Raphael Stevens

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    Inside Power Broker Fredrik Eklund’s $7 Million Beverly Hills Home

    Buyer: Fredrik EklundLocation: Beverly Hills, Calif.Price: $7.043 millionSize: 5,674 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 8 bathroomsYear: 2017
    After 17 years making an international name and a considerable fortune hawking luxury apartments and high-end developments in New York City, preternaturally energetic power broker Fredrik Eklund, veteran star of Bravo’s popular “Million Dollar Listing” franchise, packed up and moved to Los Angeles about 1.5 years ago.

    The gym-hardened Swede, his also gym-sculpted husband, artist Derek Kaplan, and their toddler twins initially rented a stunning Harry Gesner-designed contemporary in the Trousdale Estates neighborhood in Beverly Hills — digital records indicate the city-view spread went for a whopping $36,000 per month — before they took up even grander residence on a two-acre Bel-Air estate anchored by a 12,000-square-foot mansion with what Eklund described last fall to L.A. Magazine a “master suite that’s bigger than most New York apartments.”

    Though Eklund and his New York-based business partner John Gomes, co-founders and principals of the spectacularly successful Eklund Gomes Team at Douglas Elliman, have high-profile satellite offices across the country, it looks like the always high-kicking and Bentley-driving multimillionaire real estate dynamo/reality TV star plans to remain in Los Angeles with his family for the foreseeable future because tax records show they’ve ponied up a bit more than $7 million for a luxuriously casual family-sized East Coast-y home in Beverly Hills.
    Realtor.com

    Sequestered behind gates along a discreet canyon lane, and accented with inoperable and curiously under-scaled shutters over black-framed windows, the bright-white clapboard-clad home sits on just about one-third of an acre and squeezes in five en-suite bedrooms and eight deluxe bathrooms in just over 5,700 square feet.
    Realtor.com

    Realtor.com

    Like many recently built luxury homes across Los Angeles that aim to fuse historic styles of architecture with currently in-favor open-concept floor plans, this one opens to a double-height foyer that is all but indistinct from a combination living and dining room. Interestingly proportioned multipane windows fill the space with light, while a white marble fireplace anchors the lounge area under a vaulted ceiling.

    Realtor.com

    Realtor.com

    Another ubiquitous design trend in traditionally inspired but modern-minded luxury homes, four industrial-style lights hang over the doublewide island snack bar in the gourmet kitchen that showcases lightly veined white marble counters, chef-grade appliances and a mix of jet-black and snow-white Shaker-style cabinets. A butler’s pantry makes a convenient link to the living/dining room and a built-in banquette makes a cozy spot for casual meals.
    Realtor.com

    Realtor.com

    An adjoining family room features built-in bookshelves alongside a second marble fireplace and room-wide bank of windows fold open to the backyard.
    Realtor.com

    Realtor.com

    An office or guest bedroom just off the family room, a children’s playroom and a sunroom-style gym, each with an attached bathroom, complete the main floor, while the second floor offers a media lounge, a trio of en-suite guest bedrooms and a primary bedroom with fireplace and marble bath.
    Realtor.com

    Realtor.com

    Surrounded by high hedges and even taller trees that obscure neighboring homes, the artificially grassed yard offers a skylight topped loggia outside the family room, a bit of stone terracing, a built-in grill, and a raised spa that spills over into a sparkling swimming pool.
    Unsurprisingly, Eklund represented himself in the purchase of the property that was listed with Christine Martin and Samira Gores of The Agency.
    Around the time they headed west in 2019, Eklund and Kaplan sold their 2,200-square-foot Hudson River view condo in New York City’s fashionable Tribeca neighborhood for $5.655 million, a not particularly profitable amount over the $5.426 million they paid in early 2016. However, they have yet to completely pull up their East Coast sticks. They remain the owners of a stately Georgian manor house in Roxbury, Conn., about 90 miles outside of Midtown Manhattan, that they picked up in 2016 for $2.95 million, a hefty chunk below the $3.5 million asking price. With more than eight pastoral acres, the elegant country escape has an infinity edged swimming pool, a picturesque pond and postcard-perfect views over the forested landscape.

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    Phill Collins Just Sold His 11,000-Square-Foot Miami Beach Estate for $39 Million

    Seller: Phil CollinsLocation: Miami Beach, Fla.Price: $39.25 millionSize: 11,039 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 8.5 bathroomsYear Built: 1929
    After a legal dustup with his ex-wife (and her new husband), veteran English rocker Phil Collins has sold a posh estate in Miami Beach, Fla., for $39.25 million, a wee bit under its unquestionably elephantine though clearly quite realistic $40 million price tag.

    The now 70-year-old Genesis drummer/singer was married in 1999, for the third time, to Swiss-born jewelry designer Orianne Cevey. They had a couple of kids before they divorced in 2008 and Cevey was granted a then record-breaking cash payout of nearly $47 million. Alas, life sometimes takes unexpected twists and, in the case of Collins and Cevey, a U-turn. After Cevey was married and divorced a second time, to real estate developer Charles Fouad Mejjati Alami, she and Collins reunited sometime after Collins had shelled out $33 million over the summer of 2015 for a celeb-pedigreed waterfront estate along one of the most prestigious roads in Miami Beach. Enshrouded in a lush tangle of tropical foliage, the 1.2-acre spread and its more than 11,000-square-foot mansion was owned for a few years in the early aughts by Jennifer Lopez, who pocketed a cool $4.4 million dollars when she sold up in 2005 for $13.9 million.

    The relationship between Collins and Cevey eventually soured for a second time. Cevey remained in the Miami Beach residence and, at some point, moved her now third husband, Thomas Bates, into the house. As recounted in a couple of juicy reports in The Real Deal last fall, the Sussudio and In the Air Tonight singer decided to sell the estate but ran up against the wishes of his newly married ex-wife who claimed that Collins had promised her a 50 percent stake in the North Bay Road residence. Things got messy. In legal filings, Collins alleged Cevey Collins Mejjati Alami Bates changed the security codes, covered up surveillance cameras and hired armed guards to patrol the property. In a statement to TRD, Cevey Collins Mejjati Alami Bates’s attorney said that’s all a bunch of poppycock—though in somewhat more legal terms—and that instead of a “Trumpian disinformation campaign” Collins should “honor the commitments he made to Orianne when they moved in together.”

    The kitchen’s gigantic imported range costs almost as much as a Range Rover.  Redfin

    Whatever discussions were had or (alleged) commitments honored since those reports last fall, the house has now been sold and Cevey Collins Mejjati Alami Bates and her new husband have, presumably, packed up and moved on.
    An imposingly gated drive passes through a dense grove of royal palms and opens up to a Dominican coral stone-paved motor court at the front of the alluringly restrained and almost, dare it be said, austere front facade of the 1929 residence that evokes what marketing materials construe as “the architecture of Spain & Italy w/ exquisite arched arcades and covered terraces.”
    Inside, there’s 150-year-old reclaimed hardwood detailing and a two-story rotunda topped by labor-intensively-arched wood beams and a huge octagonal skylight. With dark tiled floors and arched windows, the gymnasium-sized formal living and dining rooms are divided only by several stoutly sturdy square columns. A family room is casually appointed with chunky, pillow-strewn leather sofas and gussied up with vermillion drapes over a trio of floor-to-ceiling arched windows, while the adjoining kitchen is elegantly outfitted with white marble counters and expensively equipped with chef-grade appliances that include a gigantic imported range that costs almost as much as a Range Rover.
    The mansion offers mesmerizing views across Biscayne Bay.  Redfin

    The estate’s six bedrooms and 8.5 bathrooms include a serene primary suite in a soothing neutral palette that works hard not to compete with the glimmering water view through the floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open to a huge, breeze-licked loggia.
    At the front of the house, verdant and meditative gardens include a 6,000-gallon koi point as well as a great sweep of lawn perfect as a palm-shaded soccer pitch. A vast expanse of coral stone terracing peppered with palm trees surrounds a simple rectangular swimming pool and spa behind the house before it gives way to a thick strip of lawn and 180-some-feet of bulk-headed waterfront with sweeping, mesmerizing views of the sun as it sets behind the downtown skyline across Biscayne Bay. Backyard amenities also include an open-air poolside pavilion with an outdoor kitchen and a private boat dock for sunset cruises on Biscayne Bay.

    Collins was represented in the transaction by Jill Hertzberg and Jill Eber, a powerhouse pair collectively known as The Jills of The Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker Realty, while the as-yet-unknown buyer was handled by Judy Zeder, the Zeder in The Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker Realty.
    Check out more pictures below:
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    Home of the Week: Inside Golf Legend Greg Norman’s $60 Million Florida Island Paradise

    The lawns of this eight-acre estate are as green as a golf course, which should come as no surprise considering the owners: golfing great Greg Norman and his wife, designer Kristen Norman. And the best part is that the grassy yardage stretches from one side of Florida’s Jupiter Island to the other, from the Intracoastal waterway to the the sandy beaches of the Atlantic. Even before looking inside, this place seems to earn its price tag of $59.9 million.

    The compound consists of seven buildings, including the main house, with plans for one more. Garages accommodate up to 12 cars and the employee parking lot can park 30 more. That there is even an employee parking lot tells you something about the vastness of this estate and the beauty of its landscaping.

    Those seven buildings make up 31,800 square feet of living space across a main house, coach house, pool house, tennis house, boat house, carriage house and beach house, also known as the Shark Shack. There are a total of 10 bedrooms and 18 bathrooms, 12 of them full baths. The main house is a completely new, recently built structure. And while the exterior of the house is in a Cape Cod cottage style, it’s hardly a cottage. Kristen (Kiki) Norman was inspired by the work of French architect and designer Christian Liaigre in designing the home and its finishes, from the lacquered teak and high-gloss mahogany to the wire-brushed, custom oak floors to the brass Waterworks and Drummonds fixtures.
    The main house  Photo: Shawn Hood Media

    You won’t find any Florida kitsch inside either. Instead, the look is serene and modern with more trophies than seashells. It has every amenity you might expect from a nearly $60-million property: two 1,900-bottle wine cellars; gorgeous long corridors that are well lit and inviting, nothing of the dark cave you may expect; a cinema room, entertaining space; a bar with water views;  and a trophy room and gallery. The home also has a formal dining room, a SieMatic kitchen, a catering kitchen, a dining area, a butler’s pantry and a mud room. And there’s an elevator connecting it all. Two guest bedrooms occupy the first floor, but the second floor is dedicated to the primary living quarters. Spacious and airy, they include a large outdoor deck, a den, dual offices, bathrooms and closets, an accessory room, luggage room, linen room, kitchenette and, yes, the bedroom.

    The two-story coach house includes another two beds and two baths, a kitchen, a dining room sun room and garage space for six. The pool house is another of the newly built structures on the property and includes a vast open and covered patio, an outdoor kitchen as well as a bathroom and outdoor shower. It sits beside the main pool, which is 14 feet deep, and the plunge pool and hot tub.
    The tennis court and pavilion  Photo: Robert Stevens

    A US Open-sized tennis court graces one lawn area, with its own convenient hub for entertaining, including a bar and bathrooms, shaded space and an equipment room. The carriage house is the other main fitness site on the estate, including a gym and cardio rooms, equipment room, as well as space for guests with three bedrooms and full baths, plus another garage. A dog kennel, located in the generator house, rounds out the amenities to include even the four-legged family members.
    Along the Intracoastal, the boat house has an office and plenty of room for water toys, a tender and yacht equipment. The dock can accommodate a vessel of up to 150 feet.
    The kitchen and eating area in the main house has a few nautical cues.  Photo: Robert Stevens

    On the opposite shore is the 3,200-square-foot, elevated Shark Shack, the last of the newly constructed buildings. It faces the rolling waves of the Atlantic and includes two more bedrooms and baths, a full kitchen, dining and living room. The sand is right there, and the lack of nearby public parking makes the 172 feet of beachfront feel exceptionally private.
    “Having grown up on the beach in Australia,” Greg Norman says, “my search for the perfect property in America allowed me to incorporate all my needs, from privacy, security, a dock for my boats and direct access to the ocean was fulfilled when I was blessed enough to come across Tranquility in 1991.”
    The elegant trophy room  Photo: Shawn Hood Media

    His wife says, “I designed this estate to feel luxurious, but also warm and casual. It caters to our ‘barefoot-elegance’ lifestyle.”
    The Normans have also been trying to off-load their vast Colorado ranch property, taking the price down to $40 million last year.

    The listing for Tranquility is held by the Jills Zeder Group, an affiliate of Coldwell Banker Realty.
    The wrap-around bar leads out to the patios.  Photo: Robert Stevens

    The basement-level wine storage and tasting area  Photo: Robert Stevens

    The movie theater with boucle-upholstered seating  Photo: Robert Stevens

    One of several terraces on the property  Photo: Robert Stevens

    The main pool and pool house  Photo: Shawn Hood Media

    The oceanfront Shark Shack.  Photo: Robert Stevens

    The deck of the Shark Shack leads right to the sand.  Photo: Robert Stevens

    A rare parcel that has waterfront access on both the Intracoastal and the Atlantic.  Photo: Shawn Hood Media More

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    Inside Robert De Niro’s Gorgeous Malibu Home From the Action Classic ‘Heat’

    “Allow nothing to be in your life that you cannot walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you spot the heat around the corner.” So advises professional thief Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) in the hit crime drama Heat. The contemporary pad where Neil lives in the 1995 film (which turned 25 this past December!) wouldn’t exactly be easy to walk away from, though.

    The modern residence, which sits on the sand overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, is bright, open and airy—a quintessential Los Angeles beach pad. Interestingly though, while Heat’s many filming locations have been extensively chronicled on copious websites and in countless articles, such as these extensive pieces for the British Film Institute and L.A. Taco, little has ever been made of Neil’s home.

    Heat, which is most notable for being the first movie in which De Niro shares screen time with fellow acting legend Al Pacino, was lensed over 107 days in early 1995. In an unprecedented move, director Michael Mann opted to shoot the film almost entirely on location, with very few soundstage-built sets used, which is unheard of, especially for a production of Heat’s caliber.
    Robert De Niro in “Heat.”  Warner Bros. Pictures

    Countless iconic LA sites appear in the movie, including the now-shuttered Kate Mantillini restaurant in Beverly Hills, where Neil and Pacino’s Lt. Vincent Hanna sit down for a tense tête-à-tête, Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank, which serves as the workplace of Neil’s coconspirator Donald Breedan (Dennis Haysbert), and Santa Monica’s famed art and architecture book store Hennessey + Ingalls, McCauley’s go-to spot for researching his various scores. Neil’s starkly modern pad, though only shown in a handful of scenes, is no less memorable. So its longtime exclusion from Heat filming location sources is surprising. An anonymous commenter on the Then & Now Movie Locations website finally identified the place via MLS images as 26940 Malibu Cove Colony Dr.
    Designed in 1982 by architect Ron Goldman, FAIA, the dramatic two-story property contains four bedrooms and three baths in 3,502 square feet. Featuring floor to ceiling windows, three fireplaces and an owners’ suite with a built-in desk and sitting area, Zillow values the dwelling’s worth at almost $9 million!
    Check out more photos of Neil’s house below:

    Realtor.com

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    Jake Paul Lists California Home For $7 Million (PHOTOS)

    Front Exterior

    Popular Youtuber Jake Paul has just listed his California home for $7 million. Located at 23590 Park South Street in Calabasas, the home sits on 3.5 acres of land and was built in 1990. Jake purchased the home back in 2017 for $6.925 million.
    It features approximately 15,045 square feet of living space with 8 bedrooms, 10 full and 2 half bathrooms, 3-story foyer with staircase, 2-story great room, formal dining room, gourmet kitchen, breakfast room, family room with wet bar, office, home theater with wet bar, 4-car garage and more.
    Outdoor features include a gated entrance, motor court, terraces and a swimming pool with spa. More

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    NFL Star Matthew Stafford Lists Lakefront Home In Michigan For $6.5 Million

    Rear Exterior

    LOCATION: 1867 Long Pointe Drive, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
    SQUARE FOOTAGE: 7,720
    BEDROOMS & BATHROOMS: 5 bedrooms & 7 bathrooms
    PRICE: $6,500,000
    Matthew Stafford, American football quarterback for the Detroit Lions, has just listed his lakerfront home in Michigan for $6,500,000. The Contemporary style home is located at 1867 Long Pointe Drive in Bloomfield Hills and is situated on over 1.2 acres of land.

    It was built in 1980 and remodeled in 2016. It features approximately 7,720 square feet of living space with 5 bedrooms, 5 full and 2 half bathrooms, foyer with staircase & glass elevator, formal dining room, open concept living room and informal dining room, gourmet kitchen with double islands, game room with wet bar, lower level family room with wet bar, wine cellar, indoor basketball court, indoor spa with sauna & steam room, 3-car garage and more.
    Outdoor features include a gated entrance, deck, patio, kitchen/BBQ, infinity pool and a boat dock. More

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    Sylvester Stallone Lists Beverly Hills Estate For $110 Million

    Rear Exterior

    Actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Sylvester Stallone has just listed his 3.5 acre Beverly Hills estate for a whopping $110 million. Located at 30 Beverly Park Terrace in the exclusive guard-gated community of Beverly Park, the Mediterranean style estate boasts a main house and guest house. There is a total of approximately 21,000 square feet of living space with 8 bedrooms & 12 bathrooms. The main house boasts 6 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, foyer with staircase, formal living & dining rooms, gourmet kitchen, office, wet bar, cigar room, home theater, gym, 8-car garage and more. The 2-story guest house boasts 2 bedroom suites and a kitchen. Outdoor features include a gated entrance, motor court with fountain, balconies & patios and an infinity swimming pool with spa. More