Holding the Land Around LA Landmark for Ransom
February 22nd, 2008 Categories: Hollywood Hills, Real Estate, Real Estate News
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Walk of Fame… people from all over the world come to Los Angeles looking for the glamour of the movies. One of those landmarks may be changing- 138 Acres are up for sale right by the Hollywood Sign.
It can be your’s for a cool $22M.
The land on Cahuenga Peak, just above and west of the Hollywood Sign, was once owned by Howard Hughes as he planned to build a love nest there for his then flame Ginger Rogers. Things didn’t work out for them or the property- it stayed in his trust for decades.
The owners now are a group of Chicago investors, Fox River Financial Resources, who bought it in 2002 for $1,675,000. That’s quite an appreciation there, guys. The city says it was appraised for $6M and they would raise that much to buy it from the developers to preserve the site. The developers aren’t budging from their $22M pricetag. Maybe they can get it- but is it right?
On the listing realtor’s website, they say that the land has 5 contiguous parcels with the potential for building a single family residence and a guest house on each. Yes, our job, for those of us in real estate, is to sell properties but talk about selling your soul. They have convinced themselves that asking $22,000,000 is fair market value.
I’m sure the investors are banking on the emotion that surrounds the Hollywood Sign and hoping the city and conservationists miraculously raise enough money to buy the land from them. If that happens, how do you feel about our tax dollars going into these developers’ pockets?
Update: This story made the NBC Nightly News, on Monday 2/25/08.
