01:17:50 · Jordi Hays, John Coogan, Tyler
[01:17:50] S0: It's You know? It's a nice... It's nicely perched. Yeah. Beautiful views. A wonderful view of the city. Yeah. But ultimately doesn't, I believe, have very good beach access. Oh. Kinda feels important. Yeah. That's rough. Malibu. [01:18:03] S1: So it says it it was supposed to be the most expensive new neighborhood in The United States. A cluster of five mid century inspired mansions perched on top of a hilltop overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The ambition was to sell them for nearly $500,000,000 to some of the world's est people. That was 500,000,000 in total. You can see some video there. But nearly a decade in the making, the ultra luxury development known as The Case is facing collapse. Four of its five houses are unsold. Entities tied to 66 year old developer Scott Gillen filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this summer. We're we're subbing in the old Greg Abel taking a seat. Greg, how you doing? [01:18:45] S2: It's great to see you. Great
01:18:45 · Tyler, John Coogan
[01:18:45] S2: It's great to see you. Great [01:18:46] S1: to see you. Thanks for being here. Let's get going. In an age where reality shows like Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles and Selling LA have turned agents and developers into celebrities, Gillen overcame a criminal history to make a name for himself as a design visionary. But local agents and industry leaders said it was ultimately his perfectionism and reluctance to lower his ambitions and acting for act asking prices that undermine it. He's a perfectionist. He's a vibe coder. He's addicted. It's the same it's the exact same problem as we've seen with people who code code code and never ship. He just couldn't bring himself to ship this and actually wrap up the project. Gillen isn't the first spec home developer to stumble at such a scale. Developer, Nile Niami. Do you know who that is? [01:19:32] S2: I do not. [01:19:33] S1: So he created The One. [01:19:35] S2: Okay. [01:19:35] S1: Yeah. A billion dollar property in Beverly Hills. The biggest house in The United States, I believe. And it was sold out of bankruptcy at a 120,000,000. So they... [01:19:46] S2: Not a great track record.
01:19:46 · Tyler, John Coogan, Jordi Hays
[01:19:46] S2: Not a great track record. [01:19:48] S1: Terrible ROI. But but again, he... Nile is not linked to this deal. They're just... The is giving an extra example Okay. Of of of when when these crazy spec projects can go wrong. And of course, it's the similar similar target valuation, although this is of course spread over five homes, not a single one. Let me tell you about Shopify. Shopify is the e commerce platform that grows with your business, lets you sell in seconds online, in store, on mobile, on social, on marketplaces, and now with AI agents. Oh, where'd Greg back? We're back to Warren. Well, how would you how would you... What tier would this go in? Is this above Notch's house? One of these homes, Jordi? Is this above? I mean you already put the Notch house in s tier, so I don't know if you can go up. But what what tier would this go in if you were to put it in a tier list? [01:20:42] S0: I don't know. I mean it's tough because it's personal. I've I've never driven by there Mhmm. And thought that's Where you want to live. Yeah. And especially Location, location, also tough because you have you're you have like a bunch of... This is the one. Yeah. That's one. That's not not the the one. [01:20:59] S1: This is the this is the... [01:21:00] S0: You have a terrible problem. If you're buying a home in that price range Yeah. And then you're basically sharing a driveway Yeah. Like with two other people. [01:21:06] S1: You better like who else is going in there. [01:21:08] S0: Yeah. Which is hard to roll the dice on.
01:21:08 · Jordi Hays, John Coogan
[01:21:08] S0: Yeah. Which is hard to roll the dice on. [01:21:10] S1: Yeah. So it looks unfinished at this point. The he... The Wall Street Journal says he has humble beginnings. A marketing video for the case shows Gillen driving onto the site in a classic 1936 Ford three window coupe hot rod wearing a biker jacket and sunglasses. A prolific car collector. Let's give it up for car collectors. Known for his gruff personality. He's more likely to be seen in flannel shirts and work boots than in a designer suit. He's often smoking a cigar. [01:21:40] S0: Infinity pool. [01:21:41] S1: Kinda like [01:21:41] S0: Chat says s tier. [01:21:43] S1: S tier. In the video, he talks about making a better life for his family. He's married with a daughter. His own father left when he was a year old, he says, while his mother worked three jobs to get by. His past also includes multiple run ins with the law according to the Wall Street Journal. Among them was a previously unreported murder charge in connection with the killing of a reputed drug dealer in 1987 when Gillen was in mid twenties. Gillen was then going by the name Scott Ashley was ultimately convicted in a jury trial of a lesser offense of being an accessory to a felony. He was placed on felony probation after awaiting trial in LA. County jail records show Gillen and his lawyer declined to discuss the charges. In various interviews over the years, Gillen has described a difficult childhood saying he was born in Laguna Beach, grew up in Sherman Oaks, a car obsessive. He said he taught...
01:21:43 · John Coogan, Jordi Hays, Tyler
[01:21:43] S1: S tier. In the video, he talks about making a better life for his family. He's married with a daughter. His own father left when he was a year old, he says, while his mother worked three jobs to get by. His past also includes multiple run ins with the law according to the Wall Street Journal. Among them was a previously unreported murder charge in connection with the killing of a reputed drug dealer in 1987 when Gillen was in mid twenties. Gillen was then going by the name Scott Ashley was ultimately convicted in a jury trial of a lesser offense of being an accessory to a felony. He was placed on felony probation after awaiting trial in LA. County jail records show Gillen and his lawyer declined to discuss the charges. In various interviews over the years, Gillen has described a difficult childhood saying he was born in Laguna Beach, grew up in Sherman Oaks, a car obsessive. He said he taught... [01:22:33] S0: Laguna Beach is not sweet. It's not a... Last you would not last a day in Laguna Beach.... Pull [01:22:40] S2: up to Laguna Beach. [01:22:41] S0: Do not pull up. [01:22:42] S1: He taught himself how to cut... Do complex repairs on cars and and landed a job at a hot rod shop in the San Fernando Valley. He said he also worked as a stunt driver including for the movie Dukes of Hazzard. He was jumping cars off dirt ramps. Then he had a successful career in directing television car commercials. He told the Wall Street Journal in 2018, I shot everybody. I shot Mercedes. I shot Ford. I shot Lincoln. I shot Vulcan.
01:22:42 · John Coogan, Jordi Hays
[01:22:42] S1: He taught himself how to cut... Do complex repairs on cars and and landed a job at a hot rod shop in the San Fernando Valley. He said he also worked as a stunt driver including for the movie Dukes of Hazzard. He was jumping cars off dirt ramps. Then he had a successful career in directing television car commercials. He told the Wall Street Journal in 2018, I shot everybody. I shot Mercedes. I shot Ford. I shot Lincoln. I shot Vulcan. [01:23:12] S0: Better use of language considering [01:23:14] S1: that You're up front of all history. Saying I shot Lincoln. Sounds like you killed the president. He rolled his cash into small real estate investments. He said then bigger ones over time building four homes, which he named the Who, why, what, and where in a small Malibu community. [01:23:30] S0: Whoville. [01:23:31] S1: Yeah. Big for Whoville. He's a Whoville 10. In mid... In the mid twenty tens, Gillen joined with Shy to build a large Malibu estate known as the New Castle with a gym, wine room, cigar room, and a $1,500,000 teak staircase. If you got a wine room and you got a cigar room, I feel like there's an opportunity to have some synergy and just kind of merge those into one room. What do you think? I don't know. You think the wine needs to be separate? [01:24:02] S0: Don't want wine... Coca Cola room.