Overview

Hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky and his wife Janet Jones erected this Colonial Revival residence in the Sherwood Country Club Estate tract of Thousand Oaks, CA, in 1999. They lived here between 1999 and 2007, before selling it to former Major League Baseball player, Lenny Dykstra. The Gretzkys moved to AZ while he coached the NHL Phoenix Coyote team between 2005 and 2009. (He left the Coyotes as Coach and Director of Hockey Operations in 09/2009.) After Dykstra's bankruptcy in 2009, Gretzky repurchased the house in 2018, but put it back on the real estate market in 10/2020.

Building History

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky (born 01/26/1961 in Brantford, ON, Canada) and his wife Janet Jones (born 01/10/1961 in Bridgeton, MO) commissioned architect Richard Landry (born in Berthierville, QC, Canada,) to design this Colonial Revival estate on 6.5 acres in the Sherwood Country Club Estate development of Thousand Oaks, CA. Completed at a cost of about $15 million in 1999, the Gretzky's resided here during the early years of his retirement from the National Hockey League (NHL). Gretzky took an ownership stake in the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes in 2000, and five years later, he became the Coyotes' Head Coach. He and Janet put the house up for sale two years later.

Leonard Kyle "Lenny" Dykstra (born 02/10/1963), a former star for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, bought the residence from Gretzky in 2007 for $18.5 million. Since retiring from the Phillies in 1996, Dykstra had enriched himself through stock and real estate investments, as well as operating car washes and other automobile-related businesses. Dykstra began a magazine called The Players Club, with professional sports athletes as contributors in 2008, but longstanding issues with drugs began to intensify. He get into multiple legal scrapes. Dykstra hoped to re-sell the house for a rapid profit, but legal troubles began to intervene. In the meantime, He declared bankruptcy in 2009.

A lienholder, Jeff Smith of Index Investors bought the Gretzky property at a Ventura County foreclosure auction for $760,712 on 11/17/2010. A lienholder, Smith also owed about $12 million to lender JPMorgan Chase and Company, which he repaid after he sold the house in 01/2011. (See Lauren Beale, Los Angeles Times.com, "Lenny Dykstra’s lavish Thousand Oaks home is sold at foreclosure auction," published 11/20/2010, accessed 02/18/2021.) Following this sale, the Gretzky House changed hands several times. On 04/06/2018, Gretzky, who had been actively selling other properties in the Sherwood Country Club Estate tract, repurchased this house for $13.5 million. The web site, Mansion Global.com, said of the house's buyer history: "Since [2010], property records show there have been multiple transactions involving the home. It is unclear who sold it to the Gretzkys." In 10/2020, the Gretzkys put the house back on the market with an asking price of $22.9 million. (See Jack Flemming, Los Angeles Times.com, "Wayne Gretzky eyes $22.9 million for Thousand Oaks estate," published 10/22/2020, accessed 02/18/2021.)

PCAD id: 23894