In the final days of 2020, a massive Beverly Hills estate sold for $29.4 million — an amount marking one of the largest sums ever paid for a house in the so-called Beverly Hills Flats neighborhood pocket, though it’s not even half the $58.9 million the estate asked when it was first offered for sale in 2017, as reported by The Real Deal. Evidence indicates the unusually expansive 1.68-acre property was purchased by Jordana Reuben Yechiel, the daughter of English real estate billionaire David Reuben. (Records reveal the discounted estate was technically acquired by an entity whose listed manager is Yechiel’s longtime husband, Hezi Yechiel.)
Astute property watchers will recall that Yechiel is already noted for being a discount-hunting billionaire shopper. Five months ago, she paid $15.3 million for Kimora Lee Simmons’ home in the guard-gated Beverly Park community — nearly $10 million less than what Simmons herself paid for the property just four years ago.
Born in 1979, Yechiel is related to two of Britain’s richest men. Per Forbes, her father and uncle sport a combined net worth of $15.4 billion, making the Reuben family the U.K.’s second-wealthiest. At one point, the brotherly business partners were Russia’s biggest foreign investors, though in recent years the family has become focused on snazzy new developments and restorations of major mansions closer to home, such as London’s Grade I-listed Cambridge House, which they are converting from a private residence into a five-star hotel. The Reubens are also not new to Los Angeles; the pair recently funded a loan for the $2.5 billion redevelopment of L.A.’s Century Plaza site.