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 — 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.
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Image Credit: Redfin Surprisingly, records reveal the discount buyers are not billionaire tech moguls, crafty real estate investors, or mysterious foreign potentates. Rather, they are Sylvia Neil and Daniel “Dan” Fischel, a married couple of law professors from Chicago.
Fischel is a former professor of law at Northwestern University and former dean of the University of Chicago’s Law School; since 1984, he has been on faculty at the latter university as a Professor Emeritus of Law and Business. Neil is the former associate dean of the University of Chicago’s Law School and is currently on faculty as a lecturer of law.
Outside of the classroom, Fischel is perhaps best-known for testifying as an expert economics witness in high-profile court cases. In the 1980s, he famously testified on Michael Milken’s behalf, when the latter was on trial for securities fraud. Milken eventually went to prison, and Fischel later authored a book on him (“Payback: The Conspiracy to Destroy Michael Milken and the Financial Revolution He Created,” published 1996.)
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Image Credit: Redfin It’s also certainly worth noting that Fischel has long been chairman and president of Compass Lexecon, one the globe’s most successful economics consulting firms with $600 million in annual revenue. The company employs economic scholars — professors, economists and assorted legal experts, mainly — to testify on behalf of clients charged with white-collar crimes. More than 80% of America’s Fortune 100 companies have engaged Compass Lexecon services at one time or another, though those services come at a hefty price — some of the top consultants command more than $1,000 per hour for their time, and at least one economist has raked in more than $100 million in fees for his services.
Some of those hefty economist fees have been invested into luxury real estate. Back in 2018, Fischel’s right-hand man — Compass Lexecon managing director Jonathan Orszag — paid Adam Levine $18 million for a teardown mansion in L.A.’s exclusive Holmby Hills neighborhood. (Orszag is midway through completing construction of a huge new house on the premises.)
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Image Credit: Redfin It’s not yet clear what Fischel and Neil plan to do with their new Sierra Towers penthouse, but the couple are avid art collectors with their own gallery at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, so it’s likely the place will be decorated with a truckload of priceless works, all of which will enjoy a stunning view backdrop of L.A.’s entire basin. Lucky art.
Of course, the HOA fees for the penthouse alone would be enough to bankrupt any number of “regular” professors — Fischel and Neil will shell out a whopping $10,569 per month, according to the listing. That figure helps pay for the building’s famously discreet and attentive staff members, which number several dozen and include 24/7 valet, concierge and security staff. Residents enjoy underground parking, and attendants even give their cars a daily wash. There’s also a communal swimming pool on the premises.
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Image Credit: Redfin A striking example of 1960s minimalist architecture, Sierra Towers has long been a favored real estate destination for the rich and famous of all stripes. Current celebrity residents in the 31-story building include Sandra Bullock, Courteney Cox, Kelly Osbourne, and Adam Sandler; former residents count everyone from David Geffen and Elton John to Lindsay Lohan and Lily Collins.
In addition to their new $17.5 million penthouse in Los Angeles, the Neil-Fischels also maintain a magnificent $20 million estate in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where they have spent summers since 2000. The multi-acre property sits just outside Teton Village and backs directly up to the Snake River, overlooking the rushing water as it flows out of the Grand Tetons. Neil and Fischel are both lifetime members of the prestigious Grand Teton Music Festival, where Neil has served as board president.
The couple also keep a multimillion-dollar condo at the oceanfront St. Regis towers in Bel Harbour, Florida, immediately north of Miami Beach. In 2009, they paid $8.5 million for an apartment in Manhattan’s One Beacon Court, the same building where Beyoncé has long owned a penthouse. Three years later, that art-filled unit was resold for $13 million to Lana Sawiris, a daughter of Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris. The couple’s main residence, however, is a lavish duplex penthouse at a boutique 1930s high-rise on Chicago’s Gold Coast.
Aaron Kirman of Compass and Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency jointly held the listing; Josh Greer of Hilton & Hyland repped the buyers.
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Image Credit: Redfin -
Image Credit: Redfin -
Image Credit: Redfin -
Image Credit: Redfin -
Image Credit: Redfin