Four years after buying Bob Hope’s longtime estate in Toluca Lake and restoring it to its former glory, billionaire businessman Ron Burkle is shopping it around for $29 million.
That’s nearly double the $15 million he paid for it in 2018. The extensive renovation saw Burkle modernize the living spaces with high-end fixtures and finishes but preserve the residence’s classic elements — including Hope’s oak library and a one-hole golf course that the late comedian designed himself.
If he gets his price, it will be the most expensive sale in the history of Toluca Lake, according to the Multiple Listing Service.
The trophy home is one of many that Burkle has owned over the years. He sold Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic Ennis House for $18 million in 2019, and his current real estate portfolio includes Bob Hope’s futuristic Palm Springs retreat and Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.
Hope’s Toluca Lake home was built in 1939 by Robert Finkelhor and updated two decades later by John Elgin Woolf, the Hollywood Regency-style architect who designed bold, opulent houses for other celebrities such as Cary Grant, Errol Flynn and Judy Garland.
Hope used the home to entertain high-profile guests such as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, and the estate still features Old Hollywood style today with roughly 15,000 square feet of chic spaces marked by wood, stone and glass.
Between the main house, staff house and apartment above the garage, the 5-acre compound has eight bedrooms and 17 bathrooms. Other highlights include six fireplaces, a marble kitchen, bar and billiards room lined with memorabilia.
The amenities continue outside, where patios and lawns lead to a tennis court and saltwater swimming pool. An additional structure adds a commercial kitchen, conference room, security office and fireproof safe.
Burkle built his fortune buying and selling supermarket chains, and he’s currently the owner of the SoHo House chain and part-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team. Forbes puts his net worth at $2.2 billion.
Kevin Dees of the Agency holds the listing.