Media mogul David Geffen is reportedly selling his Malibu beach fortress for $100 million
As reported by Variety, film and music industry mogul David Geffen is quietly selling his "Billionaire Beach" compound for $100 million.
The estate - which once belonged to Doris Day - comprises five parcels of land first bought in 1970 and 1999. Geffen combined them to make two gigantic homes, complete with a swimming pool, screening room, and privacy hedges aplenty.
Of course, there's no public listing for this infamous property. It's currently being "shopped" to the pre-screened clients of one of LA's "preeminent brokers," Variety reports.
This secretive style is certainly Geffen's signature. The reclusive billionaire has had many squabbles with the public interest, the main bone of contention being the fact that California law requires all beaches be accessible to the public.
In 1983, Geffen applied for a permit to build a new house on the properties he'd had conjoined, according to the California Planning & Development Report. The permit required the dedicating of a "vertical easement" (aka a sidewalk-to-shore pathway) for public use. Before the permit was even approved, Geffen went ahead with construction and the pathway was built and blocked with a locked gate.
By 2002, the State of California's Coastal Commission and Coastal Conservancy and Access for All public agencies finally agreed to his proposal, but Geffen and the City of Malibu sued to stop the public from using it, alleging Access for All's acceptance of the permit was illegal and unconstitutional. Geffen dropped the suit before a second circut court ruled against him, and the gate was unlocked.
Geffen has also agreed to "lateral easements" (taking some of his land away in the rear of the property and offering it to the beach) in exchange for permission to build "privacy buffers."
He's even gone so far as to install gigantic hedges in front of the property and, allegedly, build fake garages to prevent the public from parking in front of his house.
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That's a lot of drama to inherit - on top of a $100 million price tag.