It’s not quite a $190 million mega-deal like Jay-Z and Beyonce’s oceanfront splurge, but the $61 million Malibu home sale inked last summer certainly raised eyebrows for a number of reasons.
For one thing, that amount represents perhaps the most ever paid for a Malibu “spec house” — a home built on speculation by a developer for the express purpose of resale. Known as the Edge, this particular spec house is the very first of the five much-ballyhooed residences at The Case, a new guard-gated Malibu community located just off Pacific Coast Highway, to be completed and sold.
The $61 million is also one of the biggest sums ever paid for a Malibu house that does not offer direct access to the beach, though the place certainly has ocean views in spades. Watery vistas stretch from Catalina Island at sunrise all the way to Point Dume at sunset.
The identity of the Edge’s all-cash, out-of-state buyer was not publicly disclosed when the deal closed, but we’ve discovered that the new owners are a married couple from Paradise Valley, Arizona named Steve and Pam Walkenbach.
While he may not be a household name, Steve Walkenbach is certainly wealthy enough to afford a couple of $61 million homes. The 54-year-old Missouri native is a former executive at Scottrade, the now-defunct discount stock brokerage that generated more than $1 billion in annual revenue at its peak.
It’s also certainly worth noting that Pam Walkenbach is the daughter of Scottrade founder Rodger Riney, the Missouri native who was catapulted into the billionaire ranks in 2017, when he sold Scottrade to TD Ameritrade for a whopping $4 billion. Per Forbes, Riney’s personal net worth stands at $3.9 billion, making him the 339th richest person in the United States.
Clearly, the Walkenbachs are rich enough to buy just about any house one could possibly imagine. What they chose was a brand-new, roughly 10,500-square-foot contemporary edifice with five bedrooms and eight bathrooms positioned on nearly 2.7 acres of blufftop land.
Developed by Malibu local Scott Gillen and his team of investors, the Case enclave sits on 22 acres of land directly overlooking surf-friendly Malibu Road. Gillen calls all five of the Case homes “spectacular midcentury modern-inspired estates,” and the Edge certainly looks the part — inside, there are walls of glass and 13-foot ceilings throughout, plus endless hallways and an all-neutral color palette designed to serve as a backdrop to the unstoppable ocean blues beyond.
Some of the home’s more extravagant features include a solid teak front door, hand-hewed white oak floors throughout and a totally bespoke kitchen curated by the German manufacturer Bulthaup, complete with state-of-the-art Miele and Gaggenau appliances. Appropriately, the Edge also features a 75-foot, infinity-edge swimming pool hugged by a wraparound Ipe wood deck and enough outdoor seating for all 100 of the Walkenbach family’s closest friends. Those friends, of course, will doubtless be serviced by staff working at the home’s backyard cabana and full-size outdoor kitchen.
Naturally, all five of the Edge’s bedrooms feature ensuite full bathrooms. And the primary suite takes the extravagance several steps forward with a terrazzo-floored bathroom — an ode to the home’s midcentury modern design inspiration — and a 500-square foot private deck with whitewater views.
It should be noted that all of this luxury is well-guarded, as the Edge mansion and its four future mansion neighbors feature 24/7 guard-gated security, courtesy of a whopping $6,382 monthly HOA fee. (Don’t worry, those sort of dues are couch change to the Walkenbachs.)
According to our research, the Walkenbach family’s current main residence is an $8.6 million, Mediterranean-style estate in prime Paradise Valley, Arizona (above).
Featuring huge expanses of AstroTurf lawns, motorcourt parking for 15+ cars and a separate guesthouse, the Walkenbach estate is a true residential paradise in the desert. There’s also a very large, resort-style swimming pool partially shaded from the brutal Arizona sun by a cabana.
As for why this Arizona-based couple chose Malibu for their vacation home destination, the Walkenbachs have two adult daughters, Lanie and Paige. Now in her early 20s, Lanie Walkenbach currently attends grad school at Malibu-based Pepperdine University.
And while she waits for the finishing touches to be completed on her parents’ epic new home, Lanie Walkenbach has opted to acquire a slightly more fun-sized residence of her own. Records reveal that shortly after they closed on their new $61 million spread, her parents quickly dropped another $1.8 million to buy her a modest — well, relatively speaking — house in a Calabasas gated community.
Spanning just over 3,000 square feet of Mediterranean-inspired living space, Lanie Walkenbach’s starter home was built in 2006 and recently refreshed with new laminate floors, fresh paint throughout and an all-new kitchen sporting stainless appliances and quartz countertops.
Out back, the cozy backyard includes a patio and AstroTurf lawn. And in addition to three guest bedrooms, the house offers an upstairs primary suite with views of the rolling hills that surround Calabasas. But best of all, the property is just a short commute to Pepperdine’s scenic Pacific Coast Highway campus.
