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Hugh Hefner agrees to sell iconic Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles
By Lauren Hirsch, Reuters
The famed Los Angeles mansion of Hugh Hefner, founder of the Playboy empire, is under contract to be sold to private equity executive Daren Metropoulos, a Playboy Enterprises spokesman said on Monday.
The Gothic Tudor-style mansion, which has an area of 20,000 square feet, was listed earlier this year for $200 million, Reuters reported in January.
Metropoulos is a principal at private equity firm Metropoulos & Co. He did not respond to a request for comment.
'We can confirm that the Playboy Mansion is in escrow with Daren Metropoulos as the buyer. Due to confidentiality restrictions, we are not able to comment on any specifics, including what contingencies need to be cleared to close the sale,” the Playboy spokesman said in an emailed statement.
In addition to a tennis court, free-form swimming pool and other amenities, the estate is home to the Playboy grotto, which over the years was the setting for some of Hefner's most lavish parties.
The mansion was built in 1927 and purchased by Playboy in 1971 for a reported $1.1 million, a figure property agents said was the largest real estate transaction in Los Angeles history at that time.
The Playboy Mansion Holmby Hills residence was built for department store scion Arthur Letts Jr. in 1927 and later acquired by Playboy in 1971. As part of any sale, Hefner will be allowed to remain in residence for the remainder of his life. The Gothic Tudor-style estate has about 20,000 square feet of space with 29 rooms including two kitchens, a wine cellar and a screening room. A resort-style swimming pool, a tennis court, a four-bedroom guesthouse, aviaries and arboretums make up grounds of more than an acre. (Jim Bartsch)
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