Friday, February 22, 2013

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino Buys and Sells

SELLERS: Michael Rapino and Jolene Blalock
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $2,975,000
SIZE: 4,710 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: In late 2003, right about the time Live Nation Entertainment CEO and President Michael Rapino married petite and pin thin model/actress/accomplished Crayon artist Jolene Blalock (Star Trek: Enterprise), property records show he coughed up $2,850,000 for a micro-estate in L.A.'s lower Nichols Canyon that he and the missus listed last month with an only slightly higher price tag of $2,975,000. The price must have been spot on because within three weeks the mock-Med villa—built in 1979 with four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms—was put into escrow with an unknown buyer.

Live Nation Entertainment is a recent and somewhat controversial merger between Live Nation—a concert promoter—and ticket selling juggernaut Ticketmaster. Live Nation owns dozens of performance venues around the country and they produce, promote and sell oceans of often high-priced tickets to vast numbers of concerts and other events. According to online statistics—and you know how everything you read on the internets is true—Live Nation had nearly $5.5 billion in gross flow through revenue in 2011.

Some of the more eagle eyed and memory blessed children might recall that a few weeks ago Your Mama discussed some scuttlebutt then making its way around in the Platinum Triangle about former Live Nation Executive Chairman Irving Azoff shaking up his music mogul worthy real estate portfolio.

Anyhoo, active listing details show the walled and gated micro-estate encompasses: a sizable motor court with parking for five or more cars; a front-facing attached three car garage; several modestly scaled but lushly landscaped gardens and courtyards; a partly octagonal two-story residence that opens to an indoor/outdoor living/dining area with a built-in barbecue station; a heated salt water swimming pool ringed by hedges and one of those abominable child-safety fences; and, finally, a lighted tennis court overlooked by a tented and curtained pavilion stuffed full of body torturing gymnasium equipment. All that, children, is crowded like a Tokyo subway car during rush hour onto a compact .58 acre lot.

the interior spaces are—natch—wired for sound and security and include a proper entrance hall, a sunny great room with fireplace, a separate formal dining room with oddly angled walls and wood floors and a brooding, oak paneled den with vaulted ceiling and built-in wet bar. The center island eat in kitchen is certainly spacious and well-equipped with a built-in desk area and top-notch stainless steel appliances but there's something, well, a little too ordinary about it. Maybe it's the ho-hum blond Shaker style cabinetry, the buff colored tile floors and/or maybe its the too ubiquitous MacMansion-style beige and brown flecked granite counter tops? The second floor master suite, according to the listing descriptive, skews celebrity-style with a sitting area, fireplace, dual walk-in custom closets and an over-sized bathroom with spa tub and steam shower.

As it turns out, Mister and Missus Rapino—who currently have one toddler age child—have already acquired their next home, a two parcel compound in a particularly posh pocket of Brentwood in Los Angeles with a  a much larger, far more expensive and more family-friendly mansion and a separate guesthouse. Property records show they paid $14,750,000 for both parcels.

The main house, a gated and new-fangled East Coast-ish sort of traditional with black shutters, measures in at 11,213 square feet with five bedrooms and six full and three half bathrooms including a spacious master suite with private office, walk-in closet and dual bathrooms.

Although the property spans just .66 acres, there's adequate room for a parking lot-sized tree-shaded circular motor court at the front and out back a deep terrace that extends the full-width of the house as well as a fair swathe of flat lawn—where Your Mama would bet Mister Rapino soon installs a very expensive jungle gym—and a decent-sized heated swimming pool.

In addition to all the usual features—formal living and dining rooms that both have fireplaces, a roomy family room, a chef-friendly kitchen, etc.—the three-story mansion has a fully finished basement that contains a guest (or staff) suite, a fitness room, an office, a bedroom-sized temperature controlled wine cellar, a projector equipped screening room and a suburban kitchen-sized laundry room outfitted with two washers and two dryers, a center island folding table with marble counter top, inlaid tile floors and enough high gloss white cabinetry to stock every brand of detergent, fabric softener and bleach known to mankind. As can and ought to be expected in a nearly $15 million mansion in Los Angeles, the property is secured with a state-of-the-art closed circuit television system.

Included in the Rapino purchase was an adjacent but legally separate parcel that happens to butt up against the extensive, sculpture sprinkled grounds—see the coiled Serra piece in the lower right corner?—that surround the whackadoodle architectural confection that Frank Gehry conjured up for home building tycoon and deep pocketed art world patron Eli Broad and his wife Edye. Gehry's extravaganza makes a thrilling and geometrically complicated if not easily comprehensible amalgamation of very contemporary residential and museum-style vernaculars but, then again, what does Your Mama really know about anything?

Anyhoo, the L.A. County Tax Man Office—and other information we easily teased out of the interweb—shows the mostly wooded .66 acre property sits well well off the street up and around the bend down a long, shared driveway and includes a 2,365 square foot ranch style house with three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms in 2,365 square feet. Combined the two lots total 1.19 acres.

listing photos (Nichols Canyon): Coldwell Banker / Beverly Hills South
listing photos (Brentwood): Partners Trust
aerial photo (Eli Broad): Google

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a big upgrade! I expect they'll soon install a tennis court in the new house.

Anonymous said...

"Included in the Rapino purchase was an adjacent but legally separate parcel that happend to butt up against the extensive, sculpture sprinkled grounds—see the coiled Serra piece in the lower right corner?—that surround the whackadoodle architectural confection that Frank Gehry conjured up for home building tycoon and deep pocketed art world patron Eli Broad and his wife Edye and that—in Your Mama's humble and entirely meaningless opinion—makes a thrilling and geometrically complicated if not easily comprehensible amalgamation of very contemporary residential and museum-style architectural vernaculars."

Mama, ya know I love ya, but your sentences sometimes leave me gasping for air!

Anonymous said...

No, I think that Mama is a very gifted writer, I understand Mama perfectly. But I do have a question. Is there any way to provide a child-safe barrier to a pool that doesn't look like absolute dog mess (no disrespect to Mama's longbodied bitches, you understand)

lil' gay boy said...

Quite a odd arrangement; from the aerial view, the Gehry house seems to be the dominant parcel (as well as a more prominent abode with a lot twice the size) whilst the "East Coast-ish" manse (985 Oakmont) occupies a smaller portion on a roughly triangular lot whose narrow point is almost adjacent to the Gehry lot -- according to Redfin, they don't actually adjoin.

I would love to know how this pairing came about; there is a tiny 3 bedroom house (975 Oakmont) with what appears to be a right of way that wraps around the parcel at 985;

Mama, have you been dipping into the nerve pills a little early? Redfin says 985 is paired with 975; the Gehry is 75 Oakmont & Zillow (I know, I know, about as accurate as threading a tatting needle with twine) indicates that 985 is $12.1M, 975 is $2.39M, and the Gehry is $8.48M.

Think maybe 975 is the guest house mentioned in the listing?

Petra's said...

LGB, if I'm reading this right, Mama mentioned "included in the purchase was an adjacent parcel that butts up against ... the whackadoodle architectural confection."

Methinks Mama wanted an excuse to post a picture of that house, not that I'm complaining. ;)

lil' gay boy said...

Aww darlin' you're so right...see what happens when you blog at work?

;-)

Anonymous said...

Interestingly enough, Eli Broad and Frank Gehry had a falling out before the Broad house was completely designed (according to the Architectural Digest article from a number of years back) and it was completed by another architect (with some of Gehry's ideas). Wonder how that design bill was settled? Thanks for the great blog...

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Anonymous said...

Are there any cliches or stereotypes about Brenthood as a neighbourhood? OK, it's a rich one, but so are Bel Air, Holmby Hills, Pacific Palisades and perhaps parts of Santa Monicaa - how does it differ from them? What is Brentwood known for?

Rosco Mare said...

O.J., unfortunately.

Anonymous said...

Brentwood is known for its (mostly) rural, tranquil atmosphere. It's also very conservative - probably the most so out of those wealthy neighborhoods you mentioned. Brentwood Country Mart, Mandeville Canyon, ranches, horsies, etc. In the past decade or so it has gotten uber-uber-upscale tho.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I see. It's basically an English village in the middle of Los Angeles. It seems to be devoid of ugly megamansions, if we remove houses like Tom Brady's for example.

Shopgirl said...

Mama -- heard that Wayne Newton's vegas home hit the market on Friday. Would love to see you slice and dice that listing!

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FalseProfit said...

As much as I despise Eli Broad and his relentless attack on public education, I adore his house. If it were located on the other side of the 405, it would be my favorite house in LA.

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Justin Robins said...

That home is beautiful! Absolutely stunning! Is this how the 1% live lol!

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Icon brickell said...
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PRAMOD said...
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