112 acres in Brentwood: Largest estate in decades | Real Estate news

In L.A.’s jam-packed real estate market, an acre is big. Five acres is a dream. But 100-plus acres is historic.

The Robert Taylor Ranch, a large equestrian estate sprawled in the hills of Brentwood, is hitting the market for $70 million.

At 112 acres, it’s the most important residential estate to hit the market in town of L.A. since at least the Eighties, when the Multiple Listing Service began monitoring home gross sales. For reference, the property single-handedly makes up more than 1% of Brentwood, which spans just over 15 sq. miles.

There are a handful of bigger residential properties around L.A. — including the Mountain, a prized 157-acre undeveloped parcel in Beverly Crest that once listed for $1 billion — but none with properties on them that have formally hit the market.

The ranch has roughly 20,000 sq. ft of residing space unfold across 4 buildings. There’s a 12,000-square-foot major home with seven bedrooms, a canine spa, artwork studio and therapeutic massage room, as nicely as a guesthouse, barn and workshop.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime estate,” stated Rochelle Maize of Nourmand & Associates, who’s handling the itemizing.

Designed in 1950 by architect Robert Byrd, the ranch was constructed for oil baron Waite Phillips and later owned by actors Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck, who hosted events at the residence. In its Old Hollywood heyday, it once featured a secret on line casino accessed by hidden doorways; the on line casino has since been eliminated, but the hidden door and hallway, discovered through a rotating bookcase, stay.

In the ’70s, the property was purchased and reworked by Ken Roberts, the live performance promoter who turned KROQ-FM into a rock radio giant. Roberts tried promoting the ranch a handful of occasions over the next few decades, asking $45 million for it in 1990, but it was ultimately seized by a hedge fund in 2010 after Roberts was unable to repay a $27.5-million loan from New Stream Capital.

The property was auctioned off two years later to Chicago real estate developer Fred Latsko for $12 million and most just lately traded palms for $18.7 million in 2015.

Titanic estates have dotted L.A. over the final century, but most have been whittled down by builders subdividing the tons and promoting them as separate properties. With so many house owners over the years, Maize stated it’s a shock that it hasn’t been chopped into items.

“When it last listed, there were two other offers from people that wanted to subdivide the land,” Maize stated. “But my client wanted to keep it together and update the property while maintaining the original feel, and it’s one of the reasons why their offer won.”

During the newest possession, a four-year transform introduced new finishes including bronze home windows, reclaimed timbers, limestone flooring and hand-laid stucco both inside and out.

The property options 14 flat, buildable acres, while the remainder of the hillside estate is navigated by climbing trails. It consists of eight Assessor’s Parcel Numbers, that means a purchaser might divide it into eight totally different properties. It would carry an finish to the ranch’s spectacular acreage, but offer a lot of incentive for a developer wanting to add housing.

“The potential will be attractive to some,” Maize stated. “But either way, the buyer will be someone that values privacy. The setting here is second to none.”