Legendary Westlake Compound - H 2013
This story first appeared in the Oct. 4 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
Legendary entertainment chair and CEO Thomas Tull is creating a new film and TV empire at Universal Studios, and things on the home front are no less epic. According to public records, the ultra-private Tull — who signed a co-financing and distribution deal with Universal in July — purchased three contiguous Westlake Village properties in 2011 for more than $25 million and is building a mammoth retreat that has been kept under wraps for more than two years.
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To wit, in February Tull received approval to have the 550-foot-long cul de sac on which the three lots sit converted into a private road. A gated entry will shield the 30-acre estate, where one of the region’s larger residential construction projects is underway. Tull has tapped a trifecta of A-list compound-makers, including architect Brian Biglin (Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Lopez, Simon Cowell), builder Peter McCoy (Brad Grey, Tom Cruise) and landscape designer Robert Truskowski (Mick Jagger, Quincy Jones, Netscape co-founder Jim Clark) for the project.
In addition to the residence going up on the hillside site, permits have been granted for the installation of a pond area, a tennis court on the lower portion of the split-level property, a 4,000-square-foot garage addition with a 25-foot observation tower, a detached pool house and, naturally, a guard house building. A spokesperson for Tull declined comment.
