Brener acquired the property, formerly owned by film magnate Walt Disney in 1997.
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Gabriel Brener has recently parted company with the Carolwood Estate, situated in the exclusive Los Angeles’ neighborhood, of Holmby Hills, receiving the tidy sum of $74 million for the property which he paid just $8.45 million in 1998, from the estate of the late Lillian Disney, widow of film magnate Walt Disney.
After acquiring the estate Brener, CEO of private investment firm Brener International Group as well as co-owner of the Houston Dynamo soccer team, had the original Disney family knocked down, as it reportedly contained dangerous quantities of asbestos used in its construction in the early nineteen fifties. In its place Brener commissioned the construction of a 35, 000-square foot mansion, which was completed in 2001. During the construction stages Gabriel Brener also managed to pick up the adjoining lot, considerably increasing the property’s acreage.
The Carolwood Estate now covers four acres of prime LA real estate, and the mansion, which dominates boasts a two-story entry foyer, a total of eight bedrooms, 17 baths, a custom designed movie room, three bars, a library, a gym, a wine cellar and two safe rooms as well as staff quarters.
On the grounds of the property, which are completely concealed, are a swimming pool with its own pool house, a tennis court as well as even a putting green.
Several mementoes of the more than fifteen years that Walt Disney lived on Carolwood before his death in 1966 can still be found there, including a discretely concealed 90-foot long underground tunnel, once used by Disney when he operated a miniature railway as a hobby. Reportedly the entrance to the tunnel is marked with s a miniature stone archway, now covered with ivy, with the date “1950″ etched on it. The train miniature train that Disney used can be viewed is on display at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.
Also still intact at the Collingwood Estate are the special gates that Walt Disney had specially commissioned for the property, which according to local folklore, if anyone looks very closely will be able to discern the Mickey Mouse silhouette carefully interwoven into the gate’s intricate metalwork if viewers look closely enough.
Gabriel Brener originally put the property on the market in late 2012 seeking offers of around $90 million, and has now accepted $74 million for the Carolwood Estate, from an unknown buyer.
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Photo source: Forbes.com, cnn.com
