Hugh Hefner lived in the home until he died at 91.Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine and longtime tenant of its namesake house, has died at 91.
The famous 20,000-square-foot Holmby Hills estate that he inhabited for more than 40 years will soon enter a new phase under different ownership.
The Playboy Mansion sold for $100 million in 2016. Though that’s certainly a high number, it was merely half of the asking price that had made it the most expensive for-sale house in America for much of 2016.
The house was sold to its next-door neighbor, Daren Metropoulos, a principal of the private-equity firm Metropoulos & Co. and a former co-CEO of Pabst Brewing Company.
The home was never technically owned by Hefner. Playboy Enterprises bought the mansion for just over $1 million 45 years ago and leased it back to him. Hereportedly paid just $100 a year to live there under the arrangement.
Hefner did, however, have life rights to the property — as a stipulation in the sale, he could live there for as long as he wanted, though he would pay $1 million a year to do so.
Metropoulos said at the time of the sale that he intended to connect the Playboy Mansion and his adjoining property, which he bought in 2009 for $18 million.
“I feel fortunate and privileged to now own a one-of-a-kind piece of history and art,” Metropoulos said in a press release announcing the closing of the sale. “I look forward to eventually rejoining the two estates and enjoying this beautiful property as my private residence for years to come.”
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