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    Lionel Messi Places a $232 Million Value on His Real-Estate Portfolio in Spain

    Lionel Messi is ending the year by making an interesting move—but it has nothing to do with soccer.

    The athlete has listed his real-estate properties in Spain on a small Spanish stock exchange, valuing them at $232 million, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. The company, Edificio Rostower Socimi, is being listed on the digital-only Portfolio Stock Exchange as a real-estate investment trust. It owns seven hotels, commercial real estate for shops and offices, and houses.

    Messi’s decision to list Rostower happened swiftly, Bloomberg noted, as the company became a real-estate investment trust (REIT) in mid-December. The share price was set at just less than $60 on Monday. In Spain, REITs receive a special tax rate lower than that of other companies, and investors usually list them to meet legal requirements for that tax regime rather than to raise money.

    While Messi was born in Argentina and plays for a soccer team based in Miami, he spent most of his life in Spain, Bloomberg wrote. He moved to the country when he was just 12 years old to play for FC Barcelona’s youth teams. Since then, he’s become one of the most well-known athletes in the world, and his memorabilia regularly sells for a pretty penny on the auction block. Earlier this year, for example, a napkin outlining his first FC Barcelona contract was expected to fetch more than $380,000. And a set of his World Cup jerseys came with an estimate of more than $10 million in 2023.

    When it comes to his Spanish real-estate holdings, Messi acts as the chairman of Rostower’s board, Bloomberg reported. Over the past couple of years, the company has posted losses. Still, its $232 million valuation is quite substantial.

    Outside of Spain, Messi has a number of other real-estate holdings, too. Just last year, he shelled out $10.8 million on a waterfront mansion in South Florida. That added to his footprint in the Sunshine State, where he also owns at least three multimillion-dollar condos in a Miami suburb.

    He may be one of the most prolific on the soccer pitch, but Messi is also making his name known on the real-estate market, both stateside and in Spain. When he eventually decides to retire from pro sports, he’ll have his pick of where to spend his time.

    Authors

    Tori Latham

    Tori Latham is a digital staff writer at Robb Report. She was previously a copy editor at The Atlantic, and has written for publications including The Cut and The Hollywood Reporter. When not…

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    Bono Is Behind the Recent Purchase of a $7 Million Home in Los Angeles

    Last year, the Hollywood Reporter cited an unidentified source who claimed that Bono is one of the investors behind a spec-built avant-garde mansion that sits at the end of a swooping drive on a high knoll in the foothills just above L.A.’s Sunset Boulevard. The main part of the residence includes a distinctive triangular section that hovers over the lower floor and is visible as one drives north on Fairfax Avenue.

    Robb Report cannot confirm the music industry icon’s involvement in the by-any-standard spectacular residence, but records reveal that the legendary frontman and international activist, who closed a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas earlier this year, is involved in the purchase of a nearby home that recently traded for $7 million. Records show that Paul Hewson, Bono’s real name, is the managing agent behind the LLC that acquired the hillside home.

    Images of the snazzy pad have largely been scrubbed from the internet. However, property records and archived listings show the home was built almost 25 years ago and has since undergone a sleek, contemporary makeover. Interior spaces include a double-height entrance gallery, a three-story travertine-clad wall alongside a wood and glass staircase, and an open-plan chef’s kitchen with a Moroccan tile backsplash. In the light-filled combination living and dining room, an automated wall of glass slides open to a glass-railed balcony with knee-buckling views.

    RELATED: This Hollywood Hills Home Above L.A.’s Sunset Strip Was Custom-Designed For Absolute Privacy

    There’s a fireplace and a private balcony in the top-floor primary suite, along with a swanky walk-in closet and a spacious bathroom. And on the lower floor, a glass-encased wine display case is nipped under the stairs next to a TV lounge that is warmed by a linear fireplace. Another vast bank of glass slides open at the touch of a button to another sun-splashed terrace, this one with an infinity-edge pool and spa that cantilevers over the hillside and a remote controlled outdoor television that rises on a hydraulic lift so that it can be viewed from the spa or while relaxing on the poolside loungers.

    It’s not clear if the property was acquired for personal use or as an investment, but Bono and his high school sweetheart wife Ali Hewson are known to have several other homes across the world, including a substantial estate with a tennis court and a swimming pool perched above Killiney Beach outside of Dublin, Ireland; a seafront villa in the South of France; and a penthouse in one of the towers at the elegant San Remo apartment house on New York’s Central Park West, which they scooped up back in 2003 for around its $14.5 million asking price from late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

    Authors

    Mark David

    Mark David got his start writing about real estate with the saucy cult-favorite blog The Real Estalker, on which he obsessively tracked the secretive world of celebrity property transactions. A much…

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    Elizabeth Arden’s Former South Carolina Summer Home Can Be Yours for $3.3 Million

    Almost six decades after she died of complications from a heart attack at age 81, Elizabeth Arden’s former South Carolina vacation home is now up for grabs—complete with red-hued front doors that readily call to mind her eponymously named cosmetics empire’s signature fragrance and salons.

    Tucked away in the historic town of Summerville, about 25 miles from downtown Charleston, and famously occupied by the legendary Canada-born beauty mogul from 1938 to 1954, the Victorian-style residence is now on the market for a dash under $3.3 million. The listing is held by Taylor Charpia of Taylor Charpia Real Estate.

    A pair of posh parlors each have their own fireplace.

    Jon Javier/Virtual Realty

    RELATED: This $13.5 Million Residence in Downtown Charleston Offers a Fresh Take on Historic Architecture

    Built in the early 1800s by A.J. Baird for Charleston attorney Samuel Lord and described in marketing materials as a “rare blend of pedigree, history, and sophistication,” the stately white wood-sided home was also occupied during its history by New York stockbroker Ogden Phipps and his socialite wife Lillian Bostwick Phipps, whose eldest daughter was fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer. Records show the place was last sold in 2022 for nearly $1.9 million to Ron and Allison Wehtje, who subsequently undertook an extensive renovation in collaboration with interior designer and TV personality Gray Benko.

    Hidden away behind a wrought-iron gate amid a lushly manicured parcel spanning over an acre, the compound includes a main home and a trio of guest cottages that are currently being used as short-term rentals—for a combined total of nine bedrooms and 12 baths in 8,400 square feet. Other structures include a pool house and a detached garage.

    The pool sits alongside a pool house with a kitchen and a covered patio for entertaining.

    Jon Javier/Virtual Realty

    RELATED: This Custom-Built Oceanfront Mansion on South Carolina’s Kiawah Island Exudes Southern Glamor

    As for the primary six-bedroom dwelling, it has nearly 6,400 square feet of three-level living space boasting the original heart pine floors, 12-foot ceilings, hand-carved molding, an elevator, and six fireplaces. Highlights include a wallpaper-clad entry foyer and hallway that flow to dual parlors, both painted bubblegum pink, and a formal dining room that seats up to 14. Elsewhere is a bookshelf-lined study, a designated bar room, and a spacious brick-accented sunroom, plus a gourmet kitchen outfitted with a high-end Viking range and an accompanying breakfast nook.

    Outdoors, the landscaped grounds are laced with live oak trees and host formal gardens adorned with a life-size chessboard and a secret swing. A freeform pool is nestled alongside the aforementioned pool house, which has two baths and a fully equipped kitchen that opens to a covered entertaining patio warmed by a fire pit.

    Click here for more photos of Elizabeth Arden’s former vacation home.

    Jon Javier/Virtual Realty

    Authors

    Wendy Bowman

    Wendy Bowman is a real estate writer at Robb Report. Before that, she was a freelancer for Modern Luxury and several other media outlets, where she primarily covered luxury properties for…

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    Fashion Mogul Julie Wainwright Just Sold Her Modern Beverly Hills Home for $10.7 Million

    Barely three months after Julie Wainwright put her strikingly modern residence in a prime pocket of Beverly Hills up for sale at nearly $12 million, the founder and former CEO of The RealReal has already offloaded the property. Records show the Steve Hermann-designed home traded hands for a discounted $10.7 million, which is still around a million dollars more than she paid Tony & Guy co-founder Bruno Mascolo for the place in 2021. Compass real estate broker and Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles star Josh Flagg repped both sides of the transaction, describing it as “hands down the best deal in Trousdale Estates.”

    Built in 2009 and fully customized to suit Wainwright’s tastes during her tenure, the gated architectural-style structure is touted in the listing as having a “harmonious blend of elevated luxury”—from the alluring courtyard punctuated by terrazzo fountains to the chic interiors offering 4,500 square feet of single-level living space boasting vast expanses of glass providing seamless indoor-outdoor environs and sweeping city views from almost every vantage point.

    A spacious family room is outfitted with a wall of shelves and a sexy linear fireplace.

    Paul Barnaby

    RELATED: An Aspiring Race Car Driver Lists Her Peaceful Beverly Hills Retreat for $30 Million

    Highlights include a spacious living room outfitted with a wall of shelves holding sundry eye-catching trinkets and a sexy linear fireplace topped by a TV. A sleek Poliform kitchen boasts high-gloss floating cabinetry, dual ovens and an eat-in peninsula, while the formal dining area opens to the outside on two sides. Five ensuite bedrooms include a massive primary suite, which comes with a stone fireplace, a glass-enclosed dressing room, and a luxe bath sporting an Antonio Lupi soaking tub.

    Outdoors, the half-acre-plus grounds include an infinity pool and spa surrounded by a flat grassy yard, along with a teakwood deck and built-in benches ideal for relaxing and entertaining. In addition to a mirror-lined gym and an attached two-car garage, the full-fledged smart home also has automated window treatments, a state-of-the-art Control4 system, and a server room.

    An expansive teakwood deck and infinity-edge pool offer panoramic views that stretch to the ocean.

    Paul Barnaby

    RELATED: Charlie Puth Sold His $11 Million Midcentury House in Beverly Hills to Josh Flagg

    An internet and tech pioneer, Wainwright launched the online video site Reel.com in 1997 and later took the reins as CEO of Pets.com. After the tech bubble burst, the site collapsed under crippling $300 million debt soon after going public in 2000. The Purdue graduate was active in numerous other online startups before 2011, when she founded The RealReal. Though she stepped down as CEO in 2022, the company is still one of the world’s largest online marketplaces for the resale of authenticated luxury goods, with more than 27 million members and 19 retail sites nationwide.

    Besides her just-sold Beverly Hills digs, Wainwright, who has a reported $25 million net worth, also owns a $6.8 million condo on a high floor of a posh tower on the edge of New York City’s Financial District, near City Hall.

    Click here for more photos of the Trousdale Estates home.

    Paul Barnaby

    Authors

    Wendy Bowman

    Wendy Bowman is a real estate writer at Robb Report. Before that, she was a freelancer for Modern Luxury and several other media outlets, where she primarily covered luxury properties for…

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    Sylvester Stallone Halts Plans for a Sea Barrier Around His Palm Beach Home After Neighbors Pitch a Fit

    Sylvester Stallone is the talk of the town after pissing off his Palm Beach neighbors. The 78-year-old actor decamped from Hollywood to South Florida almost five years ago, snapping up a $35 million mansion with a private dock on the Intracoastal Waterway. The on-screen tough-guy recently ruffled more than a few feathers after it was revealed he wanted to install a sea barrier around his palatial estate to prevent seaweed and other debris from washing up on the private beach in his backyard, Bloomberg reported.  

    “It’s unbelievable to me that you can have your house, your things, your boat—the place that’s your sanctuary—and you can have some guy sit there for 10 months and do his laundry in front of me and there’s nothing you can do about it,” he pleaded to the Palm Beach Town council. In addition, Stallone mentioned in the application that he wanted to protect his residence from garbage that often gets dropped into the water. According to the news site, Stallone even raised the issue with incoming president Donald Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago property is about eight miles down the road.  

    Stallone ponied up $35 million for the waterfront estate that includes a private stretch of sugary sand.

    Apple Maps

    The plan would require him to lease a chunk of underwater land from the state where the barrier would be built, rising 18 inches out of the water. However, Stallone’s lawyer stepped in during the proceedings and declared that the proposal has been officially withdrawn after council members and local residents voiced their concerns about the actor’s infringement on public waterways. “It’s tough being so famous, and we have lots of celebrities and important people who live here, but you’re the only Rocky and Rambo, so it’s tough. I think we simply must object to this particular one,” said council president Bobbie Lindsay.  

    Stallone acquired the 13,000-square-foot lakefront compound back in December of 2020. Altogether, the sprawling estate has seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, plus a gym, a library, a swimming pool, and a family room with a wet bar, Realtor.com reported.

    In February, the Italian Stallion declared that he would be leaving California permanently to live full-time in the Sunshine State. Indeed, he’d already sold his Golden State home in the celeb-packed Los Angeles suburb of Hidden Hills to musician John Fogerty in October 2023 for $17 million. Celebrity pedigree aside, what made headlines is the fact that the former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman flipped the residence six months later with a $4.3 million bump in the asking price. The year before, Stallone sold his longtime home in the ritzy Beverly Park enclave for $58 million to Adele, who has since ripped most of the house down to make way for an all-new custom home. And, earlier this month, the Tulsa King star splashed out $25 million—in cash!—for a recently rebuilt and glamorously apointed home in East Hampton for his three daughters, Sophia, Sistine, and Scarlet. 

    Authors

    Abby Montanez

    Abigail Montanez is a staff writer at Robb Report. She has worked in both print and digital publishing for over half a decade, covering everything from real estate, entertainment, dining, travel to…

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