Manchester City’s Khaldoon Al Mubarak Lists Posh L.A. Mansion
Click here to read the full article.
An Mediterranean-style villa on a particularly charming, tree-lined street in Brentwood — the family-friendly yet enormously wealthy neighborhood on L.A.’s Westside — recently popped up for sale. Owned by cosmopolitan Emirati businessman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the high-profile chairman of Britain’s Manchester City Football Club, the property has served as a part-time West Coast outpost since he and wife Nadia Sehweil quietly acquired it exactly five years ago, back in October 2014.
Set well back from the street on a .26-acre flat lot, the beige-colored house is visually overpowered by an almost outrageously huge pine tree growing in the front yard. The towering beast of a tree looms over the house and the entire street, providing year-round natural shade to the Al Mubarak estate.
More from Variety
The structure itself was built in 1995 and spans a roomy 5,737 square feet of living space with five full bedroom suites — four family bedrooms on the upper level, maids quarters downstairs. There’s a two-car attached garage plus plenty of driveway space for additional vehicles, and the street out front boasts free parking for guests.
Inside, the front door opens to a proper foyer with an elegant curved staircase. Gleaming hardwood floors run throughout the home, including in the step-down formal living room, formal dining room and adjoining kitchen, the latter sporting high-end stainless appliances and cabinetry painted a milky shade of lavender. Just off the kitchen is a family room with sets of French doors providing easy access to the grassy backyard and a retractible awning-shaded patio.
Upstairs, a circular skylight floods the main hallway with light. The master suite boasts a sitting area with fireplace, two walk-in closets, a spa-style bathroom and private balcony, while one of the three guest/family bedrooms has been converted into a private gym filled with state-of-the-art equipment.
Outdoor amenities include a grassy lawn, two distinct patios for al fresco dining or sunbathing, and a built-in BBQ. The heated swimming pool features an attached spa and is surrounded by an unattractive — if inherently practical — removable child-safety fence.
After debuting on the market last month, the property has already undergone a price chop — from $7.8 million to just under 7.5. Still, that’s a significant and profit-assuring jump over the $5.75 million that Al Mubarak and Sehweil originally paid.
Al Mubarak, born into an influential, scholarly family — his father served as U.A.E. ambassador to Paris, where he was assassinated in 1984 — was raised in his native Abu Dhabi and educated in Boston, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University. He’s since established himself as a prominent international businessman and political figure, not to mention a fan favorite soccer club leader.
Today, Al Mubarak is primarily known for his close relationship to the U.A.E.’s Al Nahyan royal family, and is considered their most trusted advisor. He is CEO of Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi’s enormous sovereign wealth fund that was infamously tangled up in the 1MDB scandal some years ago.
Back in 2008, when Manchester City Football Club was purchased by Sheikh Mansour, Al Mubarak became chairman, a position the fan favorite has retained since then. As for Sehweil, she is co-founder of Bodytree, an Abu Dhabi-based studio that offers a personalized approach and instructors from the disciplines of yoga, pilates and dance to clients.
And though it’s not publicly known when or if Al Mubarak will purchase a new L.A. home, he has previously been open about his love for California, so perhaps a West Coast real estate upgrade is in the works.
Jeff Yarbrough & Zack Feitelberg of Keller Williams hold the listing.
Launch Gallery: Khaldoon Al Mubarak Lists $7.5 Million House in Brentwood
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
