A deal providing for a billionaire’s son to buy the Playboy Mansion in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles for around $110,000 million has unraveled, it was reported today.
Under the deal, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, 90, would have had the right to live out his life at the mansion, even after the sale went through. But the prospective buyer, 32-year-old Daren Metropoulos, wanted significant access to the property during Hefner’s remaining years, and Playboy felt he was being unreasonable, the celebrity news website TMZ.com reported.
The parties haggled for weeks, and the deal fell apart Thursday night, according to TMZ. The mansion is now expected to go back on the market Monday.
There was no immediate comment from either party involved in the negotiations.
Metropoulos, whose family owns Hostess Brands foods, lives next door to the mansion on a property he bought from Hefner in 2009 for $18 million. He was believed to have been planning to merge the two properties once Hefner’s tenancy ended.
Playboy Enterprises acquired the 20,000-square-foot mansion, which was built in 1927, in 1971. Before the reported $110,000 figure was agreed upon, the mansion had been listed for $200 million.
