Music and movie mogul David Geffen is said to be the buyer.
By Jonathan Friedman/Assistant Editor
Several sources familiar with the transaction told The Malibu Times that DreamWorks SKG co-founder David Geffen has purchased Malibu Beach Inn, the hotel located on Pacific Coast Highway near the Malibu Pier. Geffen’s spokesperson declined to comment on the matter. The hotel’s manager said it was sold by Marty and Vicky Cooper on April 15 to “another Malibu family.”
Alan Goldschneider, Malibu Beach Inn’s manager, said the family did not want to reveal the identity of the buyers. He said the public would be notified eventually of whom the buyer is. When asked if it was Geffen, Goldschneider said, “I am not denying that.”
Goldschneider said no changes are planned for the hotel, and the new owners would like to run it as if nothing has changed.
Telephone messages left for the Coopers, who purchased Malibu Beach Inn 15 years ago, were not returned. Goldschneider declined to comment on the price of the sale.
Geffen, 62, was in the news last week when he agreed to allow a public access easement on his Carbon Beach property after conceding defeat to a nearly three-year battle with the California Coastal Commission and a nonprofit organization. If Geffen, who was listed this year by Forbes magazine as being the 117th richest person in world with a worth of $4.4 billion, is the buyer, he would be the second billionaire in less than two years to purchase a major property on Pacific Coast Highway near the pier.
In 2003, 60-year-old Larry Ellison, ranked 9th on Forbes’ list with a worth of $18.4 billion, purchased five beachfront homes on Carbon Beach for a reported $65 million. Later that year, the Oracle CEO bought PierView Café for an undisclosed sum. Then, in 2004, he acquired the neighboring Windsail restaurant property from local developer Richard Weintraub for an unknown amount. Ellison has since bought a home in Serra Retreat.
Permits have been acquired to do repair work at PierView. The new Windsail has not been built yet because a coastal development permit is required. The project, a 10,000-square-foot restaurant/spa, received municipal permit approval in 2004, but has yet to go before the city for a coastal permit. When Weintraub announced the sale of Windsail last year, there was speculation that the Adamson Hotel project, of which Weintraub is a major investor, would also be sold to Ellison. Weintraub told The Malibu Times then that there were no plans to sell the hotel property located across from Bluffs Park to Ellison. But he did not count out a working relationship between the hotel owners and Ellison’s restaurants. Rumors have circulated around the city in recent months that Ellison has bought the hotel project. A call was made this week to Weintraub’s office. He was not available for comment, but his secretary said she knew that the rumors were “definitely not true.”