Facebook’s Jason Rubin Buys the House Next Door
By James McClain
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Prominent video game director and comic book creator Jason Rubin , VP of Special Gaming Initiatives at Facebook, has stealthily expanded his real estate footprint, shelling out $5.4 million for the house immediately next door to his Hollywood Hills residence. Sited at the very end of an all-but-invisible, hidden cul-de-sac high above L.A.’s bustling Sunset Strip, Rubin’s compound now comprises two separate structures with well over 15,000 square feet between them.
Unlike Rubin’s ultra-contemporary main residence, which he custom built and recently completed, the just-acquired secondary house is a decades-old sprawler originally built in 1960. For better or worse, the hillside property appears to have undergone a significant renovation in the mid ’80s that stripped it of its original midcentury features and transformed it into a quasi-contemporary estate, with a number of offbeat interior decor choices.
There’s a professional screening room adorned in an oddly textured-looking, forest green wall covering, and a kitchen’s with mint green cabinets that aren’t unattractive, but clash with the open-plan living area’s otherwise all-cream motif. The lavish master suite has dual bathrooms, both of them featuring striking stone and wallpaper colors, while one of the dual walk-in closets is painted entirely in a particularly shade of hot pink.
Still, the property has a wide variety of desirable amenities — the aforementioned modern kitchen has top-of-the-line appliances, a family room includes a convenient wet bar, and sprawling outdoor terraces surround a dark-bottomed pool and spa, with westward views that encompass the Century City skyline and Pacific Ocean.
Although it seems unlikely that Rubin will ever spend a night in this new place, it’s certainly got potential as luxe guest quarters, a buffer property for additional privacy, or perhaps just an ordinary real estate investment that he can keep an eye on, quite literally, from the comfort of his own home.
As for his main residence, records show Rubin acquired the property way back in 2005, for $5.4 million. He subsequently demolished the existing house and undoubtedly spent another small fortune constructing a multi-story mansion hewn from glass and metal , designed by megamansion specialist Paul McClaean. There’s an infinity-edged swimming pool, 10,000 square feet of living space, and a series of interior catwalks with spectacular views of the entire L.A. basin.
Rubin first came to public attention in the early 1990s, after co-founding video game developer Naughty Dog and releasing a series of highly successful games — “Crash Bandicoot” and “Way of the Warrior” among them. Naughty Dog was acquired by Sony in 2001; Rubin eventually joined Oculus VR in 2014, shortly after the company’s $2 billion acquisition by Facebook. Last year, he was named Facebook’s VP of Special Gaming Initiatives, giving him a broader role at the tech juggernaut.
Brendan Fitzpatrick of Douglas Elliman held the listing and also repped Rubin.
