Thursday, June 30, 2011

UPDATE: Jennifer Aniston, Lucky Lady

Thanks to a covert communique from Our Fairy Godmother in Beverly Hills Your Mama has learned that the deal is done done done for Ohana, the Beverly Hills, CA mansion sit-com star and rom-com queen Jennifer Aniston heaved on the market in March 2011 with a hefty asking price of $42,000,000. That's right, kids, Miz Aniston sold her luxury real estate puppy in just over three months time.

According to a document provided by Our Fairy Godmother in Beverly Hills, the transfer was recorded on the 24th of June for an as-yet undisclosed amount of money. The spendy buyer's identity, not surprisingly, is shielded by a corporate trust. More on that later.

Despite Miz Aniston's optimistic-seeming asking price, qualified buyers flocked to the property and–we heard through the Platinum Triangle real estate gossip grapevine–at least two offers in excess of $30,000,000 quickly surfaced. Intel we received from friends and sources led us to speculate that the buyer might be Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich or maybe even Russian banking and fertilizer multi-billionaire Andrey Melnichenko.

We also heard whispers from the real estate peanut gallery that the buyer was not a Russian at all but rather a New York-based financier. At one point we heard something so odd and outlandish that we never mentioned it in any of our many previous discussions on the topic; We heard from a woman we'll call Stacy Outinleftfield who told us the buyer was a money man from Orange County (CA).

Well, dontcha know that according to the aforementioned document provided to Your Mama by Our Fair Godmother in Beverly Hills, Miz Aniston's estate was purchased by an entity that calls itself the Banana Trust that links back to the offices of a Goldman Sachs subsidiary in–tah-duh!–Irvine, CA.

We quickly put out a few feelers with some of our most well-informed informants. Within minutes of sending an email we heard back from a plugged-in real estate insider we know–let's call her Chatty Cathy–who floated the name of–are y'all ready for this?–a billionaire mutual fund manager from Orange County named Bill Gross.

After a scoot and scout around the interweb and a some drilling down into scads of public property records we found at least one other property in Orange County owned by Mister Gross and his wife–a gal named Sue–that links back to the same Irvine office as the Banana Trust. Coinky-dink? No. We consulted our all but omniscient informant Lucy Spillerguts who was able to confirm with absolute certainty that the buyers are Mister and Missus Gross.

Mister Gross, co-founder of Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), manages the Pimco Total Return Fund that maintains assets of nearly a quarter trillion dollars. No, babies, that is not a slip of our nubby fingers; Mister Gross's monster mutual fund actually holds assets of more than $240 billion. In 2008 Mister Gross's Pimco Total Return Fund profited an astonishing $1.7 billion dollars from the near-collapse of home loan juggernauts Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac. Forbes recently estimated that Mister Gross has a personal net worth just above two billion bucks.

A spin through Orange County property records reveals Mister and Missus Gross own several very posh pads in the OC that include (but are not limited to): An ocean front house in a gated enclave in Laguna Beach they've owned since at least 1989; Another, nearby house in Laguna Beach bought in December 2008 for $4,500,000; A cliff side house in Corona del Mar with panoramic ocean vistas he and the Missus snatched up for $8,100,000 in August 2006; A Newport Beach records show was purchased for an undisclosed sum in June 2007; And a perfectly ordinary tract house in an inland gated development in San Clemente they picked up in late 2006 for $1,040,000.

Records show Mister and Missus Gross also own an 11,316 square foot mansion that backs up to the golf course of the Vintage Club in Indian Wells, CA, a condo in Park City, UT and a condo in Cupertino, CA. They also, as per prop records, lay claim to a spectacular 7,091 square foot house on 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach, CA that backs up to one of the famous fairways of what is arguably the most famous golf course in all of the world.

Although their property portfolio bulges with extraordinary properties, Mister and Missus Gross's real estate story didn't get really interesting until July 2009 when they spent a reported $23,000,000 to acquire an 11,000-plus square foot mansion on the gated Harbor Island enclave in Newport Beach, CA. The couple proceeded to demolish the 9 bedroom and 12 bathroom house but seem to have had a real estate change of heart and just this month flipped the now bare parcel back on the market with an asking price of $26,500,000.

Did Mister and Missus Gross catch a classic case of The Real Estate Fickle with the Newport Beach property? Did they decide they didn't want to deal with the hassle and time involved with building a mansion from the ground up? Or did they decide on entirely different digs, say, a newly renovated move-in ready celebrity-owned mansion in Beverly Hills?

Your Mama contacted Mister Gross's office for comment, confirmation or denial in regards to the purchase of Miz Aniston's Ohana, but have not yet received a response.

As for Miz Aniston, well, beehwatcha made out like a bandit. She paid $13,500,000 for the 9,000-plus square foot gated residence in Bev Hills, originally designed by architect Hal Leavitt, on November of 2006. Rumor and report has it she sold for somewhere around $37,000,000 although at one point we we're leaked the number $35,500,000. Of course her profit decreases dramatically when the massive renovation costs and fat real estate fees are considered, but Your Mama would not be the least bit surprised if Miz Aniston walked with ten million big ones.

Last month Miz Aniston purchased a pair of small apartments in New York City that she plans to combine into a small-ish but stylish duplex penthouse. The upper level–formerly the wee penthouse pad of hair honcho Sally Hershberger–spills out to a wrap terrace with seven million dollar views west to the glittering Hudson River and north to the twinkling Midtown skyline that includes the Empire State Building and–even better–the Chrysler Building. We hear she has a third unit, adjacent to the lower of the two she just bought, in contract as well but we don't have any proof of that, hunties.

Your Mama does, however, have it on quite good authority–two good authorities, actually–that Miz Aniston plans to maintain real estate roots in Los Angeles and has peeped a number of properties in the Sunset Plaza and Beverly Hills areas. Miz Aniston plans, it seems, to live a bicoastal life, the ultimate geographic real estate dream of almost everyone Your Mama knows.

Lucky lady.

47 comments:

Anonymous said...

First, Mamma you taking to twitter gets me instant updates on your wise blog! Loves it!

Second, Ms. Aniston is fatasically swart in her real estate dealings and is far smarter than her ex husband who is better tuned to diaper duty than real estate flipping. Funny how that shoe fell.

Love this property and can't wait for her next AD Spread!

P.S. Only Negative on this piece of dirt is when I am Sierra Towers having cocktails I can see right up in this lair... privacy is limited to all but the nosey Sierra Tower Chic Inhabitants.. oh la la.

StPaulSnowman said...

At any price over thirty million, and having studied all of Mama's previous posts assiduously, the buyer must be a real Jennifetishist...........there better be some panties left in a drawer somewhere. Mama, I would never presume to improve your prose, I do have to say that my first read through I read, "after a scoot and snout" rather than a "scoot and scout." The whole, pig, truffles, and yes, panty thing works better with the mistake. GO PETRA KVITOVA.....kick some pseudo-Russian ass!!!

Anonymous said...

Um, what does Pitt have to do with any of this? He has important things to focus his time on, like a family. Why should he care about real estate flipping? He apparantly doesn't need to sell one house in order to buy another.

Anonymous said...

Ya still can't let go of Pitt. No matter how many men's she's slept with since, it always comes back to him. He has more important things to concern himself with, like his family. Also, it appears that HE does not need to flip properties; he appears to have more than enough to buy, rent, maintain whatever he wants.

Anonymous said...

I hope this real estate truly has closed as I'm sick to death of hearing about Jennifer Aniston selling this butt ugly house.

Babe Parish said...

So from here on out, I'm equating "mutual fund money manager/hedge fund hog" with the ol' 'stand by occupation, "importer/exporter". Goldman Sachs subsidiary indeed...f.u.- Hey, a**hole, enjoy your new house that the robber barons of Wall Street helped you buy. So, I guess trickle-down economics will work here: Aniston will be able to employ bitchy stylists, nice gay decorators, etc., etc., for many more years to come! God Bless America, except for YOU Mr. Gross and your wife named Sue. There's a fly in the ointment in the hills of Hollywood...

Anonymous said...

Wow, so much dislike and opinion for people none of us know.

Give the girl a break, we've not walked in her shoes or done her breathing in and out. We don't know why she's made the decisions she has... Maybe she can't have children.
One of the greatest beauties of living in this great land is that we can buy homes and cultivate our careers without children if we want. We can divorce people who cheat on us and we can pick up and move to TriBeCa if we want.

Thanks for the report Mama.

Anonymous said...

She lost money on the deal. Purchase price plus renovation, carrying costs, broker fees, taxes etc.

Anonymous said...

I'm hoping Mamma knows which address the late actor Laurence Harvey owned on Cabrillo Dr in BH in the late 60'a early 70's. It was later owned by the late comedian Flip Wilson. I hope it wasn't one of the homes bought and torn down by Ellen D. I thought LH had bought it from Liz Taylor...

Anonymous said...

DEAR ANON 6:25, PLEASE REMOVE YOUR ROSE COLORED GLASSES WHEN YOU COME TO THIS SITE. SOME OF "US" DO KNOW THE PEOPLE INVOLVED, SOME OF THE TIME.

THANKS!

angie said...

From the linked page where photos of the Newport Beach house he tore down are:

Summary

Mr. Gross is a founder of PIMCO where he oversees more than $1 trillion of fixed income securities.

-----

I never imagined I'd live to see the day when I'd stumble across the word 'trillion' bantered about in successive articles referencing anything other than our national debt, and certainly not associated primarily with just one individual. The times are changing and my head is spinning a bit. Thanks Mama.

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering if this move to New York has something to do with the rumors that she pulled an "Angelina Jolie" on screenwriter Justin Theroux and his longtime girlfriend.

Theroux grew up in the UK, but his father is American (the travel writer Paul Theroux) and Justin's apparently been living in NYC for some time.

Anonymous said...

The fact that this man profited off the virtual collapse of the US house market is just vulgar to me. Pair that with ripping down a perfectly good house for no good reason elevates it to repulsive. Sounds like a modern day Gordon Ghecko...and we all know what happened to him... I hope Jenn laughs all the way to the bank and his shrine falls off the cliff its sitting on.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Gross. What a marvelous name for him. I couldn't have found anything better. He appears to want a different house to visit for every month or the year or is there some other reason to buy so many? Ifn his investment fund was such a good place to put money I wonder why he puts his into houses. Re: Ms. Aniston. Since her divorce she seems sexually and emotionally aimless. Let's hope she can find a house to love and settle down with. I think she'd be happy married to the right house.

Anonymous said...

@9.10

Aniston is dating Justin Theroux, not Louis Theroux.

They're cousins, Louis Theroux is British [Son of Paul] & Justin is American.

midTN said...

She finally sold it?

Thank God!
***

...(sure ya ain't foolin us mama?)

Anonymous said...

Your Mama, I have read that the third apartment is in a building across the street from the penthouse apartment. I have seen the floor plans of both the second and third apartments. Other than both being one bedroom, the two apartments are so dissimilar, I can see them being in different buildings, but as Your Mama says, what do I know.

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:26 -

Oh I imagine you do know some of the people, but I doubt you know this lot. Puuulllleeeaaaasssseeeee.

lil' gay boy said...

Working out her real estate demons in the constant public eye is beginning to get just a wee bit tiring.

Rub one off already & get on with the business of life.

Anonymous said...

StPaulSnowman,
Are you serious, StPaulSnowman? (as Emma Stone would say)
No chance for panties being left behind in the drawer, since she fictiously has them FED-EXed to Canada "as is" after each use, so the fictious person's 'banned-in-Ontario' Pit Bull can give it a good sniff to see if there has been any intruders.  

Babe Parish,
PIMCO wasn't the only ones that truly understand the markets, all the markets. When and why decision making can make a person very wealthy from just understanding the state of the market(s).

Anonymous July 1st, 6:26PM,
Many reasonings to tear down a house. Sometimes it's best not to say why; such as a malicious blue collar worker intentionally making an error during construction.  I've personLly scene (witnessed) that in residential contruction.

Anonymous July 1st, 7:11PM,
From reading Your Mama's list of houses Mr. Gross owned and owns, I think he is a happy person.  These homes are located in the midst of happiness.  
1.)  Pebble Beach is very much enjoyed by all around the world, in person and on video (TV, internet) for golf and automobiles as participants and viewers.
2.). Indian Wells is world known for its tennis tournament that brought and brings joy to millions around the world when their nation's player has won the tournament (under various sponsers).  Tennis players have said for years that they enjoy the tennis tournament, and the golf courses during their days of rest.  Families take their kids to this low populated area for the tennis tournament.  This is a big, big tournament.
3.). Laguna is enjoyed by many around the world with vacation cash, and even those with not so much: ie. Laguna Seca raceway, which is very well known to me for decades (since my early teen years) when Road&Track magazine takes cars there for testing.

It seems to me Mr. Gross likes happy places.  Jennifer seemed happy in her Ohana house from the pictures that I saw.  She stated she is very proud of that house.  

Everybody is happy with this real estate transaction, except the caffienated, non-cardio crowd, misunderstood market news readers and jealous people.

May Mr. Gross, and his family, be blessed with continued happinesss and more clients.

I'm happy, too!

Trixie von Trott said...

Is Ohana sitting on an oil reserve or a gold mine? I just can't see $35m worth of property here. Did Jen sweeten up the deal? Saucy little minx...

Jeannified said...

Wow...I just can't believe that she got that much money for her place. Oh well..."Jennifetishist" is right. I'm sure the panty hunt is ON!!!

Anonymous said...

anon 2:13

Holy know-it-all!
Comments are NOT a blog,they are comments.

Anonymous said...

I'm really curious to see what her next LA home looks like as well as her new NYC digs. I'll be off to realtor.com to check out listings for Sunset Plaza and BH listings.

Anonymous said...

I dont think it was such a good deal because it looks like she sold it including all furnishings. She bought the house for US$ 15 m plus renov costs of around US$ 10m plus funitures and arts in her house of around US$ 5 m (her painting alone was US$ 1 m) that's US$ 30 m already, plus broker fees and taxes, i doubt if she made US$ 2-3 m tops if she sold it for US$ 35m.

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