Property Sales

There are homes. And then there is Candy Land -- all 56,500 square feet of it. Candy Spelling, widow of legendary TV producer Aaron Spelling, has put her 4.7-acre residence in Holmby Hills up for sale. Priced at $150 million, it's currently the most expensive residential listing in the U.S. Whether Spelling will have to take a haircut on that asking price in today's market remains to be seen. If so, she'll be prepared: The home has its own barbershop. Plus a whole lot more.

The Orange County Fairgrounds was placed on the auction block Thursday in an attempt to cut into the state deficit. The state Department of General Services issued a request for proposals for the 150-acre property in Costa Mesa, giving bidders until Jan. 8 to make offers. Earlier this year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed liquidating state properties -- including the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, San Quentin State Prison and three state-owned fairgrounds -- to raise cash to help balance the state budget.

Real estate broker Carl Muhlstein maneuvered his silver BMW convertible through downtown Los Angeles traffic, one hand steering the car and the other pressing a cellphone to his ear. "Come on," he teased. "Insult me with an offer." While some who swim the deep and often lucrative waters of commercial real estate have retreated to the golf course, Muhlstein is among those pushing on -- joking, nudging and networking in hopes of making deals in a time of no deals.

Centro Properties Group, Australia's second-largest shopping center landlord and owner of nearly 700 U.S. malls, said Tuesday that it was seeking buyers for the company -- a victim of the deepening global credit crunch. In the U.S., Centro is the fifth- largest owner of shopping centers, with holdings in 40 states having total leasable space of nearly 108 million square feet. Many of the company's U.S.

PHH Corp., a mortgage and auto-leasing company, scrapped a $1.8-billion sale to General Electric Co. and Blackstone Group after Blackstone said Tuesday that banks reneged on an agreement to lend the money. Blackstone's banks refused to finance the purchase of PHH's mortgage division, the New York-based private-equity company said in a statement. The lenders, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc., declined to comment.

In his quest to balance the city's books, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is gearing up to sell city-owned properties in some of the Westside's most sought-after neighborhoods. But Villaraigosa's budget-saving strategy is running up against one of his biggest campaign pledges: to expand affordable housing.

A unit on the 38th floor of a still unfinished luxury condo tower in Century City sold recently for a record $15 million, but the new owner still won't get a view from the top. Four flights up, the asking price for the penthouse is $30 million. On Thursday, the developer of the Century high-rise said an unidentified local buyer had agreed to pay $2,700 per square foot for a unit filling half of the 38th floor.

Rancho del Rio is a property with a past. On 187 chaparral-covered acres deep in the hills of southeast Orange County, the ranch features a modest 1930s-era Spanish hacienda, numerous guest rooms with antique mahogany doors, a small vineyard, a well-stocked lake and at least a dozen scattered buildings including stables, caretaker's quarters, pump houses and barns. "It's peaceful, serene and gorgeous," says Jason Hahn, who oversees the place for the wealthy family that owns it.

Shares of Safeway Inc. rose Tuesday after Chief Executive Steve Burd said he might sell or "monetize" part of its Blackhawk Network gift-card unit because it was undervalued. Burd also reiterated the company's 2008 forecast. Shares of Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway climbed $1.25, or 4.4%, to $29.70, the biggest gain since Jan. 16. The shares are down 13% this year.

The Costa Mesa community college that was given a craggy British Columbia island has sold it for $2.19 million to two men and a woman from a suburb near Calgary, officials said Tuesday. The buyers plan to use it as a vacation retreat, school officials said. Henry Wheeler, a yachtsman from Downey, donated the island 50 miles north of Vancouver to the college in December 2002 after using it for nearly a decade as a family vacation retreat.