Unique Properties
La Belle Vie fetches $40 million
Gracing the cover of our Winter 2011 issue, the elegant limestone façade of La Belle Vie is welcoming a new owner. The former home of philanthropist Iris Cantor sold in late June for $40 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The mammoth property boasts nine bedrooms, 21 baths and 12 fireplaces within its 35,000 square feet and originally entered the market at $53 million in 2009. The home also offers a three-story entry hall, a formal library, a media room, a gym and a beauty salon, plus a pool, a tennis court and a 10-car garage.
“It had anything that anybody need[ed],” points out Ron de Salvo of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, who had the listing. “It was not on a huge piece of land — one-and-a-quarter acres — but it had all the amenities that anyone would need. [The home] had perfect scale and proportion. Every room felt livable and comfortable.”
The property’s location was one of the biggest draws. It rests on a raised knoll in Bel Air, which de Salvo calls “one of the top three locations in southern California.”
“When you were in the house, you looked out on acres and acres of green. You had the feeling that you were on a lot of land because you saw nothing else,” he says.
Prospective buyers would come, but ultimately, they “kept coming back” to La Belle Vie, de Salvo says. He adds, “You could find a bigger parcel and a bigger house, but you couldn’t find a better house.”
La Belle Vie marks one of the highest sales this year in Los Angeles County, and it’s only adding to the deafening buzz in the Southern California luxury sector.
“We’ve had a huge upswing in units sold,” de Salvo says, noting that sales this year of homes valued at $20 million or more are far outpacing those of the last two years. “People are realizing you can’t replicate the land. You get a lot for your money here.”
$12.5 million sale ‘makes a statement’
A Sarasota, Fla., mansion recently sold for $12.5 million, placing it among the top three sales in the county’s history.
Originally on the market for $17.5 million, the 1.3-acre property in Longboat Key also ranks as the second-largest sale on a single lot, says Louis Wery of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, who had the listing.
“It definitely makes a statement. It’s gong to be good for the Sarasota region and bodes well for the real estate market here,” he affirms.
The more than 11,000-square-foot estate offers four bedrooms, six full and two half baths and a breathtaking double grand staircase. However, the home’s stunning features were second to its affiliation with the exclusive Longboat Key Club and Resort, which offers, among other amenities, guard-gated security. A chance to buy one of those properties “comes up once in a blue moon,” Wery says.
The privacy and security of the area was “crucial” to the new owner, an unnamed buyer from Europe. Wery notes that celebrities have found the area attractive for purveying a sense of anonymity. As he puts it, “People leave you alone; they don’t hound you here.”
Another huge selling point was the estate’s location: “It’s one of only eight homes in that section right on the Gulf,” Wery says. “It’s easy to get to downtown, and yet your backyard is the Gulf of Mexico and the beach.”
Downtown Sarasota is bursting with arts and culture, like the Sarasota Opera and the Ringling International Arts Festival. The fact that Florida’s “Cultural Coast” attracted a buyer from Europe says a lot about the area, according to Wery.
“If someone from Europe comes down here and falls in love with it, that’s the proof that this is a pretty wonderful spot,” he says.
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