UPDATED, Aug. 1, 1:51 p.m.: Scott Gillen has spent the past few years developing uber-luxury homes in Malibu, most of them on spec. Now, Gillen is putting 13 of those properties together, listing them as a single collection, dubbed “The Malibu Series.”
Asking price for the lot? Half a billion dollars. Or, an average of around $38 million per home.
It seems an odd time to list so many ultra high-end homes as a single portfolio, when the luxury market in Los Angeles is already softening amid a large supply and the effects of that spec home development. A second-quarter report by Elliman last month also showed that in fire-damaged Malibu, sales fell more than 50 percent, to 29 homes.
“The Malibu Series” portfolio includes his crown jewel, the New Castle, itself a spec mansion that hit the market back in 2015 for $60 million. The 15,000-square-foot home features a 400-foot driveway, a teak library-like wine room and a humidified cigar room.
The collection also features properties in two guard-gated communities, as well as three single-family homes, in different stages of construction.
Gillen and his firm, Unvarnished, are the force behind all of the properties. While properties like New Castle are already on the market, the $500 million portfolio reflects the first time the 13 properties are marketed as a collection. Tracy Tutor of Douglas Elliman has the listing. Gillen did not comment on the collection, which included extensive marketing materials. A spokesperson for Elliman said the properties could still be sold individually.
If purchased at asking, the Malibu Series collection would represent the priciest residential sale ever in Los Angeles County. The title of most expensive individual home ever sold in the county goes to the Spelling Manor in Beverly Hills. That record was set last month, when Petra Ecclestone sold the iconic mansion for $120 million.
Still on the market is the troubled 157-acre Mountain of Beverly Hills development site — reduced from $1 billion to $650 million — which Gillen was believed to offered to buy for $400 million. Spec home developer Nile Niami’s $500 million off-market Bel Air mansion he is calling “The One” is still for sale.
At the top of the list is the New Castle, which had been listed as high as $85 million and is now on the market for $75 million. The home sits on a former Scottish-style castle, and also features a butterfly sanctuary.
Gillen is also including the “Case Residences,” his largest project to date, which includes “five fucking spectacular mid-century modern homes,” he told The Real Deal in an interview last year. Those homes, on a 24-acre spread overlooking the ocean, are priced between $50 million and $100 million. One of the homes was reportedly in escrow for $40 million in March. Construction is underway and expected to wrap in 2020.
Another community included in the portfolio are “The Who Homes,” a gated enclave that features four houses priced at $16.5 million each. Two of the houses in that community have sold and another one is under contract, according to a representative who is marketing the Malibu Series.
The $500 million portfolio also includes a 7,000-square-foot pad on Malibu Road and 5,000-square-foot home in Point Dume for $25 million each, as well as a 1.5-acre property in Paradise Cove Beach. There is no asking price on the Paradise Cove property, which is being remodeled.