Sometime around Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin’s surreptitious marriage last September in a downtown Manhattan courthouse and a handful of months before they dropped $8.5 million on a spec-built mansion in the Benedict Canyon area of Beverly Hills earlier this year, they were rumored and reported to have forked over a knee-buckling $100,000 per month to temporarily occupy a lavishly appointed villa in low-key but high-toned Toluca Lake, Calif., that is now up for sale with an $8.45 million price tag. Listing agents Andrew Mortaza and Bryan Castaneda of The Agency declined to comment on the property, which tax records indicate is being sold by Kathleen McIntyre and Howard Atkins, a former CFO of Wells Fargo, who acquired the home about a decade ago for $4.9 million.
Originally built in 2000 and recently re-built to expensively exacting standards, the three-story residence is partly obscured behind a high hedgerow on a coveted waterfront parcel. the property also encompasses more than one-third of an acre with five bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms in roughly 6,500 square feet. The exterior of the white-stucco and red tiled roofed Mediterranean villa, which is described in marketing materials as a “Spanish contemporary,” disguises fashionably spare, almost minimalistic interiors punched up with top-of-the-line materials, bespoke finishes and glamorous light fixtures.
Lustrous, obsidian-black wood floors and chalk-white walls in the voluminous rotunda entry continue throughout the spacious, crisply rendered entertaining spaces that include a baronial dining room just inside the front door. At the rear of the house, which overlooks itty-bitty Toluca Lake, an L-shaped great room spokes off around an all-white, open-concept kitchen fitted with gleaming, snow-white marble countertops and an imported range that costs almost as much as a C-Class Mercedes. Nearby, a cozy nook features a fireplace, and the combination dining area/family room is lined with glass doors that facilitate an easy transition to the outdoor living and recreation areas. Guest bedrooms are ample with generous closets; guest bathrooms are snazzily updated; and the master suite occupies a premium, lake-view location on the upper floor. Another fireplace sits in a private sitting room, decorated with French doors that open to an awning shaded terrace. The home’s dressing room is lined with floor-to-ceiling wardrobes, and the five-star bathroom is slathered in luminous white marble.
In addition to garage space for four or more cars, a subterranean level contains what was surely an attractive feature for the YouTube phenom turned international pop superstar: a soundproofed recording studio. Outside, a sheltered dining terrace overlooks a lagoon-style infinity edge swimming pool and spa surrounded by towering palm trees. Below the pool, a slender strip of lawn at the bulk-headed water’s edge provides a convenient spot to tie up paddle boats, kayaks and any other small watercraft allowed on the private six-acre private lake.
