Suzanne Somers Sells Beachfront Lots (EXCLUSIVE)

Though they settled for substantially less than their last asking price of $16.25 million — and took a whopping 33% discount on their original $18 million price tag — Suzanne Somers and husband Alan Hamel have off-loaded a pair of side-by-side oceanfront parcels in Malibu in what property records indicate were two separate but contiguous transactions that totaled just over $12 million. The prolifically entrepreneurial Somers, former star of the iconic 1980s sitcom “Three’s Company” and pitchwoman for the wacky Thighmaster exercise contraption, purchased the first of the two properties in August 1999 for $2.3 million and snapped up the adjacent parcel two years later for $2.35 million. The combined lots come to almost one-third of an acre, with about 190 feet of beach frontage. A charming cottage stood on one of the lots, but was consumed in a 2007 wildfire. And though Somers and Hamel ultimately opted not to rebuild, one of the lots, according to marketing materials, “is close to having building permits” for a boxy, two-story contemporary designed by acclaimed Montecito-based architect Bob Easton. Property records show one of the parcels was purchased by companies linked to big-time downtown L.A. developer Barry Shy and ultra high-end Malibu-based designer and developer Scott Gillen.

Since the late 1970s, the Somers-Hamels have owned a quirky and laidback if sumptuously turned out, resort-style compound on 73 acres nestled into a rugged canyon above Palm Springs, first put on the market in early 2008 with a too-sanguine asking price of $35 million. The price eventually fell to $12.9 million, and is currently listed at $14.5 million.

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