Billionaires snap up homes in Platinum Triangle

LOS ANGELES — Joyce Rey stands in the soaring marble entryway of a palatial Bel-Air estate, ticking off its selling points.

Master suites? There are five of them, along with three living rooms, a gymnasium and a library. The dining chamber is "embassy-size," and the pool and gurgling fountains are on par with those at the finest hotels.

"There are six bedrooms under the tennis courts, and nine more above the 10-car garage," Rey tells fellow sales agents scouting the place on behalf of clients. "And don't forget to see the kitchen downstairs. It's a commercial kitchen, and big enough to feed an army."

At $40 million, it's not for everyone. Yet Rey knows business has never been better in what's known as the Platinum Triangle of Beverly Hills, Bel-Air and Holmby Hills.

Soccer star David Beckham, Amazon.com Chief Executive Jeff Bezos and actor Tom Cruise all bought here this spring, paying $22 million to $35 million for their own grand estates.

Now Rey is on the verge of her biggest deal. In April, she and another agent landed a five-acre Bel-Air estate known as Fleur de Lys, built by Metro Networks founder David Saperstein and his then-wife, Suzanne, in the 1990s. Asking price: $125 million.

The mansion, modeled after France's Versailles palace, has 45,000 square feet of living space. Features include a ballroom adorned with ceiling frescoes, a library stocked with prized first-edition books, and an indoor jogging track.

In the past two months, there have been more than a dozen showings, and the only ones allowed in for a tour are those who can prove they can afford it. In other words, billionaires.

If the property sells for anywhere near its asking price, it would break the record for the most expensive residential sale recorded in the United States. The record currently belongs to another Platinum Triangle address, a Bel-Air estate bought by telecom mogul Gary Winnick in 2001 for $94 million, according to public records.

Last week, the 1920s-era Beverly Hills mansion that once belonged to William Randolph Hearst was put on the market Monday for $165 million, making it the nation's most expensive residential listing. The pink stucco, H-shaped estate, dubbed "Beverly House" by the late newspaper magnate, spreads across 6.5 acres north of Sunset Boulevard. It has just about everything a billionaire could want, including three pools, 29 bedrooms, a state-of-the-art movie theater and even a disco.

"Homes like this will always have buyers because this is where the rich want to live," Rey says.

While much of the United States suffers through a real-estate slump, sales in the Platinum Triangle are stronger than ever.

In the first four months of the year, 23 estates selling for at least $10 million closed escrow in the area, according to records kept by local real-estate agents, up from 10 last year.

By contrast, home sales in Los Angeles County fell 19.1 percent through May, according to research firm DataQuick Information Systems.

The richest 5 percent of the nation's population saw its average household wealth soar 40 percent (adjusted for inflation) from 1990 to 2005, according to census data. That contrasts with a 7.3 percent increase for middle-income families.

The super-rich are also getting super-richer: In 2000, 274 Americans on the Forbes 400 list had a net worth of at least $1 billion. By 2006, all 400 on the list had at least that much.

Rick Goodwin, publisher of Ultimate Homes magazine, says the U.S. is going through another Gilded Age.

"The wealthy are growing exponentially compared to the rest of us and they've got the money to really fulfill their fantasies," Goodwin says. "One way they do that is by buying trophy properties."

Material from The Seattle Times archive is included in this report.