SELL BUY PROPERTY

Celebrity real estate watchers will recall it was only in mid-December 2011 when talk show queen bee Ellen Degeneres and her actress wife Portia de Rossi shelled out $12,000,000 to snatch up Brad Pitt's bluff top beach house in Malibu, CA.

Well, the property-mad ladies appear to have caught an immediate case of The Celebrity Real Estate Fickle because a snitch named Malibu Ken told Your Mama (and property records confirm) the sleek and glassy, 4,088 square foot, low-slung contemporary on 1.26 ocean front acres was sold in mid-June 2012 for $13,000,000.

The property, which Mister Pitt picked up in early 2004 for $8,410,000, was purchased through a blind trust that Your Mama can't crack but Malibu Ken says scuttlebutt on the (celebrity) real estate street is that the new owner is Tinseltown makeup artist turned cosmetics entrepreneur and television infomercial pioneer Victoria Jackson. 

Miz Jackson is married to direct-marketing tycoon Bill Guthy who shills products direct to consumer, many of which are celebrity-owned skin care and beauty products such as Youthful Essence (by Susan Lucci), Meaningful Beauty (by Cindy Crawford), and In an Instant (by Heidi Klum).

The Missus Degeneres's recently sold the bulk of their Beverly Hills (CA) compound to milquetoast Hollywood mogul Ryan Seacrest for $37,500,000. At about the same time they sold their Bev Hills house to Mister Seacrest, they scooped up a single story mid-century modern house in the lower Trousdale Estates area of Beverly Hills and, as far as we know, they still own and maintain a modest condo in Beverly Hills (probably for staff and/or family), a house in Beverly Hills that borders their old compound (and which we imagine they'll sell soon or eventually), and a spectacular, equestrian-oriented ranch in a particularly fancy-pants corner of Thousand Oaks (CA), which they've had on and off the market the last couple years with an asking price of $16,500,000.

aerial photo: Pacific Coast News

...Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani—a.k.a. the trophy property collecting Prime Minister of Qatar—did not, as first reported by the New York Post some weeks ago, drop more than $90,000,000 on a duplex penthouse at the not-yet-completed,  Christian de Portzamparc-designed One57 tower in Midtown Manhattan.

The intrepid celebrity chatterboxes at Page Six quoted an unnamed source today who snitched The Sheik chose not to move forward with the purchase of the gigantic duplex digs at One57 "'because he has a huge entourage and the building only had two elevators.'"



In the real estate end, again according to the peeps at Page Six of The Post, The Sheik dropped $47,000,000 for a super-sized, neo-Italian Renaissance townhouse of monumental urban proportions. The deal went down in early July (2012) so, believe it or not, it taken six long weeks for someone to put this particular, high-end real estate two-and-two together.

Your Mama can't confirm or elaborate on the details of the deal—because we don't know a damn thing about the details—but the 22,000-ish square foot, limestone-faced townhouse‚ built in 1922 by C.P.H. Gilbert for German merchant Julius Forstmann, is said to have been sold by real estate mogul Aby Rosen in a private deal without any real estate brokers involved. No brokers means, of course, no real estate commission(s) paid.

Mister Rosen first listed the baronial, 45-foot wide pile in 2008 with a spine-straightening $75,000,000 price tag and (reportedly) rejected two previous offers of $60,000,000 before he slashed the asking price in June 2010 to $59,000,000. He again went chop-chop in November 2010 when he plummeted the price to $50,000,000.

The recorded $47 million sale price may be a substantial fraction of the original list price—and far less than the two, $60 million offers Mister Rosen (reportedly) rejected—but it's still many times the $15,650,000 property records show Mister Rosen paid for the townhouse through a generically-named corporate concern in October 2004.

The regal (and deliciously haughty) seven-floor residence—five above-ground, a full basement and additional sub-basement below—was used as a decorator's show house at some point but, honestly chickens, Your Mama can't recall exactly when or for what philanthropic purpose. Maybe one of y'all do and would be kind enough to give Your Mama a ringy-dingy? Anyhoo, that's why, one presumes, listing photos show some of the vast interiors as done, done, and even more done.

As decoratively worked (and over-worked) as some of the rooms appear in listing photographs, the woefully spare floor plan included with marketing materials may (or may not) suggest significant time and resources will be required to design, customize and construct the interior spaces of the monumental mansion where, according to listing information, "The dramatic entrance foyer leads to a magnificent reception hall and grand-scaled rooms which feature many superb original details, including a spectacular sweeping marble staircase, an enormous skylight, marble fireplace surrounds, hand-carved moldings, and soaring high ceilings."

The purchase of Mister Rosen's townhouse marks the end of an arduous and no-doubt complicated house hunt operation for The Sheik during which he reportedly made a dead-serious (and over-asking) offer to purchase two of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark's three apartments at 907 Fifth Avenue. He was, so the New York property gossips reported, rejected due to the all-powerful board's (understandable) concerns about the significant size of The Sheik's entourage that includes (but may not be limited to) two wives, 15 children, a full-complement of domestics and personal valets, and—natch—an extensive, armed security detail.

So the scuttlebutt goes, The Sheik also considered the purchase of songwriter/philanthropist/international social butterfly Denise Rich's sprawling and decidedly opulent (but depressingly dated) duplex apartment on Fifth Avenue but was (allegedly) rebuffed by the board once again due to concerns about the size of his entourage. Miz Rich—who gave up her U.S. citizenship last year and decamped for Switzerland–later sold the massive penthouse as a pied-a-terre to L.A.-based billionaire David Geffen for $54,000,000.

(Note: The following is lifted almost but entirely verbatim from a previous discussion about The Sheik's real estate activities.)

Naturally, the 50-something year old Sheik owns several other pricey properties around the world including, no doubt, a college campus-sized compound in his home country of Qatar. Like many Middle Eastern sheikhs and potentates, Mister al-Thani maintains a base in London where he owns a sprawling penthouse pad at the stupefyingly expensive One Hyde Park complex in London's natty and nabob-y Knightsbridge nabe.

More than one of Your Mama's better connected informants have told us The Sheik owns an estate in the same gated Los Angeles enclave where action star turned governator Arnold Schwarzenegger, German supermodel turned reality tee-vee mogul Heidi Klum, and professional pig skin tosser Tom Brady and his (possibly) preggers again Brazilian supermodel wife Giselle Bundchen all maintain baronial mansions.

In late 2010 The Sheik paid L.A.-based billionaire Tom Gores $34,500,000 for 8-plus prime (and vacant) acres on a very prominent promontory above the Bel-Air Country Club where—Your Mama imagines—he plans to erect a massive, opulent and high-maintenance residential monument to his wealth that he'll probably only use a few weeks a year. Such are the real estate ways of the world's super rich.

In addition to his myriad of stationary residences around the world, the globe-trotting Sheik also keeps a 437 foot long, navy blue-hulled boat called Al Mirqab said to have a soaring, four-story main staircase with hand-cut crystal panels and a glass sculpture by American artist Dale Chihuly.

Just imagine, children, the amount The Sheik's monthly living expenses total. Sort of makes y'all need a nerve pill chased by a gin & tonic, don't it?

listing photos and floor plan: Sotheby's International Realty via StreetEasy

SELLER: Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel
LOCATION: New York City, NY
PRICE: $7,650,000
SIZE: 2,598 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms

UPDATE (8/23/12): As it turns out, Mister Timberlake's penthouse isn't for sale although we found active listing on both the New York Times online real estate section and on Boulklis Realty website, both of which now appear to have been subsequently deleted. Some thorough checking and re-checking by the folks at The Daily News debunked the rumors and reports. So there you have it. He's not selling his penthouse after all.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: There were rumors a-swirlin' the last few days that pop star cum actor Justin Timberlake and long-time lady-pal Jessica Biel hitched their love and romance wagons in a clandestine ceremony over the weekend in the upscale, Wyoming ski resort community of Jackson Hole.

The much-gossiped about Rocky Mountain nuptials did not—according to flacks and an unidentified family member—go down but that doesn't meant the on-and-off-and-on-again couple aren't looking to make some changes to their property portfolio(s).

Yesterday, while sipping cheap chardonnay with our high-maintenance but ever-so-entertaining gal pal Sheila Sinn down from Anchorage, Alaska, Your Mama received a covert communique from a little birdie we'll call Wanda Tellyousomething who directed our beady, celebrity real estate eyes to a couple of active online real estate listings that indicate L.A.-based Mister Timberlake and Miss Biel have quietly made their New York City penthouse pied-a-terre available for purchase with an asking price of $7,650,000.

Interesting to note: One listing shows the glassy, 2,598 square foot aerie atop the much-ballyhood, Gwathmey Siegel-designed Soho Mews building—picked up in November 2010 for $6,567,712.50—has actually been semi-covertly available, as of today, for at least 71 days without a single real estate gossip catching wind or word.

Current and past listing information shows the three bedroom and 3.5 bathroom penthouse has a 25-foot plus entry gallery that bisects the apartment and opens into a lofty, (nearly) 30-foot by 30-foot great room with gas fireplace, high (but hard hardly grand) 10'2' ceilings, a sleek galley-style kitchen, and two long curtain glass walls that spill out to an 853-square foot wrap around terrace with Empire State Building Views.

Two curtain walls of glass also wrap the north- and west-facing master bedroom suite complete with walk-in closet and attached private bathroom with two sinks, glass and marble shower stall and separate soaking tub set on a low marble plinth in front of a full wall of glass with western, roof-top view.

The few photographs included with current, active online listings appear to Your Mama to be identical to the ones used in the listing from the time of the Tinseltown pair's 2010 acquisition so the Armani Casa-style furnishings and day-core may or may not reflect the personal decorative proclivities and realities of Miss Biel and Mister Timberlake.

The building—a complex, really, with two, separate low-rise towers separated by a garden courtyard done up by landscape architect Peter Walker—offers its affluent residents a plethora of full-service amenities and luxuries such as 24-hour doormen, concierge services, a state-of-the-art fitness center managed by Drive 495, a bicycle storage room, and a private parking facility with valet service.

Previous to the SoHo penthouse now quietly up for grabs, Mister Timberlake and Miss Biel hunkered down in a 3,000 square foot condo on the 5th floor of the Pearline Soap Factory building in TriBeCa bought, as per property records we peeped, in November 2008 for $4,774,574 and sold at a loss in July 2011 for $4,700,000.

Although she owns a gated and high-hedged two bedroom and three bathroom Mediterranean residence in a leafy, low-key corner of Brentwood just above San Vicente Boulevard—bought in December 2004 for $2,600,000 according to property records—Miss Biel has long lived (in unmarried bliss and sin) with Mister Timberlake in the massive, 13,530 square foot mock-Med mansion high in the Hollywood Hills he snatched up in July 2002 for $8,300,000 from actress Helen Hunt.

listing photos: The Bouklis Group
floor plan: StreetEasy

SELLER: Robin Williams
LOCATION: Napa, CA
PRICE: $35,000,000
SIZE: 20,000(-ish) square feet, 5 bedrooms, 6 full and 6 half bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: This one comes courtesy of Mister Sassy Pants (aka Phillip Themholes) who kindly let Your Mama know that comedian/actor Robin Williams has hoisted Villa Sorriso, his 653-acre spread tucked semi-remotely into the Mayacama Mountains near Napa, CA on the (open) market with an asking price of $35,000,000.

The 60-year old Mister Williams, recently married in nearby St. Helena for the third time to a younger Sausalito-based artist/graphic designer named Susan Schneider,

Property records are not entirely clear on when Mister Williams acquired the secluded vineyard estate, about 80 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge, but it appears that he's owned at least a portion of it since April 1994.

Listing information shows the monumental, stucco and limestone Italianate villa measures more than 20,000 square foot over three floors with a total of five bedrooms and six full and six half bathrooms.

Opulent but casual interior spaces include an impress the guests type foyer and stair hall with bronze railings, formal living and dining rooms, oak-paneled library, colossal eat-in kitchen, 12-seat state-of-the-art movie theater with tiered seating for 12 (or more), temperature-controlled vaults for wine and art storage, and a bridge gallery that connects to a viewing tower with wrap around views of the surrounding mountains, vineyards and valleys.

The back of the house spills out to an antique stone tiled terrace with 65-foot long infinity-edged swimming pool and party-sized spa. The grounds around the house include flat lawns, a multi-level sculpture garden, equestrian facilities, and detached garage for auto storage.

The 600-plus acres include vineyards, rolling mountains, a solar farm, a natural lake and hiking and horse riding paths that connect to thousands of acres of adjoining and protected open space.


Your Mama spent a few minutes perusing property records and by hook and crook figured out that in addition to the vast Napa Valley estate Mister Williams's property portfolio includes (but may not be limited to) a 6,517 square foot water front residence in Tiburon, CA purchased in the last days of December 2008 for $4,050,000 as well as a comparatively modest 2 bedroom and 1.5 bathroom residence in the Bronson Canyon area of Los Angeles purchased in February 2009 for $857,500 from Stephanie Savage, executive producer and/or co-creator of boob-toob fare that includes Hart of Dixie, Gossip Girl and The O.C.

In August 2007 Mister Williams purchased a small, one bedroom and 2 bathroom condo-crib with private roof terrace in the hipster haven of Williamsburg (Brooklyn) for $1,028,000 that in November 2011 was transferred into the name of his oldest son who, as it turns out, sold it in May of this year (2012) for $1,100,000.

listing photos: Sotheby's International Realty

Oscar winning English actress Kate Winslet and Oscar-winning American filmmaker Sam Mendes parted marital ways in 2010. So the story goes, ex-Missus Mendes retained ownership of the family's New York City duplex penthouse pad atop the Eagle Condominium, a 12-unit, no-door-man building in the heart of the art gallery-choked Chelsea neighborhood.

We're not sure if Miz Winslet and the kids (and/or Mister Mendes) made much use of the house-sized penthouse pied-a-terre since the split and divorce but we are sure, as first revealed by the celebrity gossip hummingbirds at the New York Daily News, the light-flooded duplex digs have come up for lease with a monthly asking price of $30,000. The price includes all the oppressively neutral, ho-hum Shabby Sheek day-core.

Property records show Mister Mendes and Miz Winslet paid $4,995,000 for the approximately 3,300 square foot penthouse during happier wedded days in July 2004. Floor plans included with current lease listing information (above) show the two-floored configuration allows for three or four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms.

A long entrance hall extends deep into the apartment and explodes open to a capacious, 23-foot wide main living space that stretches nearly 47 feet long with 13-foot ceilings; a dozen over-sized windows on three sides; a central wood-burning fireplace; and a long wall of built-in book cases. The open, center-island kitchen has birch-colored, flat-fronted cabinetry; long snack bar and super-sized, top-grade, commercial-style stainless steel appliances.

Two guest family bedrooms share a vestibule off of which spoke a laundry closet suitable only for stacked machines, and a guest powder pooper plus a shared (if smallish) full bathroom for the bedroom occupants convenience(s). Across the entry all from the guest/family quarters, the south-facing master suite's complete with decent-sized walk-in closet and private, all-white attached bathroom with two sinks, two windows and separate shower and free-standing, claw-footed soaking tub.

The u-shaped stair case bends up to the second floor where a large, double exposure room is suitable for use as a family/media room/den or, because of its walk-in closet and attached bathroom, as a fourth bedroom suite. The upper landing and bedroom/den both open through French doors to an approximately 1,700 square foot wrap around terrace with fab (if not exactly birds-eye) city and river views.

Although one presumes Miz Winslet has long (and perhaps always) maintained a residence in London, we have no specifics about such a thing and our research does not readily turn up any other properties owned by either or the both of them.

listing photos and floor plan: Town Residential

Professional skateboarder turned reality tee-vee star Rob Dyrdek seems to have developed a dinero-draining real estate habit of buying multi-million dollar houses in Los Angeles, CA and listing them several years later for considerably less than he paid.

listing photos: Prudential California / Beverly Hills 

In June 2005 Mister Dyrdek dropped $1,400,000 on a 2,792 square foot multi-story contemporary crib set into a steep hillside in a low-key neck the Hollywood Hills known as The Hollywood Knolls. The long-legged gal at Trulia Luxe Living reported the boxy, glassy and airy three bedroom and 3.5 bathroom residence (above) served as a backdrop for the first of Mister Dyrdek's several reality tee-vee programs (Rob & Big, Roby Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory and Ridiculousness), but we can't vouch for that since neither Your Mama nor The Dr. Cooter have neither heard of nor seen any of Mister Dyrdek's programs.

The prolific setter of Guinness world records—he has more than 20 to date—first and unsuccessfully attempted to unload his nest in The Knolls back in 2008 and early 2009 (at an unknown asking price). He recently re-listed the canyon view house with a $1,249,000 price tag.

A few quick flicks of the well-worn beads on Your Mama's bejeweled abacus shows that even with a (not entirely unlikely) full-price sale Mister D. will lose $151,000, not counting renovations and/or improvements, maintenance, upkeep and carrying costs, and, let's not forget, the real estate fees.

listing photos: Prudential California / Beverly Hills

In May 2008, just before his first failed attempt to sell his house in The Knolls, Mister Dyrdek splashed out $2,459,000 for a 4,706 square foot residence in the affluent Mount Olympus neighborhood, a upscale mountaintop enclave above Hollywood known in L.A. real estate circles to be popular with wealthy foreigners, specifically, for some reason, Russians.

Mister Dyrdek first put the five bedroom and five bathroom Mount Olympus concrete-faced contemporary abode that looks more than little like modern-minded prison on the market in May 2012 with an asking price of $2,599,000. By mid-July the price had dipped to $2,399,000. The property was briefly in escrow in early August (2012) but the house is officially back on the market, again with the $2,399,000 asking price. A mathematics degree isn't required to see that's $200,000 less than he paid four years ago, not counting renovations and/or improvements, maintenance, upkeep and carrying costs, and real estate fees.

It's clear Mister Dyrdek wants to sell. He's willing, after all, to endure a combined, pocketbook punishing $351,000 loss on the two houses. However, lest any of the children feel the need to jump to any ugly conclusions about Mister Dyrdek's bank accounts, keep in mind his financial situation would appear to be healthy enough that he did not need to shed either of the above houses from his property portfolio in order to acquire his next.

listing photos: Dream Home Photos for Coldwell Banker / Sunset Boulevard

In June of this year, as first reported more than a month ago by the long-legged gal at Trulia Luxe Living, Mister Dyrdek dumped another $2,500,000 to acquire a third residence in Los Angeles, this one located just below Mulholland Drive not so far from the tippy-top of Lauren Canyon.

Listing information shows the fully renovated and modernized two story residence has four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in 3,733 square feet of interior space that also includes high pitched ceilings, a stacked stone fireplace, and clerestory windows. High quality finishes includes Brazilian walnut and Flannel Limestone floors, energy efficient windows, walnut cabinetry and marble counter tops in the kitchen, and swankety-swank Ann Sacks and Walker Zanger tile work.

In addition to a trellis-shaded outdoor kitchen and lounge, outdoor entertainment spaces include multi-level concrete and tile terraces, a dramatically under-lit built-in bar and a seating area grouped around a portable fire pit with glimmery, over-the-hedge views of the lights of the sprawling San Fernando Valley.

Only time will tell how long before Mister Dyrdek will start to feel itchy footed. Your Mama isn't making a prediction but if his real estate history repeats itself Mister Dyrdek may (or may not) very well have his new house back on the market in a few years with an asking price well below the two-point-five he paid. We shall see, butter beans, we shall see.

Several weeks ago Your Mama discussed a sleek, completely contemporized 8,000-plus square foot townhouse on the Upper (and Far) East Side of New York City formerly owned by famed photographer Richard Avedon and later by French-American banker named Olivier "Oliver" Sarkozy who sold it in January 2012 to Showbiz/media mogul Kevin Wendle for $8,400,000. (Mister Wendle, co-founder of the Fox network, E! Online, CNET and iFilm, quickly flipped the townhouse on the market just over a month ago with a $12,500,000 price tag.)

Now comes word slips down the celebrity real estate gossip grapevine via Page Six of the New York Post that Mister Sarkozy—otherwise known as the recently (and contentiously) divorced, 42-year old half-brother of former president of France Nicolas Sarkozy and the current man-beau of pint-sized child star turned mogulette Mary-Kate Olsen—has dropped $6,250,000 to purchase an historic, nearly 150-year old fixer-upper townhouse in the still funky but fully-strollerized East Village neighborhood where Mister Sarkozy, so the scuttlebutt goes, plans to live in May-December sin with 26-year old Miss Olsen.

Listing information shows the 5-story red-brick residence retains many original architectural details, and includes five bedrooms, four bathrooms, more than a dozen closets, eight fireplaces with ornate mantelpieces, a cast-iron Juliet balcony that stretches across the front of the piano nobile, and an English basement that lets out to a terraced garden.

Lucky for Miss Olsen's equally tiny and prodigiously wealthy twin sister Ashley, the townhouse immediately next door is—or, until recently, was—also on the market so, should they choose, the not-quite-identical twins could live in nearly identical side-by-side townhouses. Don't laugh, children, stranger things have happened in the sometimes mystifying world of celebrity real estate.

listing photos and floor plan: Rubicon Property (via StreetEasy)