Low-profile business magnate Don Hankey has added to his already healthy stable of Malibu homes by expanding to Carbon Beach, the deluxe strip of sand sometimes referred to locally as “Billionaire’s Beach” because nearly all the residents there are members of the three comma club. A company linked to Hankey’s longtime wife has plunked down about $20.8 million for a large but decidedly oddball estate set immediately next door to a property owned by Larry Ellison, the Oracle kingpin and Carbon Beach’s de facto ruler.
While he’s not exactly a household name, Hankey is indeed a three comma card carrier. Forbes says he packs a $3.2 billion pocketbook punch, a vast fortune primarily made in an unglamorous manner, by providing scores of subprime auto loans to credit-challenged clients. In recent years, however, Hankey and his slew of companies have expanded into the lucrative worlds of insurance, software, and real estate. That’s how the 77-year-old L.A. native wound up as the biggest creditor on “The One,” a Bel Air mega-mansion built by Nile Niami. Once marketed at $500 million, “The One” has since faced deep price cuts and foreclosure proceedings, the latter initiated by Hankey’s entities.
As for the Carbon Beach estate, it’s not quite what you might expect of a $20 million Malibu mansion. Actually, it doesn’t look like a house at all. From Pacific Coast Highway, the place appears to be a rather unattractive commercial building, perhaps even a mini strip mall, with its three vacant side-by-side storefronts. But behind that façade lurk multiple other structures — three guest apartments, plus a midcentury main house and a separate pool house. There are also two swimming pools, each with their own in-ground spa.