Drink Mogul Russ Savage Lists Los Angeles Mansions

A billionaire beverage mogul is slimming down his real estate holdings in Los Angeles and across the Western United States in a nine-figure bet on the next wave of tech wealth.

Russ Savage, founder of Rockstar Energy and longtime luxury home investor, is listing five properties across Los Angeles, Aspen and Park City for a combined $297 million, betting that initial public offerings from companies like SpaceX and anticipated IPOs from firms like OpenAI and Anthropic will unleash a fresh crop of ultrawealthy buyers, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Savage, who sold Rockstar to PepsiCo in 2020 for roughly $4.7 billion, said he expects a surge of newly minted millionaires and billionaires to enter the housing market as major artificial intelligence and aerospace firms cash in on public offerings. The longtime investor, also known as Russell Weiner, believes those buyers will be hunting for trophy properties across multiple markets in a range of climes.

“We’re entering a new stratosphere of top-end wealth, where there’s no limit,” Savage told the Journal. “Where are they going to buy properties? They’re going to want a ski house and they’re going to want a house in the sun.”

His portfolio hitting the market includes two Los Angeles homes asking $85 million and $34 million, respectively, an $85 million estate on Aspen’s Red Mountain and a pair of Park City properties listed for $55 million and $38 million.

Savage’s largest Los Angeles listing is a Beverly Park estate he purchased in 2007 for about $20 million. The roughly 2-acre property underwent a yearslong overhaul that included a gut renovation of the main residence, along with the addition of a guest house and fitness center. The project, delayed by the pandemic, is expected to wrap up this fall.

His second Los Angeles offering is a roughly 13,000-square-foot home in the Hollywood Hills that has bounced on and off the market since he acquired it in 2019 for about $16.5 million, once listing for as much as nearly $28 million. He also rented the home for three years for roughly $120,000 per month before taking it off the market in 2023 for a renovation effort. Savage said he decided to relist rather than continue waiting for uncertainty around Los Angeles’ Measure ULA, often dubbed the “mansion tax,” to subside.

The median sale price in Beverly Hills in April was $4.9 million, up from $3.4 million in the same period last year, per Realtor.com data cited by the Journal. Once Savage sells the homes, he plans to shift his attention to Florida, where he is pursuing additional renovation projects and looking for new acquisitions.

— Chris Malone Méndez