#David Geffen hits pay dirt with $34M empty lot in Beverly Hills

A former DreamWorks executive and entertainment industry billionaire just hit pay dirt!

Infamously avid yachter David Geffen, who recently incurred backlash for posting pics from his $590 million big boat during the COVID-19 lockdown, has sold an empty lot in Beverly Hills’ Billionaire’s Row for close to $34 million, Realtor.com reports.

The one-acre development site is on a dead-end road in one of the costliest streets within the famously high-priced Trousdale Estates space of Beverly Hills, set in a cul-de-sac of nine properties.

The neighborhood of enormous homes also includes those of billionaire “Minecraft” creator Markus Persson and a Regency-style home that once belonged to Elvis Presley.

The vacant lot has changed hands on six different occasions since 2013, with none of those owners yet choosing to build anything on the empty parcel of land. That may soon change, though, as plans for a 24,500-square-foot mansion, designed by architectural firm Shubin Donaldson, have already been approved and were included in the sale. 

Previous plans on the development site include seven bathrooms, 14 loos, a bowling alley, a personal nightclub, a wellness middle and sweetness salon and a 140-foot-long vanishing edge pool for the property.

A company entity tied to East Coast-based financier Ed Parisi, tore the former home down on the land and sold the vacant lot in March 2014 to Emirati businessman Khadem Al-Qubaisi for $15 million. After a multibillion-dollar scandal involving Al-Qubaisi, billionaire Alex Soltani bought the land for 22.4 million dollars in 2016. 

After holding for just around two months, Soltani let the property go for a profit of just under $10 million, selling the lot for $32 million to Thai businessman Sumet Jiaravanon.

Geffen, 77, subsequently bought the property from Jiaravanon for $30 million in mid-2019, $9 million less than the original listing price when it hit the market last year for $39 million, according to Mansion Global.

Billionaire property developer Randall Van Wolfswinkel bought the property from Geffen. Earlier in 2020, Geffen had sold another Beverly Hills property in a record
$165 million deal to Jeff Bezos.