This estate is for sale for $45 million, by the Kohanoff Family who also owns the Shell Station.
The Real Deal, ran a story “Brentwood Family Puts Custom Home on Market for $45M” noting that the Kohanoffs built the nine-bedroom, 16 bathroom home for themselves, but now are selling.
After the Palisades Fire, Justin Kohanoff, son of Saheed, was interviewed by ABC because the family planned to replace the Shell Gas Station located on Sunset Boulevard at Via de la Paz, with an eight-story apartment building, that would consist of 80-100 apartments for rent, each unit with two to three bedrooms.
“People need a place to live and some people might not be able to afford a home, but they can afford to rent an apartment, so we think that’s the best use for it,” Justin a Palisades High School graduate said. “We don’t want to change the community and we don’t want to build something that looks out of place. We want to build something that looks like it belongs here.”
People were quick to point out an eight-story building was out of place in this small village. The Pacific Palisades Commercial Village and Neighborhood Specific Plan, adopted in August 2016, states that buildings, “shall not exceed two stories or 30 feet in height.”
Additionally, with only three roads in and out of Pacific Palisades, increasing population density could make evacuations impossible. Many were stranded during the recent Palisades Fire, leaving their cars and running for their lives.
This would not be the first time the Kohanoff family has proposed something controversial in Pacific Palisades
Justin’s father Saheed ran the Mobil Gas Station at the corner of Swarthmore and Sunset, before selling the land to Rick Caruso in 2014.
Saheed then purchased Shell Station, a block away, and attempted to build a convenience store at that location. He ran into fierce community resistance and also opposition from the adjacent business because he wanted a different building location and proposed selling wine and beer.
Saheed in a letter to this editor, wrote: “There were several allegations in the story about the Shell Station and me (October 21, 2015) that were untrue. One resident said the top sellers in convenience stores are alcohol, cigarettes and lottery tickets. That is false. The top sellers are over-the-counter drugs, bottled water, soda, and other food products.”
That case continued through the L.A. City Planning Department and a new Zoning Administrator was assigned in July 2017. In 2022, the planning department denied conditional use to allow the sale of beer and wine and a new location for the store. Nothing has happened at that site for the past two years.
Regarding the Kohanoff’s home, the Real Deal said the family purchased the land located on Kenter for $2.6 million, 13 years ago.
“Originally, the home was designed as a place for the family to entertain and host large gatherings,” the story said. “There’s plenty to accommodate that with an underground 20-car garage, 300-foot driveway, pickle ball court, gym, elevator, two wine cellars, commercial-grade fire hydrant and lots of outdoor space. That includes about 600 olive and Ficus trees that comprise the landscaping.”
There is also a 2,000-square-foot master bedroom and nine en-suite bedrooms with 16 bathrooms.
Justin, who is an agent with brokerage Atlas in Beverly Hills, is co-listing the property with Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Shelton Wilder.
In addition to the home and the Shell Station, the family owns an additional nine gas stations and other various commercial properties.
About the former station in Pacific Palisades being developed into apartments, Justin told the Real Deal that it is “just an idea right now,” although he said that family aims to begin the permitting process “soon.”
“We’re not going to build anything until we see major construction going on in the Palisades,” he said.
The Shell Station, owned by the Kohanoff family, burned in the Palisades Fire.
An interior shot of the nine bedroom, 16 bathroom Kohanoff home for sale for $45M.
Wouldn’t extensive remediation be needed to put an apt building on the site of a former gas station?