June 04--Ending a long-running legal dispute, UCLA announced Friday that it has sold a landmark Japanese garden and home in Bel-Air for $12.5 million to real estate developer Mark Gabay.
Under terms of the sale between Gabay and the UC regents, the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden must be maintained in its current state for 30 years from the date of sale, although public access is not required.
That guarantee helped end a dispute with the donors' children, who sued UCLA to halt the sale until provisions could be made to prevent the immediate destruction of the garden.
The Bel-Air home and garden were donated to UCLA in 1964 by Edward W. Carter, a former UC regent who launched the Broadway department store chain, and his wife, Hannah Locke Carter.
The house on Siena Way was built in the Georgian Colonial style, and the garden on Bellagio Road is considered one of the finest examples of classic Japanese landscaping. It was created by Nagao Sakurai and Kazuo Nakamura.
Escrow is scheduled to close on or before July 12.
