Playboy Mansion to sell to neighbour for over $100mn

Bloomberg

The Playboy Mansion is under contract for more than $100 million. The buyer: a 32-year-old son of a billionaire who already owns the property next door.
Daren Metropoulos, principal at investment firm Metropoulos & Co. and co-owner of Hostess Brands, has agreed to buy the Holmby Hills, California, estate where Playboy founder Hugh Hefner will continue to live, Metropoulos’s representative said.
Jeff Hyland, president of brokerage Hilton & Hyland, whose agents represented the seller, said he worked for a losing bidder who offered “nine
figures.”
Metropoulos, the son of private equity investor Dean Metropoulos, 70, bought the property next door in 2009 for $18 million as his personal residence and hopes to eventually connect both properties, according to a statement from the buyer.
The Playboy Mansion was listed earlier this year for $200 million.
Daren Metropoulos “is pleased to continue to have Mr. Hefner as his neighbour and feels fortunate and privileged for the opportunity to serve as a steward of this historic property,” Hannah Arnold, a spokeswoman for Metropoulos & Co., said in a statement.
The Metropoulos family has owned and sold brands including Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, Perrier Jouet champagne, Ghirardelli chocolates, Bumble Bee tuna, Chef Boyardee canned goods and Duncan Hines baking mixes.
John Vlautin, a spokesman for Playboy Enterprises Inc., confirmed that Metropoulos was the buyer, and declined to provide additional details.
“It’s very good news,” Hyland said. “It shows the strength of the luxury market in Los Angeles.”
The roughly 20,000-square-foot (1,900-square-meter) Los Angeles property, which Hefner bought for $1.05 million in 1971, includes a 29-room mansion with a catering kitchen, wine cellar, home theater, gym, tennis court and swimming pool with a cave-like grotto.
It is also one of the few private residences in Los Angeles with a zoo license, according to Playboy Enterprises, which owns the property and leases it back to Hefner.
The listing agents were Drew Fenton and Gary Gold of Hilton & Hyland and Mauricio Umansky of The Agency. The agreement was first reported earlier Monday by the Wall Street Journal.