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Dec 13, 2023

Bob Hope’s Former L.A. Home Sells for $26 Million

Shares the stories you may have missed from the world of luxury real estate

Shares the stories you may have missed from the world of luxury real estate

The newly restored Los Angeles home of the late comedian Bob Hope has sold for $26 million, becoming one of the most expensive homes to sell in the San Fernando Valley, according to listing agent Kevin Dees of The Agency.

The eight-bedroom, roughly 15,000-square-foot home is located in the Toluca Lake neighborhood, about 10 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The seller was billionaire supermarket mogul Ron Burkle, who listed the property for $29 million in May 2022. The buyer couldn't be determined.

Mr. Dees, who also represented the buyer, declined to name the purchaser but said he doesn't expect to see major changes to the property.

Mr. Burkle, who has renovated a number of historic estates, spent $15 million to buy the property in 2018 and restored it, maintaining original design features like Mr. Hope's wood-paneled office, a vault where Mr. Hope stored paper copies of his jokes, and a single-hole golf course with a putting green and bunkers.

Mr. Burkle also owns Mr. Hope's former Palm Springs estate, which he bought for $13 million in 2016.

Mr. Hope and his wife, Dolores Hope, built the main house around 1940, according to the book "Hope: Entertainer of the Century" by Richard Zoglin. Today, the estate has a commercial kitchen, a home theater, a gym and a conference room. Walls of glass and numerous outdoor terraces connect the interior to the roughly 5-acre property.

The grounds have separate guest and staff quarters, plus a tennis pavilion, a saltwater pool and a barbecue kitchen, said Mr. Dees.

Mr. Hope, who died in 2003, starred in the "Road to…" series with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour and is known for hosting the Academy Awards 19 times. Ms. Hope died in 2011.

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Mr. Burkle, an investor, is chairman of the parent company of the private club brand Soho House. He owns several other significant homes, including the late Michael Jackson's onetime Neverland Ranch and a circa 1920s Beverly Hills estate built by silent movie-star Harold Lloyd. He restored the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Ennis House in Los Feliz and sold it for about $18 million in 2019.

Mr. Dees said the sale is the most expensive ever to trade in Toluca Lake, where home sales have previously topped out at around $18 million. High-end home sales remain strong in the area despite constrained inventory, he said.

Luxury single-family homes in Los Angeles sold for an average $18.97 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, up 18.8% year-over-year, according to data from Douglas Elliman.

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