The Edge in Malibu; rocker has big plans for big acreage in Malibu, if only his pesky neighbors would leave him alone

U2′s Dave “The Edge” Evans is riling up his neighbors in Malibu, Calif., as he considers developments there on hundreds of acres.

We have been meaning to get around to writing about the Edge’s recent real-estate exploits, which have been discussed more by alt-weeklies and music publications than by celebrity real estate gossips. But, ever since the Los Angeles Times’ Ruth Ryon wrote in April 2007 about The Edge’s purchase of 120 acres of land in Malibu for a reported $15 million, we have been meaning to spend some time on this subject. Now, with neighbors complaining loudly of late about the Edge’s plans — and, with the Edge reportedly having evicted a well-known, longtime archery club from his land — the time is right for us to wade in.

The initial idea that is pending — of the Edge building five houses on a very large parcel of close to 300 acres — is, of course, not something that should aggravate most neighbors anywhere in the United States. However, the Edge’s neighbors appear most irritated by the fact that the site work to prepare the land for development — which involves effectively flattening a mountain on the property — will require a whopping 5,000 truckloads of earth to be removed from the land. In addition, neighbors on Sweetwater Mesa Road in the Serra Retreat area of Malibu aren’t real pleased with the Edge’s plans to construct a 20-foot-wide, 1,669-foot-long private access road onto the property — which previously has been approved by the city but apparently needs to be re-approved — particularly since they fear that the road eventually will be extending up to Piuma Road, meaning that the Pacific Coast Highway could one day connect with Piuma Road. Neighbors also fear that their views would be negatively impacted by the Edge’s project.

The land also would contain the Edge’s dream home, which has been dubbed “Leaves in the Wind” and which reportedly would have an S-shaped swimming pool. The Edge also plans to build a large trench that neighbors believe would trap wildlife.

It’s hard to keep the Edge’s properties separate from other property owners’ parcels in the area — particularly since he and some prior owners use limited-liability companies and partnerships, and also given that few of the properties have addresses attached to them by the assessor. But, we’ll do our best. Before we lay out his real estate portfolio, we should note that we have no idea how several news stories have come up with the statement that the Edge (shown here with Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong) owns 1,000 acres in the Malibu area. Having gone through land records in painstaking detail, we arrive at the Edge owning 431.3 acres (excluding one very small parcel whose exact acreage, as we note below, was unavailable to us in public records). Although we would welcome anyone else’s information on properties of the Edge’s that we might have missed, we currently assume that the estimate of him owning 1,000 acres was made by an incredibly uninformed local. (In fairness, we should note that KTLA more accurately reported recently that the Edge plans to build the five-home development on “nearly 300 acres.”)

In addition, we would caution our readers against totaling up all the prices paid below to get at a total amount that the Edge has paid for all of his properties; given the similarity of many of these purchase prices, it’s easy to assume that his purchases consisted of multiple parcel purchases at one time.

And now, without ado, here’s the Edge’s real-estate portfolio — as we have been able to assemble it — in greater Malibu:

–Parcel # 4453-005-037 (21 acres): owned by something called Lunch Properties LLP (formerly owned by Mulryan Properties LLP), purchased in November 2005 for $1,750,000

–Parcel # 4453-005-091 (40 acres): owned by something called Morleigh Properties LLC (and yes, the Edge’s wife’s first name is Morleigh), purchased in November 2005 for $1,750,000

–Parcel # 4453-005-013 (10 acres): owned by something called Ed West Coast Properties LLC, purchased in November 2005 for $525,000

–Parcel # 4453-005-092 (40 acres): owned by something called Mulryan Properties LLC, purchased in November 2005 for $1,750,000

–Parcel # 4453-005-018 (18.75 acres): owned by something called Vera Properties LLC, purchased in November 2005 for $1,750,000

–Parcel # 4459-003-007 (38 acres) at 5688 Latigo Canyon Road; owned by something called Morleigh Properties LLP, purchased in November 2006 for undisclosed amount

–Parcel # 4453-005-038 (27 acres): owned by something called Ronan Properties LLC, purchased in November 2005 for $1,750,000

–Parcel # 4459-004-004 (90.86 acres) at 5902 Latigo Canyon Road: owned by something called Cyan Properties LLP, purchased in November 2006 for $3,000,000

–Parcel # 4459-002-025 (11.03 acres) at 5670 Latigo Canyon: owned by something called Alison Properties LLP, purchased in February 2007 for $500,000

–Parcel # 4459-005-013 (undisclosed acreage) at 5906 Latigo Canyon Road: owned by something called Alison Properties LLP, purchased in November 2006 for $3,000,000

–Parcel # 4459-004-001 (4.05 acres): owned by something called Liffey Properties LLP, purchased in November 2006 for $3,000,000

–Parcel # 4459-005-001 (6.5 acres that are zoned “heavy manufacturing”!): owned by something called Dunluce Properties LLP, purchased in November 2006 for $3,000,000

–Parcel # 4459-005-003 (22.22 acres that are zoned as an irrigated farm): owned by something called Alison Properties LLP, purchased in November 2006 for $3,000,000

–Parcel # 4453-003-009 (20.5 acres) at 5700 Latigo Canyon Road: owned by something called Ronan Properties LLP, purchased in July 2007 for an undisclosed amount

–Parcel # 4453-003-008 (30 acres) at 5694 Latigo Canyon Road: owned by something called Ed West Coast Properties LLC, purchased in November 2006 and again in July 2007 for an undisclosed amount

–Parcel # 4453-003-010 (36.5 acres) at 5706 Latigo Canyon Road: owned by something called Mulryan Properties LLP, purchased in November 2006 and again in July 2007, both for undisclosed amounts

–Parcel # 4459-002-024 (5.36 acres) at 4968 Latigo Canyon Road: owned by something called Leffey Properties LLP, purchased in February 2007 for $500,000

–Parcel # 4459-002-022 (4.43 acres) at 4878 Latigo Canyon Road: owned by something called Cyan Properties LLP, purchased in February 2007 for $500,000

–Parcel # 4459-002-023 (5.1 acres) at 4962 Latigo Canyon Road: owned by something called Dunluce Properties LLP, purchased in February 2007 for $500,000

The money managers whose names appear on the Edge’s deeds are Adrianna Jordan and Statham, Georgia-based Jim Vanden Berg.

Comments

Leave a comment