Friday, June 12, 2009

A Pricey Super Producers Pad in Pacific Palisades

SELLER: Brad Grey
LOCATION: Monaco Drive, Pacific Palisades, CA
PRICE: $29,990,000
SIZE: 13,143 square feet, 7 bedrooms 12 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: On 2 flat acres of serene & park-like grounds w/ a unique pond rests this gated & private Pacific Palisades 6 bedroom/10.5 bth, custom built estate. 3 levels, superior finishes & world class architecture create a warm & inviting atmosphere, perfect for entertaining or raising a family. 2-story living rm, 2 offices, theater, gym, billiard/game room. Master suite w/ sitting area & fpl, wet bar, his & her baths & closets, plus a deck overlooking the gardens, tennis court, outdoor kitchen & pool/spa.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Yesterday Your Mama floated a tidbit about a real estate rumor we'd been hearing that a major multi-parcel property in Pacific Palisades.

As it turns out, the 2-ish acre estate–owned by super producer Brad Grey and his soon to be ex-wifey Jill–hit the open market yesterday with an eye-popping asking price of $29,990,000.

The diminutive, powerful, Bronx born and not always well-liked Mister Grey is currently the CEO of Paramount and has had his wildly successful, two Emmy winning and 15 additional Emmy nominated hands on such tee-vee programs and films as The Sopranos, Real Time with Bill Maher, Running With Scissors, The Departed, Just Shoot Me, Politically Incorrect, News Radio, The Larry Sanders Show, The Wedding Singer, The Cable Guy, and It's Garry Shandling's Show, just to name a few.

As best as Your Mama can figure and based on property records, Mister Grey picked up the first of the property's four lots in in May of 1997 when he paid $2,000,000 for a bare piece of land on Monaco Drive in the ritzy Riviera area of Pacific Palisades. In December of 1997, records show he spent an undisclosed amount of money for the two adjacent parcels on which the house, the swimming pool and the tennis court sit. Then, in October of 2001, he dumped $2,300,000 for the lavishly landscaped corner property given almost entirely over to a large pond filled with lily pads and couple of mean ol' swans. Word to the wise, don't mess with swans, they look elegant, but they can be as violent as a badger in a hen house.

Listing information and prop records show the meant to be Arts and Crafts style residence was built in the late 1990s and measures 13,143 square feet. Listing information states there are 6 bedrooms and 10.5 bathrooms while prop records indicate there are 7 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms. Either way, there are enough poopers to keep at least one minimum wage gurl employed full time. Your Mama hopes the gurl has benefits because she will most surely get the Carpal Tunnel from shaking the Comet can and swirling the terlit brush all damn day every damn day in this house of too many terlits.

The Grey estate is surrounded by a towering hedge and the motorized gates open to a wide tree-shaded driveway that leads to a Porte-cochere. Porte-cochere's are nice for stepping out of the Maybach during inclement weather, but let's be honest chickens, there is rarely anything but sunshine in the south of California so this Porte-cochere is really just an unnecessary architectural folly. Anyhoo, from the P.C., a very long wisteria covered pergola leads to the Arts and Crafts style front doors which open to an expansive entrance hall with some of the lowest looking ceilings and glossiest wood floors Your Mama has ever seen in the foy-yay of a house with an eight-figure asking price.

The highly polished floors–which surely keep another gurl busy day in and day out with a swiffer and a can of Pledge–continue into the double height, window wrapped formal living room as well as the formal dining room which both overlook the gardens and the backyard recreation areas. The children will note this house has been staged so there's really no point in discussing those white dining room chairs or the suite of white upholstered sofas and chairs in the living room that pop up in just about every staged home in Los Angeles with an asking price over three million dollars.

The less formal quarters include an expansive family room (with more of the shiny floors) and a breakfast area with pastoral views of the rolling lawn that costs more to maintain each year than most of the children earn in a single year. The kitchen has been updated and upgraded and includes sleek white Euro style cabinets and some sleek brown Euro style cabinets too. At first glance, the kitchen appears a bit small for a house of this magnitude but upon reflection it's probably the right size. Anything smaller would have you up the chef's butt when you were looking for an ice cream sandwich but anything larger might more like a banquet hall kitchen than a private home.

Other rooms, according to listing information include a den (with what appears to be two built in stainless steel humidors), paneled library/study warmed by one of the homes four fireplaces, a media room, lanai (whatever that is), mirrored gym, billiard/game room accessed by a stunning spiral staircase, 2 offices, large home theater with a perplexingly complicated coffered ceiling and a wine cellar that will make the boozehounds sweat with anticipation.

The master suite, as one would expect in a house of this price and size, includes a sitting room with a fireplace, access to a second floor terrace, a wet bar, dual walk in closets and dual bathrooms,one done up for a female and one did over for in a more masculine style.

The sprawling park like grounds, watched by a camera security system, includes a modest but adequately sized swimming pool, spa, large stone terraces for sunbathing, an outdoor kitchen for grillin and chillin, a sunken tennis court ringed by wisteria laden pergolas, at least two football field sized lawn areas, a motor court with an attached 3-car garage and, of course, the capacious pond, a landscaping luxury only the rich can afford.

If the children will put on their thinking caps they will recall that Jennleck or Benagar (or whatever the gossip glossies call Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner) recently spent $17,550,000 on the Pacific Palisades compound of producer Brian Grazer on N. San Remo Drive, Mister Grey's asking price of $29,900,000 seems just a wee bit optimistic, don't it? But then again, what do we know? Nuthin', that's what.

It was only in late April of 2009 that Your Mama revealed that Mister Grey spent a rumored twenty plus million clams for a newly built 0ff-market mansion in Bel Air that happens to sit right up next door to poor Nic Cage's real estate White Elephant on Copa de Oro Road. It's unclear to Your Mama whether Mister Grey or the ex-Mrs Grey will reside here. Prop records also reveal that Mister Grey owns an ocean front hideaway on Broad Beach Road in Malee-boo.

Mister and Mrs. Grey's nearby neighbors include the wildly rich (but not particularly funny) comedian Adam Sander, who bought his a 7 bedroom and 14 terlit crib in November of 2004 from the dee-voon Goldie Hawn and her hunky man-mate Kurt Russell. Apparently Mister Sandler did not feel his 12,860 square foot beast was quite large enough because in September of 2008, he forked over $3,350,000 for the 3 bedroom and 3 bathroom house next door.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

For those interested in more pix, there is a virtual view for the listing at West Side Estate Agency.

The grounds are awesome.

http://www.weahomes.com/1_1_propertyDetails.asp?RN=5&PID=632&PS=24

Hope this works.

stpaulsnowman said...

It looks pretty zooty to me but you would need to really love black and white........I guess it's the swan theme brought indoors.

Mike said...

This home is in the very best location on earth.

Location Location Location ....


Real Americana....

Alessandra said...

Hmmmm...from what I can see, it is flawless. And yet, I don't like it.

But, it is in a stellar location and will appeal to certain buyers.

Mama, I'll pretend I didn't hear what you said about Adam Sandler.

angeleyes said...

For a large estate, it's a place where both owner and guests can feel at home, rather than on display.

The grounds are lovely, spectacular even, blending seamlessly with the warmly understated luxury of the home's craftsman design. Together, they reflect a rare degree of sensibility and good taste imo.

To 8:56, the 1st commenter, thanks so much for the virtual tour link!

You've ended the week on decidedly high note Mama. Much appreciated!

Anonymous said...

This house is gorgeous! Amazing grounds an dlocation, the interiors are a delightful mix of clean line craftsmans styling with modern accents.

Steep price, but for this location its probably worht it. However, for high $20's to low $30m, there are other properties I'd pick up and do cosmetic changes to instead of purchasing this.

Anonymous said...

This house is absoluterly perfect in every way. I could live here and NEVER leave. EVER. Grand Slam MAMA!

Anonymous said...

8:56 thank you for the link. In a word "lovely"
the grounds are impeccable and he has a really welcoming feeling inside.

Anonymous said...

Go to Westside Estate Agency's website and see a full screen 10 minute photo show of every inch of the house and property. Best grounds I have seen in Los Angeles. Probably selling because the house uses more water then a golf course. Hope he has good security. The slide shows every work of art etc. in the house.

Unknown said...

Maybe Mister Grey should invest and work at the other end of the scale.
www.d4dwelling.com
I viewed this house when I was working in Ardmore Studios, Ireland, last month. The vendor is an Irish film guy and I believe the poster on the left was signed to him by the great Alan Parker.
Elsewhere in the house I spied THE pitch fork used by Nicole Kidman to stab Tommy Cruise - Ouch.

Anonymous said...

the grounds are spectacular !
( thanks for posting that virtual tour)I'm not in love with the inside as much the outdoors. I'll keep looking

Anonymous said...

Beautiful large house, impecable grounds, CEO owner, high price... that's a bo-ring conversation when everyone agrees. Give us some drama, mama!

Anonymous said...

The interiors are pretty well done but I hate the architecture ... It's so blah!

As for living in Pacific Palisades ... I'll pass.

Village said...

I don't like a 30 million dollar house that I can't afford.

Is this a great country, or what?

Anonymous said...

It's lovely but feels overly staged. Someone went a little crazy buying orchids.

Anonymous said...

Oh yes- Mama is so right. Those swans are vicious! On my last visit to the Chateau Montelena Estate, I encountered one with the disposition of a pit bull. Damn thing chased my ass right into the rest room...and was waiting for me when I came out! Nasty birds.

Anyhoo- I like some things about this place and others not so much. Despite the fact that PP is a wonderful location, I just can't see how this price is justified.

BTW- Has Mama relaxed her stance on orchids? This place is teeming with them and she didn't say shit about it.

Anonymous said...

wonder if Garner and Affleck are wishing they'd waited...what do people think..is it better than the Grazer house?

Queen Swiffer said...

Mama must know nothing about the domestic arts as nobody in their right mind would put pledge on the floor unless they wanted to replicate an ice skating rink. But then my dear you do have Svetlana don't you?

Anonymous said...

Nice house, but everything is nice in Pacific Palisades.

But this asking price is just a LITTLE insane! This is not Montecito.

You can get these three huge houses in Pacific Palisades and still have a lot of money left to buy junior a nice beach house. Take a hint, lower the price!

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Amalfi-Dr-Pacific-Palisades-CA-90272/20546588_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1660-Amalfi-Dr-Pacific-Palisades-CA-90272/20546592_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1550-Sorrento-Dr-Pacific-Palisades-CA-90272/20546578_zpid/

Anonymous said...

The architecture of this house is totally lackluster. Large expanses of low sheetrock ceiling for 30 mil? And the exterior stone facing is mega cheesy. The grounds are beautiful though.

Anonymous said...

If you don't like that you can't afford a house, go work your ass off, don't bitch about it Village.

As for those houses 12:10, none have any land and the later to are tiny and in need of renovations. So of course its not the same price.

However, this is at best $20mm house.

luke220 said...

I think that Ben and Jen made the correct decision. I can't imagine that they have second thoughts. The Grazer house has much more "soul" than this one. Although the land is beautiful, this house leaves me cold.

Anonymous said...

Hands down the best property (in terms of class, scale and location) to hit the LA real estate market in at least 5 years...too bad he won't get near that price in today's market...

Anonymous said...

I'll take the three houses that 12:10 pointed out. Three houses PP going up in Value makes more sense than one. And if you add up the size of the three lot, it is WAY more land. Plus a couple of them are NEWLY BUILT. The price for this one has no place to go but DOWN!
But some people I guess want to say they paid 30 million for their house. That is 30 Million!
This is my 30 million dollar lawn, this is my 30 million dollar pool;etc. Just Nuts!

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:35, some people (particularly those with taste and/or money) judge a property for what it is on its own merits, not what it costs...you must be very shallow!

Anonymous said...

Shallow people rule the world.......get over it!

Oh Mama said...

This looks like a supercomfortable home.

There are just a few too many awkward details... Why is the fireplace in the master bedroom at such a weird anglefrom the bed? What's up with that nook that's basically a crawlspace above the living room? What's going on with all those see-through bookshelves? And the window from the stair to the living room? Why are the ceilings so low (I know he's tiny, but c'mon...)?
And with that huge property -why is the tennis court so close to the house you could probably smell the sneakers from the living room?

However, Jill seems to be hapy with the settlement: http://gawker.com/5261536/brad-grey-gets-a-smiley-face-on-his-divorce-papers

Anonymous said...

Beautiful interior

Dan said...

Beautiful interior