After years on and off the market, one of Southern California’s most idiosyncratic real estate white elephants has sold at auction. The entire top floor of the sexy and fabled Sierra Towers building transferred for $17.5 million, a huge discount off the $33.9 million asking price. And the discount becomes even greater if you consider that the same apartment was once offered for as much as $58 million.
At 7,000 square feet, the penthouse is big enough to qualify as a veritable “mansion in the sky,” though it’s not currently livable. The entire space is gutted, ripe for a major remodel, and will likely require millions more in construction and interior design costs. But the place boasts some of the city’s best views, with thrilling jetliner vistas of the entire L.A. skyline, from Downtown to Century City and the Pacific Ocean.
While property records confirm the number was $17.5 million, the local MLS shows a transfer price of $19.6 million, an amount that could reflect an additional 12% buyer premium to the auction house. Either way, the seller —Â private equity heir Evan Metropoulos, whose brother Daren owns the Playboy Mansion — took a massive loss on the penthouse. Long two separate units, he purchased the entire floor from two different sellers in two separate transactions totaling $27.2 million. He subsequently spent another fortune combining both units into one full-floor spread, gutting the entire premises, and paying a prestigious architecture firm to draw up plans for a sexed-up bachelor pad. In the end, changing his mind about finishing the project cost him dearly — at least $10 million, and likely far more.