After years of attempting to sell her high-floor flat in L.A.’s iconic Sierra Towers building, initially for as much as $7 million, Hong Kong heiress Ki-Yan “Karen” Lo is getting serious and prepared to take a major loss. Following months off the market, the idiosyncratic duplex has just returned with a $4.75 million pricetag — that’s a whopping $500,000 less than what Lo paid back in 2013, when she bought the place from Cher.
Lo, a certified U.S. real estate whale with a $250 million property empire, is a member of two of Asia’s wealthiest families. Her grandfather Dr. Lo Kwee-Seong founded the billion-dollar Vitasoy beverage company, whose soy milk product have long been staples in China and Hong Kong. And she’s also related, albeit peripherally, to the late Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho and his daughter Pansy Ho, who was at one time Asia’s richest woman.
Built in 1965 and designed by midcentury specialist Jack A. Charney, Sierra Towers remains a legend to fans of modernist, minimalist skyscrapers. Straddling the border between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, the 32-floor tower is perched above the very western end of L.A.’s bustling Sunset Strip. That irreplaceable location has gifted the striking building with an almost endless list of current and former famous residents. Current owners include Sandra Bullock, Adam Sandler, Kelly Osbourne, Courteney Cox, and rocker PJ Harvey — just to name a few.
Lo’s condo has a particularly star-studded past. Per records, the spread was owned by David Geffen in the ’80s. In the early aughts, it was home to provocative Indie film producer Vincent Gallo (“The Brown Bunny,” “Buffalo ’66”). Gallo sold the place to Cher in 2003 for $3 million, and everyone’s favorite Egyptian warrior goddess subsequently hired flamboyant designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard to reimagine the interiors. Bullard’s overhaul remains intact today, and is best described as Moroccan-meets-Balinese in style.