A few deadline additions that substantiate Kim Haman’s report of a coastal boom in sales of “ultra-luxury” properties (see Luxury Homes column, page 26) … Word around the waterfront says Newport Coaster Kobe Bryant stands to get a carpool partner, thanks to a deal that has a top Los Angeles Lakers exec buying at The Strand in Dana Point. The Insider hears it’s a Buss—and not the one who’s dating Phil Jackson …
Then there’s the $38 million listing of a half-acre beachfront property in Emerald Bay that got a history report in the Wall Street Journal last week. The place belongs to the fourth generation of the Morris family, whose fortune tracks to a woodworking company founded in Chicago in the late 19th century, the Journal reported. The $38 million asking price is just that—although homes at the high end have been getting close to list in recent months, offering a clear indicator that the bargain days of the Great Recession are over …
Even the best-timed buys of recent years won’t touch the Great Depression bargain that Morris family matriarch Margaret got on the Emerald Bay property, which went for $10,000 in 1932, according to Bill Dolby of Villa Real Estate, which has the listing …
Last ultra-luxury item: Looks as through the Irvine Cove enclave of Laguna Beach won’t be outdone when it comes to asking. HÔM Sotheby agents Rob Giem and Tad Baltzer have a beachfront place there listed for $41.5 million, with plans for a sealed-bid auction with a minimum of $28.8 million and a June 27 deadline …
Congrats to Raj Manufacturing’s Alex Bhathal, who’s in good shape to join the world of professional sports, now that his family owns a piece of the Sacramento Kings. The younger Bhathal—his father, Raj, has stepped away from the swimwear business but taken the lead on the Kings investment—finished high enough in UCI’s Zot Trot to qualify for the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships in Milwaukee in August …
Congrats also to Wayne Gross and Alan Greenberg, a couple of trial lawyers who are going high and low to make a name for themselves. The high-side approach comes with the perch their Greenberg Gross has staked out on the 17th floor of Center Plaza. The Insider thinks their low-side pitch—check out the ad below—is just as impressive …
This column gives no favor to advertisers, but we won’t punish them, either. So let it be noted that Gross and Greenberg made quite a splash with their coming-out party at Marché Moderne at South Coast Plaza, where another face that’s familiar in these pages had his own reason for feeling on top of the world. Seems Callahan & Blaine’s Dan Callahan has won another class-action case over wages on behalf of newspaper delivery folks. This one came in San Diego, where the former Union-Tribune, now called U-T San Diego, got hit with a $6 million verdict, with word on legal fees pending. Callahan got about $30 million from the Orange County Register last year—roughly $5,000 for each member of the class in that case—and has several more cases in the works around the state.
