Also from the L.A. Times:
The historic Max Whittier estate, known in the ’70s as the Beverly Hills home of Saudi Sheik Mohammed al Fassi, has been divided and sold as two parcels.
Fred Wehba, a founder of the privately owned, Century City-based commercial real estate investment company BentleyForbes, and his wife, Suzi, purchased a 2-acre parcel for $6.6 million. They plan to build a 14,000-square-foot house plus 7,000 square feet of underground parking, a pool and a tennis court.
The adjacent, 1.6-acre site was sold for about $5.6 million to a local buyer who also plans to build a home there. Details were not available.
The combined 3.6-acre property, two blocks east of the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard, provoked neighbors when the sheik put brightly colored plastic flowers in the outdoor Grecian urns and painted the white plaster statues of nudes on the front veranda in natural skin and hair tones. The sheik also painted the stately white mansion lime green. The home was built for Beverly Hills co-founder Max Whittier.