Malibu Beach to sell for more than Playboy Mansion, break Los Angeles price record
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Malibu home, owned by Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Peter Morton, was slated to sell for $110 million in an off-market deal on Tuesday.
Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Peter Morton is poised to sell his Malibu estate in an off-market deal for $110 million.
Morton was expected to be sealing the deal in a closing on Tuesday, selling the home to natural gas billionaire Michael S. Smith and his wife, Iris, Mansion Global has learned. The estate, consisting of a five-bedroom main house and three-bedroom guest house, will set a new record for the highest price ever paid for a home in Los Angeles County — surpassing the Playboy Mansion, which sold for $100 million in 2016.
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Architect Richard Meier, whose signature white-clad contemporary mansions dot Malibu, designed the residence in teak wood and glass, according to a 2006 profile of Morton in The Los Angeles Times. Morton, 70, could not immediately be reached for comment.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The custom teak shell, which draws back like shutters to let the light into floor-to-ceiling glass — reportedly needs daily oiling to keep its warm, rich hue.
The teak-embellished property sits directly alongside the Pacific Coast Highway. (Google Street View)
The home will smash Malibu’s record sales: a tie between David Geffen’s Carbon Beach compound and powerbroker Kurt Rappaport’s beach mansion, both of which sold for $85 million, Mansion Global previously reported.
It is believed the Malibu residence will also break a national price record in terms of price per square foot, a source said. The house — modest compared to its ultra-luxury neighbors at about 8,000 square feet — will sell for $13,750 per square foot.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}By chance, Smith, CEO of Freeport LNG, paid the exact same price for a beach home on the opposite coast in 2016. He shelled out $110 million for 6.4-acre estate in East Hampton, New York.
But the off-market Malibu deal may not hold its record status for long. Los Angeles currently boasts the country’s most expensive listing, a $350 million estate owned by late billionaire Jerry Perenchio, in addition to a handful of newly built mega-mansions with nine-digit asking prices.
Agents Rayni and Branden Williams of Hilton & Hyland represented the seller.