One thing the cast of Selling Sunset is particularly good at—aside from selling gorgeous multimillion dollar houses—is keeping fans excited for the next season. For example, you may have heard that the boss of the Oppenheim Group, Jason Oppenheim, and fan-favorite realtor Chrishell Stause are now an item, and there’s no question that fans will be tuning in to see how that plays out when the real estate reality show returns to Netflix later this fall.
For the design-inclined, the agency’s expansion to a second location in the ritzy Orange County suburb of Newport Beach is sure to be of interest (not only because of the pricey waterfront homes, but also because of the spacious new headquarters the new group of realtors will work out of). The one familiar face at the new office will be Heather Rae Young, who lives in the area with her fiancé, Flip or Flop star Tarek El Moussa, and was asked by Oppenheim to transfer.
After considering many places for a second location, Oppenheim finally settled on Newport Beach after seeing the luxury real estate market there “really expand and blossom,” he tells AD. (It probably doesn’t hurt that he also owns a home there.) The building he ended up leasing—a brick former bank that takes up an entire block and came complete with a vault—was “five times” larger than what he’d initially envisioned, but he threw reason out the window after seeing the space.
“I looked inside that building and was like, I don’t really care how much it costs to rent this or how much it costs to build out. This is a dream spot. I will never again be able to find a spot like this,” he says.
He enlisted husband-and-wife team Alex Becheru and Alice Kwan Becheru to design the space. The former is his best friend of two decades, and the latter is a realtor at the Los Angeles location—though she does not appear on camera. Together, they have a design company called White Glove Estates that specializes in staging homes.
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“I really don’t know what I would do without them. I don’t think I would be doing the projects that I’m doing,” Oppenheim says. Part of their brief was to fill the space with amenities that would make it feel like a home away from home for Oppenheim and his employees. This includes a kitchen, a pool table, a gym with a steam shower, a bar, a large TV to watch Monday night football, and even a motorcycle—though only Oppenheim’s father, who drops by sometimes, is allowed to take it for a spin.
“The space initially was very industrial,” Kwan Becheru says. “We wanted to add modern and refined elements to it.” New lighting from Buster + Punch helped, as did adding marble elements, grinding down the epoxy floor to reveal brick underneath, and bringing in plenty of custom-made furniture.
To add color, the team called upon the artists James Goldcrown and Mr. Brainwash. Goldcrown even painted a large mural on the outside of the building, which Becheru says took two weeks’ time and required the assistance of a boom lift.
Last but not least, Oppenheim wanted to bring the most key elements of the Los Angeles office to his new outpost. One of those things is the infamous bell that the realtors ring when they complete a big sale, and the other is the camaraderie that exists among the Selling Sunset group. “We hang out a lot together when I’m down here, similar to my experience in L.A. I’ve become good friends with a lot of these agents,” Oppenheim says. “And I have to say that the success of the office has far exceeded my expectations.”
1 / 9Photo: Noel KleinmanArtist James Goldcrown created the mural on the outside of the building. “He’s done maybe 10-foot walls, but nothing that is this massive, so we were really proud and honored that he did it on our project,” says Alex Becheru, who designed the space together with his wife, Alice Kwan Becheru.
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