Los Angeles’ priciest-ever real estate listing, a 157-acre Beverly Hills parcel known as “The Mountain,” is scheduled to be sold at auction on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The vacant parcel with sprawling views of the L.A. basin, also known as “The Vineyard,” was listed for $1 billion last year, but the price has since been lowered to $650 million. The property has drawn interest from a number of Hollywood celebrities and business titans over the years. In recent months, Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos has scoped out the property several times as an investment opportunity, though a source close to Bezos said the e-commerce billionaire has determined that it was overpriced. The upcoming auction follows a failed attempt by the current owner, a limited liability company known as Secured Capital Partners, to secure chapter 11 protection. A U.S. bankruptcy judge in Los Angeles dismissed the company’s petition last month, seeking to put an end to years of litigation and setting the stage for a foreclosure. The company has accumulated more than $200 million in debt on the property, according to court filings, though the borrower has disputed that amount.
