A glass-fronted, four-level house on the Hermosa Strand, complete with an indoor waterfall and a rooftop swimming pool and putting green, has sold for $12.6 million, setting a new record for the highest home sale in the history of the beach cities, according to the Multiple Listing Service real estate database.
Real estate broker Raju Chhabria was out of the country, but confirmed in a brief email that the all-cash sale was finalized after a five-day escrow.
The buyers’ agent, Tad Thormodsgaard of Palm Realty Boutique in Manhattan Beach, said his clients wish to remain anonymous. He said through a publicist that the house was purchased as a primary residence.
The sale of the home, which sprawls across a wide lot on the 2800 block of The Strand, beats out a record set just a couple months ago when a Strand house in Manhattan Beach sold for $10.9 million. Before that, the record was $10.7 million for a Strand home that sold in 2007.
The new record home, designed by architect Louie Tomaro and built last year by Don Doukoullos, features three fireplaces, a large balcony, an elevator, a dance floor, a wine cellar, and a state-of-the-art home theater system within its 8,000 square feet.
Two doors fold open 30 feet wide, accordion style, at the Strand level.
“We wanted to make as fun a house as we could,” said Tomaro. “It’s a relatively small lot [4,640 square feet], and we tried to pack in as much as we could. We did a lot to make the inside of the house and the outside of the house work together.”
The glass front gives the master suite unobstructed communion with the ocean, sand and the Strand, one level below.
The Strand-level doors, when fully open, blur the distinction between a large entertainment room and the patio in front.
“The wall between inside and outside disappears,” Tomaro said.
The Strand-level floor also features a dining area and a “very open” kitchen area.
The basement floor below houses a dance floor, the home theater system, a wine cellar, a game room and a bar built for entertaining.
Three levels are tied together with a stairwell that “floats” within a boxlike shaft, with a waterfall on one side, which can also be seen from the various rooms.
“The levels are connected with a really cool floating stairwell with a waterfall incorporated into it,” Tomaro said. “The stairwell is a square shaft that runs through the building, and a water wall cuts right through the stairwell.
Tomaro described the architectural style as “tropical modern,” with long, overhanging eaves, a “translucent or transparent” look to the house, an emphasis on bringing the outdoors indoors, and material choices for the interior such as mahogany, which recalls Bali.
“It’s a place to thoroughly enjoy life,” Tomaro said. “We wanted it to feel like you’re on vacation the entire time you’re there.”
Gerard Bisignano of Sotheby’s International, the previous record holder, accepted the news with the equanimity of one who recently sold a $10.9 million home.
“Records were meant to be beat,” Bisignano said, adding with a laugh, “I still have the highest sale in Manhattan Beach. I’m going to cling to that.”
