Michael Rubin, the CEO of Fanatics, spends a record $70 million on the house where Ronald Reagan used to live.
Just now, the most expensive home ever sold in Hollywood Hills. In the Bird Streets, a house that Ronald Reagan once owned sold for $70 million, which is by far the most anyone has ever paid for a home in the area.
Sources told The Times that the buyer is Michael Rubin, who is the CEO of Fanatics. Fanatics is a sports e-commerce company worth $27 billion, and Rubin is worth $10.2 billion, according to Forbes.
Records show that the seller is a limited liability company owned by a Canadian businessman and developer named Francesco Aquilini. Aquilini is also the chairman of the NHL team the Vancouver Canucks. Aquilini has been on a roll in Hollywood Hills for the past few years. In 2020, he sold a spec mansion to Jeffrey Gou, a film producer and heir to the Foxconn fortune, for $42.5 million, which was the highest price ever paid in the neighborhood.
The house was once owned by Ronald Reagan and his first wife, the actress Jane Wyman, according to old listings. Since the house was never officially for sale, there aren’t many photos of it, but photos taken from above show that it has been remodeled a lot in recent years.
The property is in a rare place, which is why it sold for a record price. It’s three-quarters of an acre big and sits on the edge of a knoll above the Sunset Strip. There’s almost nothing blocking the view of the city from there.
It has seven bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, according to the records. In 2012, the house sold for $8.5 million. It had a movie theater, library, wine cellar, tennis court, and swimming pool with a Balinese design.
The $70-million deal changes the top of the market in Hollywood Hills, which has always had high-profile deals but never quite reached the blockbuster levels of nearby cities like Beverly Hills or Bel-Air.
It is the third most expensive sale in Southern California so far this year. The One, a 105,000-square-foot mega-mansion that sold at auction for $141 million, is in first place. Drake bought Robbie Williams’ compound in Beverly Crest for $75 million.
The listing was held by Branden and Rayni Williams of Beverly Hills Estates. Rubin was represented by Kurt Rappaport of the Westside Estate Agency. No one could be reached to get their opinion.
