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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Katy Perry Edges Closer|to $15M Convent Sale

LOS ANGELES (CN) - Pop star Katy Perry moved a step closer to buying a nun's convent for $15 million after a judge found that two sisters were not authorized to sell the property to a hotel developer.

Last year, Perry's company The Bird Nest sued developer Dana Hollister, who wanted to turn part of the Los Feliz, Calif.-area property into a boutique hotel, after the nuns resisted a sale to the pop star because they find her public image offensive.

In a 27-page ruling issued Wednesday, Judge Stephanie Bowick of the Los Angeles Superior Court ruled that Archbishop Jose Gomez and the Los Angeles archdiocese have authority over the sale of the 8-acre property, not sisters Rita Callanan and Catherine Holzman.

But while Bowick granted the church's motion for summary adjudication, the judge stopped short of validating Perry's offer.

The "determination that the Hollister transaction is invalid and that Hollister has no valid interest in the property does not compel the court to reach the conclusion that Bird Nest's transaction is valid and that Bird Nest has a valid interest in the property," Bowick wrote in the April 13 order.

Five sisters currently reside at the convent and they are all in their 70s and 80s, according to court records.

Perry's company alleged in court filings that Hollister is an "opportunistic developer" who had persuaded the nuns that they had authority to sell the property, though that power belongs to the archbishop.

Bowick ruled that the agreements between the nuns and Hollister "improperly cloud title on the property and are ordered canceled."

Perry is represented by Eric Rowen with Greenberg Traurig, who did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

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