BEL AIR, Calif. — The Playboy mansion, the iconic home of founder Hugh Hefner, has been sold to its next-door neighbor for an undisclosed price.
According to terms of the sale, Hefner has the right to remain in the mansion for the rest of his life.
The next-door neighbor who purchased the property at 10236 Charing Cross Road is Daren Metropoulos of Los Angeles-based private-equity firm Metropoulos & Co. Metropoulos purchased his next-door residence in 2009 for $18 million.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the transaction, Metropoulos is “passionate about the neighborhood’s architecture.”
Earlier this year, the Playboy mansion was listed for $200 million.
The property, home to lavish Playboy parties, is a six-acre estate that includes the 14,217-square-foot Gothic-style palace built in 1927 with seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms.
The entire property is sprawling and includes a game room, tennis courts, zoo, pool and the infamous Playboy mansion grotto.
In a 2011 suit alleging that Hefner vastly undervalued the property when he took his company private, the house’s value was set at $54 million. Zillow estimates the property is currently worth about $34 million.
Local real estate agents earlier this year said the mansion was likely to go for between $80 million and $90 million. Annual property taxes amount to about $485,000. Hefner bought the property for $1.05 million in 1971.
