Variety: Billionaire Neil Kadisha Buys $25M Beverly Hills Estate
James McClain
October 12, 2020
Only a small handful of Beverly Hills homes border the golf greens at the famously posh Los Angeles Country Club. One of the largest of those properties is the so-called Simon Estate, a 2.4-acre compound long owned by Donald Simon, son of noted art collector and philanthropist Norton Simon. Over this past summer, the house sold for $25 million to businessman Neil Kadisha — a relative bargain, considering the place was listed early in January 2020 for a much heftier $38.5 million.
Though not exactly a household name, Kadisha has long been one of L.A.’s wealthiest men and remains a prominent member of the Nazarian clan, one of the world’s richest Iranian-Jewish families, whose fortune derives primarily from a lucrative early investment in tech giant Qualcomm. The L.A. Business Journal estimates Kadisha’s net worth at $2.7 billion.
Enveloped by a dense canopy of mature trees and hedges, the park-like Simon estate includes a 10,600-square-foot mansion designed in the 1980s by architect Peter Choate. Though parts of the home are woefully dated — most obviously the kitchen, which remains a perfect ’80s time capsule, the mansion is not without its decorative bright spots. There’s an atrium with awe-inspiring beamed ceilings, open living spaces with supersized windows overlooking the grounds, and a grand dining room with a massive chandelier.
Elsewhere are some interesting decor choices — teal and bright blue carpets, a decidedly maximalist floral wallpaper in the powder room, and a master bathroom with a crystal chandelier and wall-to-wall carpeting. But the most valuable feature of the estate is undoubtedly its sprawling grounds, which encompass a swimming pool, a full-size tennis court, a meandering stone driveway guarded by massive iron gates, and seemingly endless expanses of emerald green lawns.
Kadisha and his family are certainly no strangers to high-end real estate; records reveal he continues to own a mansion elsewhere in the Beverly Hills Flats area, as well as other real estate in Beverly Hills and Brentwood. And last year, his daughter Leora and her husband — Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman — paid $21 million for a Beverly Hills house once owned by Ellen DeGeneres.
Kadisha also once owned a $20 million mansion in the exclusive Beverly Park gated community, though records show that estate was deeded over to his wife, prominent philanthropist Dora Nazarian Kadisha, earlier this year.
Kurt Rappaport and Kevin Booker of Westside Estate Agency held the listing; Rappaport also repped the buyer.
