Indonesian Agrees to Buy Bel-Air Mansion for $50 Million

An Indonesian buyer is in contract to buy a 48,000-square-foot mansion in Los Angeles' Bel-Air neighborhood for around $50 million.
By: JULIET CHUNG and CANDACE JACKSON: wsj.com
If the deal closes, it would set what brokers believe to be a new record for the biggest residential real-estate sale in the U.S. to date this year. The previous record is thought to be set by Texas energy executive Kelcy Warren's $46.5 million buy in Colorado in April.

The 10-bedroom, 14-bathroom mansion, most recently listed for $72 million and originally listed for $85 million, sits on 2.2 acres. It has a ballroom seating more than 200, a music room and a 20-car motor court. There's a pond for swans, seven fountains, a Turkish hammam and a columned movie theater with a mural on the ceiling. The seller is Los Angeles developer Mohamed Hadid, who constructed Ritz-Carlton hotels in the 1980s and now builds massive homes in L.A., Mexico and elsewhere. Mr. Hadid has said he spent $59 million to build the home for his own use.

The buyer's identity could not be learned.

Financial Manager Lists Ranch
Former American Skandia chief executive Wade Dokken has listed his ranch in Montana for $29.95 million.

The property was once slated to become an ecology-minded luxury residential development with a cooking school run by Bay Area chef Alice Waters, known for pioneering the locally sourced organic food movement.

As head of American Skandia, Mr. Dokken led one of the largest sellers of variable annuities, a popular investment in recent decades. His 6,795-acre property, known as Bullis Creek Ranch, is about six miles south of Livingston and 45 minutes from an entrance to Yellowstone Park. The Yellowstone River runs next to the property.

Although construction on the development was canceled due to the economy, the property includes a fully furnished five-bedroom, three-bath Engelmann spruce log home, built in 1997, and two guest houses. Mr. Dokken paid $23 million for 11,000 acres of land in the area in 2005, including this ranch. He now runs financial-services company WealthVest.

Talent Manager's Price Cut
Talent manager Sandy Gallin, who has represented artists like Barbra Streisand and Michael Jackson, has put his Bridgehampton, N.Y. estate back on the market for $26.9 million. The home was listed for $32 million until November of last year.

Mr. Gallin, who is known for his home restoration projects, assembled the 14-acre property in 2001, by purchasing three adjacent lots. It includes a 6,500-square-foot shingled house, built in 2003, with seven bedrooms. There's a cedar plank guest cottage with a bedroom, bath and outdoor shower, and a 1.5-acre pond, home to several swans, with a heated swimming pool along one side. The home is also available as a summer rental for the months of July and August for $500,000.