Late last summer, eponymous think tank founder Nicolas Berggruen bid high enough at auction to buy the Hearst Estate — a.k.a. the ‘Godfather House’ — which had, at the time of closing, been on and off the open market for the better part of a decade.

When pricing for the Hearst house peaked, it did so at low nine figures: $195 million. In the spring of 2021, the flamboyant, 29,000 sq. ft. property asked $90 million until imminent bankruptcy left it with a desperation ask of $70 million. Berggruen was the high bidder and, by parting with $63.1 million, became the latest custodian of the famed Mediterranean Revival.

The estate’s grounds measure in at 3.53 acres; not quite enough for Mr. Berggruen, who wasted no time in beginning the process of building a genuine compound around the famous house. First on the agenda: a 1954-built, 6,365 sq. ft. mixed architectural with Mediterranean leanings which he picked up for $12.25 million.

Most recently, Berggruen expanded the property even further. A month after the initial augmentation, he closed on the secluded, midcentury modern-meets-Spanish-style fixer-upper which sits on another lot adjacent to the Hearst estate. The property came at a price of $14.75 million.

The property’s amenities include a pool that’s a holdover of Hearst ownership, according to listing material. It adds 5,991 sq. ft. of interiors to the total of Berggruen’s compound, and 1.10 acres to its grounds.

Berggruen’s net worth is around $3 billion.