In the world of real estate, sometimes buyers and sellers find it propitious to split their properties into smaller ones in order to sell them more easily, or without having to move from their homes. So it was with real estate investor Gary L. Wilson, the former owner of the sprawling 4.5-acre estate that once belonged to Bill Goetz, one of the founders of 20th Century Fox. In 2017, he split 2.3 acres of that estate and sold it to one Nicolas Berggruen, the same billionaire who has now purchased the other half of the Holmby Hills estate to bring it back to its former glory, reports The Real Deal.
The 2017 purchase was for $40.8 million, and included the expansive main house of the estate, an 11-bedroom mansion in the Georgian revival style that dates back to the Goetz days. The home on the adjoining, recently purchased half, is a much more modest two-story home with 1,780 square feet as well as a two-story pool house, which is one of the reasons why the more recent buy was for so much less money: the final sale price is reported to have been $22.5 million, to be precise.
And that was a bargain compared to the property's original asking price. When the property was first put up for sale the asking price was at $37 million, before dropping down to $25 million in its most recent listing.
No one knows for sure what Berggruen plans to do with the newly whole Goetz estate, but recent Hilton & Hyland marketing materials for the split-off portion called it "the perfect opportunity to build a grand main house to complete this compound," so the possibility exists that that's what he'll do.
In the meantime, you can check out the original main house on the estate in the video below, from videographer Robin Fenlon:
