The small Silicon Valley town of Atherton, 94027 routinely ranks as the United States’ wealthiest zip code. And back in March, that stunning wealth was put on display in a big way — a 16,000-square-foot mansion sold for $44.8 million, the neighborhood’s priciest home sale in years. The Real Deal first reported the all-cash, off-market transfer.
Though both parties’ identities are shielded behind a pair of trusts, a little digging reveals the home’s seller was Yasmin Lukatz , an executive director at the Palo Alto-based Israel Collaboration Network nonprofit, and the daughter of Israeli-born Dr. Miriam Adelson . Following the 2021 death of her husband — Las Vegas casino tycoon and major Republican political donor Sheldon Adelson — Dr. Adelson became the world’s fifth-richest woman, per Forbes, with a net worth of nearly $40 billion.
Early reports suggested the spendy buyer might be American, but further public records released since then indicates they are actually foreign, hailing from Hong Kong, and could be Peter Y. Zhang , a low-profile Chinese tycoon who is the cofounder and former chairman of publicly-listed pharmaceutical giant Hua Han Health Industry Holdings .
The former Lukatz estate was spec-built in 2015 by Joe Comartin of Woodlane Properties, the same prominent developer who famously built Steph and Ayesha Curry’s sprawling Atherton home . The “Northern European-inspired” mansion, per Comartin, was designed by Arcanum Architecture, with landscaping by Studio Green . With seven bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, two executive offices, a lounge and games room, detached guesthouse, gym, movie theater, full bar, wine cellar, and poolside cabaña, the place is fit for a full-time, five-star resort lifestyle.
Other dynamic elements include a yoga studio, massage facilities, and a pool house with a curtained dining room and heated outdoor patio. Outdoors, the front courtyard contains a 30-foot trough fed by a waterfall; elsewhere is a sunken garden with a fire-pit and a 50-foot-long swimming pool.
Located on one of Atherton’s most prestigious streets, the property is surrounded by equally lavish estates owned by a who’s-who of Silicon Valley’s tech elite, including Google’s Eric Schmidt, WhatsApp’s Jan Koum, Meg Whitman and Marc Andreessen.
No word yet on where Lukatz and her longtime husband, artist and surfer Oren Lukatz, are moving. But records reveal the couple has just paid $3.5 million for a fixer-upper midcentury modern house in the somewhat overlooked Bay Area town of Sunnyvale, Calif., and they still own another sumptuous estate in Atherton.
The Adelson clan is spectacularly rich, and as such they’ve got real estate all over the place. In addition to nine oceanfront homes in the gated Malibu Colony community, they also have a place in L.A.’s Brentwood neighborhood , though the family’s main residence remains a 44,000-square-foot Las Vegas megamansion equipped with its own private water park.
