Despite having recently had a website saying it's for sale for $1 billion and a high-end real estate agent talking to the press about trying to sell it, The Vineyard Beverly Hills is totally not for sale, the son of one of its owners says. The 157-acre, pretty much undeveloped, hilltop property—which is actually just outside Beverly Hills in Los Angeles's Beverly Crest neighborhood—launched a website in early 2015 announcing "Ownership will not consider looking at any offers under 1 Billion USD." But now that The Hollywood Reporter has aired its dirty laundry, full of lawsuits, mysterious Middle Eastern royals, celebrities, and buy-ins made with no money at all, Victor Noval insists in what amounts to a press release in the Beverly Hills Courier that "Stories reporting that The Vineyard is for sale, that the price is $1 Billion, and that its ownership is in dispute and other misinformation, are simply untrue."
The Vineyard's ownership is complicated, but its public face is Victorino Noval, who once did federal time for mortgage fraud; he owns the property with a motley crue including the former trustee of the property's last owner. The group settled a significant lawsuit over control of the property in 2013, but "[a]ncillary lawsuits continue to simmer," according to The Hollywood Reporter. Meanwhile, an unnamed "member of a prominent royal family in the Middle East" has been pumping money into the property to keep things afloat, starting with "several million dollars" and eventually shelling out enough "to cover every contingency," including nearly $60 million to pay off a debt on the property that was specified in the 2013 lawsuit settlement. He now has an option to buy The Vineyard.
The Courier "story" says that an LLC called Secured Capital Partners (of which Victor Noval is general manager) "has funded the approximately $100 million for infrastructure improvements, carrying costs, property taxes, and to pay off" the debt mandated by that lawsuit settlement.
Victor Noval says that "There are no plans to sell The Vineyard Beverly Hills in the foreseeable future. The property, at the size of Disneyland in 90210, is simply not replaceable and therefore is not currently for sale. The only plans are to continue to offer The Vineyard as a special event site which we hope will benefit the community and charitable organizations everywhere." The site began hosting events to raise its profile for a potential sale (the first event in 2014, for Charlize Theron's charity, went very poorly, but Rihanna's Diamond Ball later that year was reportedly a success).
· Victorino Noval Foundation Sets Record Straight On Billion-Dollar Beverly Hills Vineyard [BH Courier]
· Bev Crest "Vineyard" Will Not Entertain Offers Under $1 Billion [Curbed LA]
· The Most Outlandish Tales About the $1-Billion Trophy Property of Beverly Hills [Curbed LA]