Bren Simon, widow of billionaire shopping mall developer Melvin Simon, has sold the couple’s Bel Air home for $34.9 million, according to people with knowledge of the transaction.
The property was most recently listed for $37.5 million with Jerry Jolton of Coldwell Banker Previews International. But it traded at a significant discount from its original asking price of $50 million in 2010, the year after Mr. Simon’s death at age 82. The listing has been on and off the market since then. Mr. Jolton declined to comment.
Spanning about 1½ acres next to the Bel-Air Country Club, the gated estate includes a roughly 20,000-square-foot Italianate villa with an outdoor swimming pool, formal gardens and a subterranean garage with room for about 10 cars. The nine-bedroom house has a wood-paneled library and a roughly 2,000-square-foot master suite. On the lower level there is a gym and a spa area with a hot tub, salon chair, a manicure/pedicure chair and a steam room.
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The Simons, who owned homes across the country, purchased the estate in 2006 for $27.5 million, then purchased the lot next door in 2007 for about $9 million. The year after Mr. Simon’s death, his widow bought three adjoining properties in Hidden Valley, Calif. for nearly $21 million and listed the Bel Air home. Though she initially planned to build a home in Hidden Valley, she instead sold the parcels, according to public records. Ms. Simon couldn’t be reached for comment.
The buyer was represented Joy Denton of Sotheby’s International Realty, who declined to identify the purchaser but said he is a local businessman.
Mr. Simon built shopping centers across the country, including the Mall of America. After his death Ms. Simon was involved in a struggle with his children over changes he made to his will months before his death.
Write to Candace Taylor at Candace.Taylor@wsj.com