There are trophy homes — and then there’s Casa Encantada in Los Angeles, which just hit its latest snag.
The legendary Bel-Air estate at 10644 Bellagio Road has returned to market for $170 million, down from $190 million last year and well below the $250 million price floated in 2023, The Post has learned.
Even in a city built on spectacle, this residence stands apart: a nearly century-old mansion perched on 8.4 manicured acres overlooking the Bel-Air Country Club. The 28,725-square-foot main residence, with seven bedrooms and 20 bathrooms, reads like a time capsule from Hollywood’s golden age.
But behind the glamour, the estate has been caught in a very public, and very bitter, financial battle.
After the 2023 death of billionaire telecom entrepreneur Gary Winnick, who bought the property for a record $94 million in 2000, his widow, Karen Winnick, has been fighting to keep the home amid a dispute tied to a massive loan secured against the estate. She and her son Alexander have alleged she was left “effectively destitute” by a malicious loan-to-own scheme against the mansion and other assets. Karen claims she was unaware of the terms.
The debt, which originated in 2020, has ballooned past $150 million — and, according to previous reports, she stood to lose everything.
A foreclosure auction had been scheduled for December 2025, raising the possibility that one of America’s most storied homes could be sold off behind a public fountain in downtown Los Angeles.
But no sale appears to have taken place, and the mansion remains on the open market in early 2026, suggesting the threatened auction was delayed or stopped as the dispute continues to unfold.
A lawyer for Winnick told The Post in a statement: “At Karen Winnick’s request, the California Court of Appeal granted a temporary stay of the foreclosure on December 16, 2025. That temporary stay continues to be in effect as of now.”
They declined to comment on “any of CIM’s filings at this time.”
In the latest round of court filings in Los Angeles Superior Court, lender CIM Real Estate Credit, LLC is pressing to move the fight out of California, arguing that the dispute belongs in New York under provisions contained in the 2020 loan agreement.
The lender says the agreement, along with a personal guaranty signed by Karen Winnick, requires that any legal battle tied to the loan be handled there, the latest records obtained by The Post show. It has also asked, in the alternative, that the case be handed to a private judicial referee rather than proceed before a traditional courtroom jury.
At the same time, CIM — who did not respond to The Post’s request for comment — has filed papers seeking to knock out large portions of the Winnicks’ cross-complaint altogether. In those filings, the lender argues that Karen Winnick personally signed the guaranty and later executed multiple amendments and advance requests tied to the loans. These are documents that, it contends, undermine claims that she was unaware of the debt structure.
The lender further disputes allegations of financial elder abuse and fraud, characterizing the transaction as a negotiated commercial loan between sophisticated parties.
Separate motions filed this month also seek to dismiss certain individual defendants from the case or pause the California proceedings while related litigation plays out elsewhere.
The filings paint a picture of an escalating legal chess match. Hearings are scheduled throughout the spring, including arguments over whether the case should remain in Los Angeles and whether key claims can survive at all. Meanwhile, a parallel breach-of-contract lawsuit has been initiated in New York.
The saga adds a modern twist to the estate’s storied past. Casa Encantada was once owned by Conrad Hilton, who famously called it “The House Where Dreams Come True.” Inside, an oval foyer opens to a sweeping staircase and 14-foot ceilings. There’s a walnut-paneled library, hand-lacquered dining room walls, twin formal salons and a Lucite bar that feels plucked from a 1940s film set.
Outside, rose gardens, orchards, rolling lawns, a 60-foot tiled pool and a tennis pavilion create what amounts to a private kingdom above Los Angeles.
Casa Encantada later passed to billionaire David Murdock before Gary Winnick purchased it in 2000.
