• 0
  • Home
  • About Us
  • What We Do

Shopping Cart

GPAM
  • Home
  • About Us
  • What We Do

“You’d think it was the apocalypse:” Fires ravaging L.A. have luxe homeowners on edge

Robert Balzebre and his home in the Hollywood Hills

Working from New Orleans on Friday, Robert Balzebre had been anxiously scanning his phone for alerts on wildfires erupting in the bedroom communities situated northwest of Los Angeles – 30 miles from his Hollywood Hills mansion.

Then, on Monday morning, a several-hundred-acre brush fire ignited on L.A.’s Westside near the Getty Center along Interstate 405, prompting authorities to issue mandatory evacuation orders for about 10,000 homes.

Balzebre, a commercial real estate developer who lives in Miami, owns a three-story, getaway vacation home tucked into tony Hollywood Hills, roughly five or so miles to the east. He outfitted the multimillion-dollar property with at least $100,000 in improvements to make it fire-resistant: The few eaves on the home are constructed with Ipe, also called Brazilian walnut, which is a heavily-oiled and dense wood not easily consumed by fire, said Abeer Sweis, a designer with Santa Monica-based SweisFloss who helped with the home’s design. The home also has exits on each floor, steel-made staircases on the outside, and plaster-based walls fused together with few seams on the exterior walls of the house – a design feature meant to lower the catching of burning embers, Sweis explained.

But Balzebre knows that despite all these precautions, “everything can burn.”

“I’m concerned, as anybody would be,” he said. “This is crazy stuff.”

“Between the hurricanes that I’ve dodged and the fires in L.A., you’d think it was the apocalypse,” he added. “It’s one danger after the other.”

The threat of fires in the Palisades, and last year’s conflagration in nearby Malibu, have hurt the luxury real estate market, spooking buyers and increasing the cost of home insurance.

“I don’t want to jump to any conclusion and be alarmist,” said Compass’ Fran Flanagan, who is an active broker in the Palisades neighborhood, which is among the areas evacuated in the wake of the Getty fire. She estimates that at least eight homes have burned thus far, ranging in value from $3 million to one under construction that could be worth as much as $25 million.

“Let’s just watch and see what happens,” Flanagan added. “I don’t know the extent of the implications of this.”

The costs to pay out claims following a massive wildfire can be catastrophic. Last year, California regulators moved to take over Merced Property and Casualty when it was pushed into insolvency after the Paradise, Calif., fire destroyed more than 13,000 homes. Over the last two years, California wildfires have cost insurers more than $24 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Brad Roeber, executive director of the Glendale-based California Insurance Guarantee Association, created by the state legislature in 1969, is hopeful that other insurers don’t become insolvent due to the latest wildfires.

“I believe, certainly in the last two decades, the Merced company was the first one to ever be taken over due to wildfires,” he said.

Sweis, the designer, doesn’t expect to hear much from clients about upgrading to more fire-resistant materials until after the wildfires are extinguished.

“They are very scared right now,” she said. “Moments like these everyone is just trying to evacuate and get to safety. I’m just checking in with all my clients making sure they are okay and if they need any support.”

The post “You’d think it was the apocalypse:” Fires ravaging L.A. have luxe homeowners on edge appeared first on The Real Deal Los Angeles.

Powered by WPeMatico

  • 28 October 2019
  • The Real Deal
  • Uncategorized
  •  Like
It doesn’t turn a profit, but Soho House is now valued at $2B →← Hackman Capital picks up industrial property near its $620M Culver Studios project
  • Recent Posts

    • Hoteliers sound the alarm on looming distress  May 24, 2025
    • Growth markets see retail boom even with tariff uncertainty May 24, 2025
    • Westchester resi project gets city OK after union drops objection May 23, 2025
    • WATCH: ‘Father of CMBS’ Ethan Penner to run for governor of California May 23, 2025
    • Fashion Island office fetches $756 psf May 23, 2025
  • Recent Comments

    • Archives

      • May 2025
      • April 2025
      • March 2025
      • February 2025
      • January 2025
      • December 2024
      • November 2024
      • October 2024
      • September 2024
      • August 2024
      • July 2024
      • June 2024
      • May 2024
      • April 2024
      • March 2024
      • February 2024
      • January 2024
      • December 2023
      • February 2023
      • January 2023
      • December 2022
      • November 2022
      • October 2022
      • September 2022
      • August 2022
      • July 2022
      • June 2022
      • May 2022
      • April 2022
      • March 2022
      • February 2022
      • January 2022
      • December 2021
      • November 2021
      • October 2021
      • September 2021
      • August 2021
      • July 2021
      • June 2021
      • May 2021
      • April 2021
      • March 2021
      • February 2021
      • January 2021
      • December 2020
      • November 2020
      • October 2020
      • September 2020
      • August 2020
      • July 2020
      • June 2020
      • May 2020
      • April 2020
      • March 2020
      • February 2020
      • January 2020
      • December 2019
      • November 2019
      • October 2019
      • September 2019
      • August 2019
      • July 2019
      • June 2019
      • May 2019
      • April 2019
      • March 2019
      • February 2019
      • January 2019
      • December 2018
      • November 2018
      • October 2018
      • September 2018
      • August 2018
      • July 2018
      • June 2018
      • May 2018
      • April 2018
      • March 2018
      • February 2018
      • January 2018
      • December 2017
    • Global Property and Asset Mangement, Inc.
      137 North Larchmont
      Los Angeles, California 90010
      +1 213-427-1127

    © 2025 GPAM