Still Close to ‘Sunset Beach’

LESLEY-ANNE DOWN, who plays one of the leads in Aaron Spelling’s upcoming daytime series “Sunset Beach,” and her husband, cinematographer Don E. Fauntleroy, have sold their Malibu home for close to its $1.5-million asking price and are refurbishing a home they bought nearby.

“She has a good nose for real estate,” Fauntleroy said of his wife, who plays a newspaper and radio station owner on “Sunset Beach,” which premieres Monday on NBC.

Down, 42, came to the attention of U.S. audiences in the British series “Upstairs, Downstairs,” which aired on PBS. Later, she played opposite Patrick Swayze in the miniseries “North and South,” during which she met Fauntleroy, director of photography for the trilogy.

The couple bought the house that was just sold in 1994 for about $900,000, sources say.

At the time, the house was about half built. Down completed it, installing a kitchen, baths, floors and a fireplace.

She also turned a recording studio into a bedroom-screening room. The 6,000-square-foot home has five bedrooms plus a guest house. The home is on slightly more than an acre with ocean views.

“Lesley finished the house and gave it romance and style,” said Realtor Gail Copley. “She enjoys designing houses,” Fauntleroy added.

Copley, of the Prudential-Jon Douglas Co. in Malibu, represented Down and Fauntleroy in selling the home to a couple from Carmel. The buyers were represented by Susan Monus of the same realty office.

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ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK has listed his Holmby Hills house, often referred to as the “Pink Palace,” at just under $4 million. The house was once owned by late actress Jayne Mansfield.

The pop singer, 60, has lived in the home since the mid-1970s.

Humperdinck has listed the home a couple of times before, most recently in 1992 at $7.2 million. He changed his mind about selling then but is now on a world tour and plans to move to Las Vegas when he returns, sources say.

Humperdinck, one of the top-selling recording artists with more than 130 million records sold, sings “Fly High Lesbian Seagull” on the soundtrack of the movie “Beavis and Butt-head Do America.”

The home, on about 1.5 acres, has seven bedrooms and eight baths in 8,200 square feet. Built in 1935, the Mediterranean-style home has a heart-shaped pool, seven fireplaces, a media-music room and guest house.

Drew Mandile and Brooke Knapp of Sotheby’s International Realty, Beverly Hills, share the listing.

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Actor BRENDAN FRASER became a first-time home buyer last fall with his purchase of a three-bedroom, 3,500-square-foot house in the Beverly Hills area for just under $700,000, sources say.

Fraser, who made his debut in a feature leading role in the comedy “Encino Man” (1992), played twins Hugh and Bill Winterbourne in last spring’s movie “Mrs. Winterbourne,” starring Shirley MacLaine.

His house, which has high ceilings and walls of glass, is a year older than Fraser, who turned 29 in December.

Rick Chimienti of John Aaroe & Associates and Rose Borne of Nourmand & Associates, had the listing; Peter Maurice, then of RE/MAX, Beverly Hills, represented Fraser.

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LAWRENCE POST, co-director of research and a senior bond trader at Drexel Burnham Lambert before the Wall Street firm filed for bankruptcy in 1990, has sold his Holmby Hills house for about $6 million to a recording industry executive, sources say.

The 11,000-square-foot house, on an acre with a tennis court and a pool, was newly built for Post, who decided, before it was completed, not to live there but to travel instead, sources say. Post opened his own firm in 1994.

Kurt Rappaport of Stan Herman/Stephen Shapiro & Associates, Beverly Hills, represented the buyer, and Victoria Lockwood of Fred Sands Estates, Beverly Hills, represented Post.

The Kaiser Estate on Oahu has gone on the market, with sealed bids accepted until Feb. 14.

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The 7.2-acre Hawaiian compound was developed in 1959 by steel magnate HENRY J. KAISER, who negotiated a 55-year leasehold then with the fee-simple owner, the Kamehameha Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate.

Kaiser died in the late 1960s, and the leasehold remained part of his estate until 1971, when it was sold.

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The leasehold, due to expire in 2014, was sold again in 1988 for $42.5 million to Japanese billionaire GENSHIRO KAWAMOTO, who returned the property to the fee-simple owner in 1993.

This is the first time the estate has been offered in fee simple, with no leasehold involved, “so it is hard to establish a price,” said Christine O’Brien, Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties, Honolulu. She is co-listing the property with Jeff Fox of the same realty office.

“There is no minimum and no listing price, but the selling price will be subject to the seller’s approval,” O’Brien said.

The estate has its own boat harbor and several houses, including one in which Jacqueline Kennedy stayed with her children in 1966 as guests of the Kaisers. The estate also had air-conditioned kennels then for the Kaisers’ poodles.

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BIG-BUCK HOME SALES were up on the Westside last year, says Cecelia Waeschle, who tracks high-end deals for the Prudential-Rodeo-Jon Douglas Co. in Beverly Hills.

“Things have really picked up in the estates market,” she said. During 1996, 21 homes opened escrow at $5 million or more each; 18 of them have closed escrow, and three are due to close shortly. Four of the 18 were for homes at more than $6 million.

During 1995, Waeschle said, only 12 houses sold for more than $5 million each.

Among houses selling at more than $2.5 million, Waeschle counted 120 sales in 1996, in contrast with 85 in 1995 and 73 in 1994.

“The year 1989 was considered good for houses selling at more than $2.5 million each, and that year there were only 93, so 1996 was a watershed year,” she said. “Sellers have become realistic, and buyers are savvy; that’s why there are so many sales.”

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The most expensive home sale in Southern California last year appears to be a $14-million purchase, including furnishings, in Laguna Beach; the highest on the Westside was developer ROBERT MAGUIRE’s 13,000-square-foot Brentwood home, which sold for $8.5 million, sources say.

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Actor DENZEL WASHINGTON made the largest home-site purchase on the Westside when he bought Disney chief Michael Eisner’s six-acre parcel in Beverly Park, overlooking Beverly Hills, for a bit more than $6 million, sources say.

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CORRECTION: Bonnie Bedelia (Hot Property, Nov. 24) is 48, not 50, and her marriage to actor Michael MacRae is her first.