NBA Star LeBron James Scores $36.75 Million Beverly Hills Mansion

NBA Star LeBron James Scores $36.75 Million Beverly Hills Mansion

NBA Star LeBron James Scores $36.75 Million Beverly Hills Mansion

From one legend to another—basketball star LeBron James has purchased a lavish Beverly Hills, California, estate that soap operas built, Mansion Global can confirm.

Mr. James, 35, bought the longtime home of the late daytime drama creator Lee Phillip Bell, whose “The Young and the Restless” and spinoff “The Bold and the Beautiful” are among the longest running daytime TV series in the U.S. The deal appears to have closed on Wednesday for $36.75 million, according to listing records.

The Los Angeles Times first spotted the sale, a deal which reportedly was in the pipeline all summer.Bell, who died earlier this year at the age of 91, owned the sprawling, 2.72-acre compound with her husband and collaborator, producer William J. Bell, for decades, according to property records.
The Bells bought the 1930s Spanish Colonial mansion in the mid-’80s and immediately set to work updating everything from the skylights and bathrooms to remodeling the home’s kitchen and rebuilding its garage, building records show.

The estate has been kept in excellent shape, according to images of the home, which was listed with Hilton & Hyland founders Jeff Hyland and Rick Hilton in June. It opens from a gated brick-paved driveway that leaves the visitor in front of a sizable detached guest house (one of two).

The two-bedroom main mansion is tucked further away, beyond another wrought-iron gate and a romantic fountain courtyard lined in towering palm trees, listing images show. The main house opens into a grand skylit entry hall at its core.Long before the Bells, the estate was reportedly home to actress Katherine Hepburn.

Despite spanning a single story, the mansion certainly has the proportions to accommodate all 6 feet and 9 inches of the basketball star, with more than 9,100 interior square feet and vaulted, exposed-beam ceilings.

From the living room, where floor-to-ceiling glass doors slide away to the lawn beyond, Mr. James, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, will get to enjoy panoramic views over the city. He’ll also have access to his own lighted tennis court, pool and screening room, according to the listing. An email sent to his foundation was not immediately returned.