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The LA estate of late fashion designer Max Azria will soon hit the auction block, nine years after it was first put on the market for $85 million, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The nearly three-acre estate in LA’s Holmby Hills was listed in 2015 for $85 million and was removed and put back on the market multiple times that year, according to Zillow. By 2016, the asking price increased to $88 million and remained elevated through the end of 2019, at which point the price was cut to $78 million. Since then, the price has fluctuated, as has the property’s brokerage representation, which has cycled through The Agency, Hilton & Hyland, Compass and others.
Today, the estate is being listed by Branden and Rayni Williams of The Beverly Hills Estates for $55 million as it simultaneously prepares to head to a no-reserve auction with Concierge Auctions from May 9 through May 23.
Paul Williams designed the 30,000-square-foot estate, which features three different structures that encompass 14 bedrooms and more than two dozen bathrooms.
Azria, who founded BCBG Max Azria Group, passed away in 2019 at the age of 70. He purchased the property in 2005 with his wife, Lubov Azria, according to records.
According to Lubov, the couple was drawn to the property’s pedigree but spent about $30 million on a gut renovation that spanned several years.
Lubov Azria told The WSJ that throughout the property’s various turns on the market, the couple wasn’t always all-in on selling.
“First we had different views of what we wanted the house to be — was it going to be a rental? We’d put it on the market, then things would change,” Lubov said.
Taking the step of putting the house up for auction is a sign that she’s serious about selling this time. Now that her children are grown and Max is gone, Lubov said she spends most of her time at a home in Venice Beach where she has an art gallery.
“It’s literally just me. My youngest is 27. I’m now into moving on with my life.”
The estate features lush gardens, including a Japanese-style garden and a rose garden. The grounds also include a hammam with sauna, steam shower and massage area; a swimming pool; a tennis court with elevated viewing box; and a greenhouse.
A home office features a secret doorway to the home theater with a nearby game room. The property also includes a catering kitchen as well as a 20-plus car motor court.
Lubov said the couple entertained friends and family at the compound frequently, including by hosting weekly Shabbat dinners, large Oscar parties, runway shows, charity events and more. Two of their daughters (they had six children) were even married on the estate.
Max Azria was born in Tunisia and raised in Paris. Eleven years after designing a women’s wear collection in Paris, he moved to the U.S. in 1981. Once in the U.S., he developed the women’s fashion brand BCBGMAXAZRIA, which he and Lubov ultimately expanded together.
The BCBG Max Azria Group went into bankruptcy and was sold in 2017, at which point Azria left fashion and became CEO of LED light bulb and bug zapper company ZappLight and its parent company Clean Concept LLC.
Since the Azria estate first listed nearly 10 years ago, LA’s luxury market has been all over the map, seeing a flurry of activity around ’21-’22, only to hit a standstill after the recent mansion tax took effect in the spring of 2023.
The median sales price of a luxury single-family home in LA during Q4 2023 was $11.8 million, down 8.5 percent year over year, according to Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel. Fifty luxury single-family home sales closed that quarter, the same number that closed during Q4 2022.
Correction: An earlier version of this story called the auction house “Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions,” but the firm now goes by “Concierge Auctions.”
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