchasing a property over $5M will RARELY finance... these people pay all cash because there is no tax benefit over $1M.

These people aren't worried about mortgage payments because........ there are none!!

Anonymous said...

The house the Dodger owner just bought in Malibu is a perfect example. David Arquette and Courtney Cox bought it for around $8M and a few years later sold it for $27.5M... it was a John Lautner architectural right on one of the most prime pieces of beachfront in the world. It is a lifestyle that is almost priceless!!

Look at what people are buying paintings for - $50-200 Million dollars. You don't think they'll pay big bucks for an outrageous mansion that will be scarce 10 years from now?

Anonymous said...

Hmm. this is a funny conversation. a property is worth what someone will pay for it, not what that retarded zillow or some doom and gloom schmuck who probably lives in a 1 bedroom rental in a not very good part of town says it's worth.

and p.s. i have access to all sorts of mortgage information...you might be surprised how many rich people are carrying 5 and 8 and 12 million dollar mortgages.

Anonymous said...

Aside from the horrid green wallpaper I actually think Irena Medavoy has good taste. I love that painting in the dining room (the pink walls...well...). And the pool area is just flawless. Love the gate, love the scale of the house. He'll get his asking price.

Anonymous said...

Once you get up above $20M NOBODY gets their initial asking price.

Anonymous said...

If the state was to start charging RE taxes on the asking prices, ie; 120MM (1.2MM a year in taxes), 165mm (1.65MM a year in taxes) 95mm (1.8MM a year in taxes), I am sure many sellers would lower their asking prices.

Sellers are starting to treat their estates like rare works of art that no one that can really afford them wants.



If t

Anonymous said...

^^ What are you talking about? Charging RE taxes on the asking price?? Sounds ludicrous... if someone will pay for it then they'll have to deal with the taxes.

Most of these estates are works of art in their own right by the way

Anonymous said...

what I was saying is that while the estates sit on the market for a year or two while the seller is trying to make a huge profit they should be charged RE taxes according to their asking prices.

Anonymous said...

anon 2:31

clearly you are not a homeowner.

Anonymous said...

Not yet, I would like to be, but there is no way I am going to pay 13MM for a house right down my street (I live on sunset plaza in west hollywood) that was last appraised for 5MM in 1998, that is why I am currently renting, no risk.

Anonymous said...

I want to buy but I am worried about a huge loss in the millions in 2-3 years, so I am going to wait.

Anonymous said...

Blah,blah,blah.............fart.

Anonymous said...

! put all my money into Apple stocks for years now.I bet I've done better than most real estate investors.

Anonymous said...

AMEN !!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

78 North Beverly Park - "The Great 78" is owned by Bill Phillips of Colorado. He is the founder of EAS health supplements company. He also developed the Myoplex nutritional shakes line and wrote a best selling book "Body For Life." He made his fortune when he sold his EAS company. The home has been on and off the market since 2001.

I worked as an employee at this residence from 2001 to 2004. It is a beautiful property and the main house is 18,000 square feet and the guest house is 3,000 square feet.

Phillips is a very kind man, in his mid 40's. Rather quiet and private... and spends time at his other properties in Golden, Colorado and in Maui.

Anonymous said...

"So the man prolly deserves his vast riches....."

Prolly??? WTF. Do you actually think that is a real word? Perphaps you mean "probably".

Anonymous said...

Yes, the facts on The Great 78 are correct. This I can assure.

But just wanted to say, WTF? to you... and the "prolly" attack.

Well, ya, of course that's what the person means.

Why even go there? Feeling beat down or something?

Anonymous said...

The Scroll painting that you dear Mama hates and thinks is made by medavoy children is actually an Ed Ruscha painting worth half a million dollars in the library. The house was sold to an elegant couple from Monaco who bought Princess Graces former home in Eze. The price they sold for is actually great price for square footage and land and one of the best paid for in North beverly park. Medavoys have actually been very smart in every real estate dealing they have made. They bought the land there for only 2.4 mill. Love you Mama but selling this home without a real estate agent for their price at 12.5 mill was a great deal for Medavoys. In real estate they know what they are doing. And that house is a great family and Party house!! From presidents to movie stars everyone has stayed and partied there. Love you Mama