Make California Post a Preferred Source Shanghai-born Hong Kong multimillionaire Hiroshi Horiike is auctioning off the 5.35-acre coastal property where his notorious Malibu mansion stood before it burned down in the 2018 Woolsey Fire.
Once asking $29.8 million, the Malibu Park property at 30601 Morning View Drive, overlooking the ocean, Zuma Beach, Broad Beach and Catalina Island, will be auctioned with a reserve bid of $12.99 million.
Horiike paid $12.25 million for the Malibu beach mansion in 2007.
The sealed-bid auction will be conducted by Paramount Realty USA in collaboration with listing broker Shamon Shamonki of Sotheby’s International Realty.
Horiike — born Peng Hong Ling and also known as Genlin — splits his time between “his estate in Hong Kong, his home in Tokyo and his home in Shanghai. He also owns a beautiful historic property just outside of Paris, where he spends some time as well,” Shamonki told Gimme Shelter.
In 2012, Horiike sued the brokerage company, Coldwell Banker, and its top broker, Chris Cortazzo, for misrepresenting the mansion’s size during a previous sale attempt.
Although advertised as 15,000 square feet by Coldwell Banker at the time, the mansion was actually less than 10,000 square feet. Horiike sued, asking for $5 million in damages, and the case was ultimately heard by the California Supreme Court.
The brokerage won the jury trial but lost on appeal, when the court ruled that dual agents have a fiduciary duty to the buyer and seller. On retrial, a second jury again sided with Coldwell Banker and Cortazzo in April 2018.
Real estate appraisers often get creative interpreting livable square feet.
In this case, a barbecue area and the garage were included, according to an architect’s deposition in the case. A home’s size has an impact on its sales price and its property taxes.
Size matters. Especially to Horiike, who grew up in a 300-square-foot home in China.
He later moved to Japan and then founded a conglomerate in Hong Kong, according to a 2015 New York Times interview.
“I don’t love my house,” Horiike told the Times. “It has become a bad dream. It has broken my heart and broke my dream about American people. Before, I thought everything here is beautiful. And perfect.”
In 2018, the Malibu mansion burned to the ground. The only thing to survive was a marble statue of Horiike’s father, Shamonki told Gimme Shelter.
Thanks to grandfathered Woolsey Fire rebuild protections, a buyer could now construct a mansion up to 14,500 square feet on the empty lot — “a scale virtually impossible to replicate under modern city limits,” notes the auction house.
The auction also includes approved Clive Dawson plans for a seven-bedroom, 10-bath home, along with a pool, tennis, equestrian features and a private pedestrian tunnel to Zuma Beach.
Last year, the asking price dropped to $19.9 million, following the Palisades Fire.
“Buyer interest had softened locally due to the fire devastation, while the general real estate market slowed due to rising interest rates and general economic challenges,” Shamonki said. “Mr. Horiike wanted to adjust to a more market-driven price to garner more interest.”
Then, Shamonki said, Horiike decided that he wanted to sell by the end of the year; hence, the auction.
Shamonki, who lost his family home in the 2025 Palisades fire, says he understands. “We have three kids, and lost everything. You can’t replace family heirlooms. He has gone through a lot. We are trying to help him liquidate the property now.”
