The Playboy Mansion, the legendary party house where Hollywood’s elite cavorted with scantily-clad “bunnies”, is being sold to the billionaire Twinkies owner who lives next door, a spokesman said Monday.
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Both sides have declined to offer the sale price, but in January, the entire property was listed for as much as $200 million US.
Metropoulos, 32, is an executive at his father’s private-equity firm, Metropoulos & Co.
A Playboy spokesperson confirmed that the mansion is in contract, saying in a statement obtained by ABC News, “Yes, we can confirm that the Playboy Mansion is in escrow with Daren Metropoulos as the buyer”. The 20,000 square foot mansion has 29 rooms and is one of the only private homes in L.A.to have its own zoo license.
A host of A-listers are regularly seen heading to infamous parties inside the grounds, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Rihanna and Naomi Campbell.
“He is a very serious young man. He’s very engaged in business”, Dean Metropoulos said of his son. And in March 2015, Playboy reporters found blueprints that showed tunnels built from the mansion to the homes of celebrities including Jack Nicholson and Kirk Douglas. He previously served as co-CEO of Pabst Brewing Company.
Metropoulos is no stranger to the Playboy Mansion, having bought an adjacent property in Holmby Hills for $18 million in 2009.
Hefner originally bought the mansion in 1971 for a little over $1 million.
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Metropoulos, who is worth close to 2.4 billion dollars, has said he will not make changes to the exterior but plans on making several to the interior of the Beverly Hills home, according to TMZ. Once Mr. Hefner’s tenancy ends, Mr. Metropoulos intends to connect two two estates. His concept for that idea would be “Totally different”, from how Hugh Hefner has envisioned the role of the Playboy Mansion, up until now.
