A fully furnished Beverly Hills estate once owned by Merv Griffin is hitting the market for $100 million.
Built around 1940, the Georgian-style home sits on about 5 acres in prime Beverly Hills. The main house measures about 12,000 square feet with seven bedrooms.
It was owned by Mr. Griffin, the late TV host, in the 1980s and 1990s, according to his son, Tony Griffin. The property has been restored and updated by its current owners: filmmaker Jefery Levy and fashion designer Pamela Skaist-Levy, co-founder of the labels Juicy Couture and Pam & Gela.
The sale price includes the home’s furnishings and art, including works by Robert Motherwell and Julian Schnabel, Mr. Levy said.
The estate, listed with Josh Flagg of Rodeo Realty, includes a pine forest where a 1920s wooden cabin is nestled amidst the trees, Mr. Levy said. A formal rose garden encompasses roughly another acre of the property. A separate building housing the gym is next to a sunken tennis court. There’s a saltwater swimming pool, and the pool pavilion doubles as a movie screening room with space for about 100 people. There’s another, smaller screening room inside the main house.
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The couple paid $17.5 million for the house in 2005, according to public records. At the time, “it was in a terrible state,” Mr. Levy said, noting that the house needed new plumbing and electrical systems. “It took us 10 years to really bring this house to where it is now.”
They kept as many of the home’s original details as possible, he said, but renovated the kitchen and bathrooms. In the basement of the main house they built a recording studio, sound design studio and film editing suites for Mr. Levy, he said. Outside they added a putting green and two driving ranges. In total, Mr. Levy estimated they spent about $12 million updating the property.
Over the years the couple has hosted events for up to 2,000 people at the home, including their son’s bar mitzvah with about 1,500 people, he said. The property has also appeared in Mr. Levy’s films “Me” and “The Key.” “The movies starred the house, pretty much,” he said.
A sitting room in the home now owned by filmmaker Jefery Levy and Juicy Couture co-founder Pamela Skaist-Levy.
PHOTO: JEFERY LEVYHe said they’re selling because their son will soon be headed to college and “it’s a very big house for the two of us.” Plus, several recent big-ticket home sales in Los Angeles—including the Playboy mansion—suggest that market conditions are favorable.
He said they’ve decided to sell the art and furniture because much of it was designed or selected specifically for the house. He said they plan to keep another home they own in Malibu and will likely buy a home in New York City.
Ms. Skaist-Levy and her business partner Gela Nash-Taylor sold Juicy Couture to Liz Claiborne in 2003.