Arts District condo sells for a ‘Furious’ price
Downtown luxury market kicks into gear with $5.5-million deal for director’s loft.
Director Justin Lin just closed the priciest deal ever for a condo in downtown L.A.’s Arts District, selling his penthouse loft for $5.5 million.
It’s a defining sale for downtown L.A.’s luxury market, which took a hit during the pandemic as buyers worked remotely and abandoned vertical living in favor of single-family housing.
The sale also ranks as the area’s most expensive condominium sale outside of the Ritz-Carlton Residences at LA Live, where NBA players such as Kawhi Leonard and Lonzo Ball have bought homes to be close to Crypto.com Arena.
Lin, who’s best known for directing five films in the “Fast and Furious” franchise, bought the place a decade ago for $2.6 million from actor-director Vincent Gallo and used it as an office for his production company, Perfect Storm Entertainment. Records show he listed it for sale earlier this year at $7 million.
At 4,300 square feet, the four-story condo sits atop the Biscuit Company Lofts, a 1925 building that once served as the West Coast headquarters of Nabisco.
Converted into a livework space in 2007, the loft is a vibrant concoction of brick, wood and glass. Floating staircases slice through the open-concept space complete with two bedrooms and 2½ bathrooms, including a primary suite that spans the entire third story.
There’s plenty of exterior space as well, as multiple terraces and lounges combine for 3,600 square feet outside. The building, which was named a historic-cultural monument in 2007, adds amenities such as a concierge, garden terrace and swimming pool.
Lin’s brother, Jimmy Lin of One True Loan, held the listing with Justin Alexander and Tab Howard of Compass. Michael Robleto, also with Compass, represented the buyer, whose identity remains unclear.
A native of Taiwan, Lin earned a film degree from UCLA before directing movies such as “Better Luck Tomorrow” and “Star Trek Beyond.” He most recently directed 2021’s “F9” and is serving as a writer and producer for the next entry in the franchise, “Fast X.”
Price drops for a hot pink compound
If at first you don’t succeed, slash, slash the price. That’s Joel Silver’s strategy in Brentwood, where he just relisted his hot pink megamansion for $49 million — a 35% discount compared with his previous ask of $75 million.
Silver, the film producer behind blockbuster franchises such as “Die Hard” and “The Matrix,” will still make a hefty profit if he gets his price. He bought the property for $3.3 million in 1988 and razed the existing structure, commissioning Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta to build a 25,000square-foot mansion in its place.
If it sells for $49 million, it will be the third-priciest sale in Brentwood history, behind Scooter Braun, who spent $65 million on a modern farmhouse last year, and massage chair mogul Matt Wollman, who unloaded his fortress-like estate for $56.55 million a few months later.
One of the brightest and boldest homes in the area, the pink compound is a perfect representation of Legorreta, whose whimsical style brought color to both Mexico and the U.S., including the 1994 redesign of Pershing Square.
He finished Silver’s home in 2001, sourcing most of the materials from Mexico and bringing together modernist spaces marked by geometric angles, towering skylights and pyramid-like ceilings.
Highlights include a 30foot-high family room with hydraulic doors and an atrium with a reflection pool.
Elsewhere are eight bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a formal dining room, chef’s kitchen and amenities such as an office, library, gym, sauna and movie theater.
Multiple decks and a heated dining area overlook the backyard, where flat lawns surround a swimming pool and spa. The grounds cover 4.5 acres.
Branden and Rayni Williams of the Beverly Hills Estates hold the listing.
Silver, 70, has been producing box-office hits since the 1970s including the “Predator,” “Matrix,” “Die Hard” and “Lethal Weapon” franchises. More recent credits include “Sherlock Holmes” and “Project X.”
Beck offers a home built for musicians
Grammy-winning musician Beck is shopping around his Craftsman-style home in the hills of Los Feliz for $2.95 million — nearly triple the $1.045 million he paid for it in 2014.
The price hike is a result of the work Beck put into the property. Listing photos show he turned the place into a musician’s haven, soundproofing the living spaces and converting the garage into a music studio and movie theater.
It’s perched in the Oaks, a celebrity-filled enclave on the west side of the neighborhood where actors such as Zac Efron and Melissa McCarthy have owned houses. Built in 1948, the hillside home now boasts a chic gray exterior that gives way to warm living spaces loaded with picture windows and hardwood floors.
The open floor plan combines three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a dining area and marble-splashed kitchen across 2,364 square feet. Angled beams top a flagstone patio, which leads to a terraced backyard with leafy nooks and a fire pit.
Beck, an L.A. native whose full name is Beck Hansen, has racked up eight Grammys during a decadeslong career. He’s released 14 studio albums, including 2019’s “Hyperspace.”
He’s owned a variety of L.A. homes over the years, including a Gerard Colcord-designed Tudor in Brentwood, which he sold for $3.44 million in 2018.
Roger Perry of Rodeo Realty holds the listing.
Others can’t hold a candle to this listing
The house that Yankee Candle built just surfaced for sale at $23 million in Massachusetts — and it’s a doozy.
Half theme park, half mega-mansion, the 120,000square-foot compound was built over two decades for Michael Kittredge, the entrepreneur who grew a small homemade candle operation into one of the biggest candle manufacturers in the country, Yankee Candle. Kittredge died in 2019 at age 67, and his son Mick is handling the sale.
Stunning in scope, the 60acre estate grew parallel to Kittredge’s business over the years. It started out as a modest three-bedroom Colonial in the 1980s and evolved into a private oasis with an amenities list that puts other luxury listings to shame.
Some listings feature two islands in the kitchen. This one has five.
Some listings feature a putting green. This one comes with a nine-hole golf course.
Some listings feature a three-car garage. This one boasts two climate-controlled car barns with room for 60 vehicles.
Some listings feature a tennis court. This one has three, including two clay courts and an indoor court with a 25-foot oak bar and 4,000-square-foot stage at one end where bands such as Hall & Oates and the Doobie Brothers have performed.
Some listings feature a game room. This one offers an arcade decked out with slots, pinball machines and carnival-style Skee-Ball — as well as a three-lane bowling alley and billiards room.
Some listings feature an indoor pool. This one comes with an indoor water park with slides, waterfalls and palm trees all tucked under a ceiling painted like the natural sky — which was inspired by the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
Some listings feature a gym and spa. This one offers a 55,000-square-foot facility with a sauna, steam room, locker rooms, massage rooms, a 4,000-square-foot gym and full kitchen.
The house spans 25,000 square feet and holds five bedrooms, 8½ bathrooms, 11 fireplaces and vast living spaces with custom millwork and towering columns. Highlights include a stone wine cellar, oval office and rounded dining nook overlooking the grounds.
Trees, lawns, ponds and pergolas fill out the 60-acre setting, surrounding additional structures such as a clubhouse, cabana and pair of guesthouses. It’s located in Leverett, a town in Franklin County about 90 miles west of Boston.
Johnny Hatem Jr. of the Sarkis Team at Douglas Elliman holds the listing.