In June, we'd heard that media mogul David Geffen might be quietly shopping his infamous Carbon Beach property in Malibu for an even $100 million. Now, Geffen's spot "is in escrow with an unidentified buyer for somewhere in the gasp-worthy neighborhood of $85 million," Variety hears from a pair of sources. Geffen made his huge spread famous by fighting in creative ways to block public access to the beach. Now, he's possibly passing the torch to some other steward of exclusivity.
The property is comprised of what was once five parcels that Geffen bought in in two phases, one in the mid-1970s and another in 1999. In 1983, Geffen agreed that a public path to the beach could be installed through his property but in 2002, Geffen filed a lawsuit to keep people out. To prevent people from parking outside his house, he installed four fake garage doors facing Pacific Coast Highway, a move that erased the curb in the process, so that people couldn't park on the (public) road in front of his house.
In 2007, Geffen gave in, but was allowed to put in some kind of buffer to protect his privacy in return for letting people get to the public beach. After all that trouble, one would expect Geffen to stick around for decades at this lovely spot on Billionaire's Beach, but it seems that he's spending a lot more time on the East Coast (the Hamptons, Manhattan) and is looking to offload the place.
Geffen's now-two-parcel property is laid out as a multi-building compound, and is rumored to contain a screening room, lawns, a swimming pool and spa, a lily pond, a guest house, and a two-story main house.
· David Geffen Inks Deal to Sell Malibu Compound (EXCLUSIVE) [Variety]
· David Geffen Selling His Infamous Malibu Spread For $100M [Curbed LA]