Six-foot-four W.N.B.A. phenom Candace Parker is an undisputed big winner on the polished boards of the basketball court. However, when it came to the recent sale of her home in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley, she took a small L.
After it popped up for sale late last year at just under $2.8 million, the celebrated power forward, who announced this week she’d signed a two-year deal with the Chicago Sky after 13 extraordinarily successful seasons dribbling and shooting for the L.A. Sparks, has shed the roughly 4,500-square-foot architectural in a deal valued at $2.439 million, a smidgen under the $2.475 million tax records show was paid about 3.5 years ago.
Set into a sweeping curve of a short cul-de-sac in the affluent suburban foothills south of Tarzana, a heavily trafficked 25-mile drive from the Staples Center where the Sparks play, the wood, glass and concrete four-bedroom and 4.5-bath 1975 contemporary is fully updated with first-class finishes.
Double front doors open directly and informally into a double-height dining area enhanced with an eye-catching light fixture that gives off the vibe of a geometric dandelion. To one side, and furnished with little more than a pool table, the spacious living room sports a massive, book-matched marble fireplace between floor-to-ceiling windows and glass sliders that are filled with serene and leafy, tree house-like views.
The crisply clean-lined open-concept kitchen, with strongly veined white marble counters on gleaming snow-white cabinets, conveniently sits between the entry/dining area and family room where a minimalist concrete fireplace floats at an angle over the hardwood floor. A built-in bar is set into a wall of highly polished zebra wood built-ins, and foldaway glass doors lead to a quiet and grassy flagstone patio with bowl-shaped fire pit and built-in bench seating. Elsewhere, a spacious home theater has blood-red suede theater recliners.
A small but voluminous library/office is where Parker displayed her many trophies and accolades, and the multilevel home’s guest bedrooms include a double-height suite with full-height sleeping loft and another clad in wood with a slim private balcony. The main bedroom features a wood-beamed cathedral ceiling and a simple but imposing raised hearth brick fireplace painted steel grey, as well as a sleek bathroom that includes a steam shower perfect to soothe aching post-game muscles. Glass sliders lead to a spiral staircase that winds down to the backyard.
Telescopic walls of glass peel open to expose the main floor living and entertaining spaces with the not particularly large but enviably private and smartly configured backyard. Shielded by mature trees and thick foliage that provide verdant screening to block out neighboring homes, the backyard offers a small swimming pool with inset spa, a built-in grilling area and a pergola-covered area.
The property was listed with Josh Altman and Matt Altman of The Altman Brothers Team at Douglas Elliman; The buyers were repped by Marjorie Markus at Coldwell Banker.
Parker, who made the playoffs a dozen times, won a championship in 2016, earned a spot on five All-Star teams, and picked up a couple of coveted M.V.P. awards while with the Sparks, may be headed to the Chicago to ply her considerable skills with the Sky but she will maintain a solid toehold in Tarzana. Late last year she shelled out about $4 million for a brand-new “modern farmhouse” of about 6,300 square feet with five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a screening room, and a tree-shaded sport court squeezed behind a poolside guesthouse.