The cofounder of the Hard Rock Cafe just sold his mansion on Billionaire's Beach in Malibu for a record-breaking $110 million
- A home on Billionaire's Beach in Malibu, California, sold for $110 million - the most expensive home sale in Los Angeles County history.
- The cofounder of the Hard Rock Cafe chain sold the beachfront property to a natural gas billionaire.
- Billionaire's Beach is home to several notable residents, including Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison.
Peter Morton, cofounder of the Hard Rock Cafe chain, just set a new, mind-boggling record for Los Angeles real estate.
The restaurateur sold his beachfront Malibu, California, home to natural gas billionaire Michael S. Smith and his wife, for $110 million, or about $15,860 per square foot. It's officially the most expensive home sale in Los Angeles County history according to the Los Angeles Times, which says the deal is expected to close Tuesday.
The 6,934-square foot mansion sits on the shores of Carbon Beach, a 1.5-mile stretch of sand between the iconic Pacific Coast Highway and the glistening Pacific Ocean nicknamed "Billionaire's Beach" as an homage to the ultra-wealthy residents who call it home.
Up until mid-2015, the beach was largely closed off to the public. But after a decades-long, complicated legal battle between the state and homeowners, its 70-plus residences share their backyard with tourists and beachgoers from sun up to sun down.
Malibu's previous record sale took place in 2017 when David Geffen, the billionaire founder of Asylum Records and Geffen Records and cofounder of DreamWorks, sold his Carbon Beach compound to Los Angeles Dodgers owner and Guggenheim Partners CEO Mark Walter for $85 million.
The $110 million compound comes with a notable neighbor. Oracle founder Larry Ellison owns the homes on either side, just two of the 10 properties he reportedly owns on Carbon Beach.
Take a tour of Billionaire's Beach »
The $110 million sale is only for the structure - none of the high-end furniture or Morton's expensive artwork collection is included. Set on an estimated two-thirds of an acre, the property contains two separate buildings: A main residence with four en suite bedrooms and a two-story guest house with another three en suite bedrooms. There's also a lap pool and courtyard on the property. Operable teak wood shutters surround the exterior, in addition to bronze and concrete finishes.
Not much else is known about the home's interiors or amenities, as the deal was completed off-market between Branden and Rayni Williams of Williams & Williams Estates at Hilton & Hyland and Barry Peele of Sotheby's International Realty.
Morton has reportedly owned the land on Carbon Beach since the 1990s. The home was designed by architect Richard Meier and completed in 2006, the same year Morton sold the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas for $770 million. A decade earlier he sold his shares in the Hard Rock Cafe for a profit of $300 million, according to the LA Times.
This isn't the first time Moron's real estate dealings have made headlines. In late 2012, he bought Elvis Presley's old Beverly Hills mansion for $9.8 million and renovated it before selling it off-market just one year later for $14.5 million.