-L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling, a longtime Malibu home and real estate owner, was barred from the NBA for racist comments caught on tape. Ultimately, after considerable pushing between Donald Sterling and his wife Shelly, a probate court judge ruled Shelly could sell the team. Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer stepped forward and paid $2 billion for the team, the largest amount ever for a NBA team.
-The City Council, apparently miffed that everyone but the city is making money on short-term vacation rentals, decided to subpoena information about the offered rentals from websites like VRBO and others. It’s still too early to tell if the city has opened up a very expensive legal can of worms.
-A hot Memorial Day Weekend drew 363,000 people to Malibu, making the town look more like Coney Island than Malibu.
-The Malibu Village Shopping Center sold to a large east coast investment group for a reported $120 million. The new owners are Jamestown, a major real estate company with approximately $7.3 billion in assets nationwide. It was probably the highest price paid for Malibu commercial real estate to date.
