Raphael Stevens

More stories

  • 125 Shares87 Views

    in Luxury

    Richard Gere Gets $10.75 Million for His Bucolic Connecticut Estate

    Now that he’s announced a move to Spain to be closer to his publicist wife Alejandra Silva’s family in Madrid, Golden Globe-winning actor Richard Gere has unsurprisingly handed over the keys to the sprawling Connecticut estate he paid married musicians Paul Simon and Edie Brickell $10.8 million for a little more than two years ago, back in summer 2022.

    “For me, going to Madrid is going to be a great adventure because I have never lived full-time outside the United States,” the Pretty Woman star said in a recent Vanity Fair España article. “For Alejandra, it will be wonderful to be closer to her family, her lifelong friends, and her culture. She was very generous in giving me six years living in my world, so I think it is only fair that I give her at least another six living in hers.”

    As first reported by the New Canaan Advertiser, Gere and Silva have now offloaded their New Canaan residence to an LLC tied to James Hoffman of the general contracting and real estate development company SBP Homes, which picked up the nearly 32-acre spread in a clandestine deal in early October for $10.75 million.

    Built in the late 1930s and designed by architect Harold Reeve Sleeper, the rambling estate features a five-bedroom, nine-bath English country-style main house and a three-bedroom, two-bath guest cottage that Simon previously used as a recording studio. Outdoor amenities include a swimming pool, terraced patios, gardens, woodland trails, a natural pond, and a waterfall.

    RELATED: This $9.2 Million Mansion in Connecticut Has a Hidden Staircase to Your Bedroom

    Because the deal was done off-market, current photos are scarce. But on-line listings from a few years ago show the primary dwelling has an entry foyer with a winding staircase topped by a chandelier. From there, a spacious fireside living room is lined with built-in shelving and the kitchen is outfitted with an eat-in island, stainless appliances, and an accompanying breakfast nook. Other highlights include a wood-paneled study and an airy sunroom that doubles as an office space, plus an upstairs primary suite decked out with a wood-burning fireplace, a private balcony, and a cedar closet. There’s also an attached three-car garage on the premises.

    Before Gere and Silva purchased the home at a substantially reduced price, Simon and Brickell resided there for almost two decades, paying $16.5 million for the place in 2002. As for Gere, he reportedly had plans to convert part of the New Canaan property into a private, low-impact farm for growing mushrooms and providing honey, as well as raising goats.

    The Buddhist actor, who sold a two-bedroom apartment in a historic building in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park in 2022 for $3.15 million, has owned several other notable homes with celebrity connections. He transferred a waterfront compound in the Hamptons back in 2016 to Matt Lauer for a whopping $36.5 million, and in 2022 Ryan Murphy shelled out a bit more than $24 million for Gere’s 50-acre spread in New York’s rural Pound Ridge community. More

  • 138 Shares91 Views

    in Luxury

    Tom Ford Snaps Up a Posh London Mansion for $104 Million

    Tom Ford is making headlines again, this time in the real estate arena, where he’s known as a regular buyer and seller of extraordinary homes.

    The billionaire fashion designer, who sold his eponymous label to Estée Lauder for $2.8 billion, has now broken a record for the priciest home sale in the U.K. this year after snapping up a London residence for a staggering £80 million ($104 million), The Times reported. The trophy dwelling, which is “believed to be a white stucco-fronted mansion,” is located in the city’s affluent Chelsea neighborhood near Hyde Park and the River Thames. However, further details regarding Ford’s new digs are still largely under wraps—other than it was last purchased for £16 million ($20 million) about two decades ago. 

    According to the British newspaper, the deal comes not long after Ford, the former creative director of Gucci, offloaded another of his residences, this one in tony Regent’s Park, for an impressive eight figures, and this latest transaction brings the value of his vast property portfolio to an eye-watering £270 million (or $351.6 million). One of Ford’s most notable holdings is Jackie Kennedy’s childhood summer home in the Hamptons, which he scooped up last summer for $52 million. The palatial East Hampton estate, known as Lasata, sits on a sprawling seven acres of land and features an eight-bedroom main residence, a guest house, a caretaker’s cottage, and a three-car garage. The Texas native bought the place from media producer David Zander, and before that, the big spread belonged to fashion designer and retail executive Reed Krakoff and his interior designer wife Delphine (who are currently selling another historic estate in New Canaan, Connecticut).

    So far, London has experienced a bit of a slump in the luxury real estate market in 2024 with a decline in high-end deals. It was previously reported that only 149 homes valued at £10 million (roughly $13.2 million) or more have traded hands in the past 12 months, compared with 192 in the prior period. In terms of who’s doing the buying, wealthy expats have been snapping up the city’s high-end properties thanks to favorable exchange rates. In fact, Knight Frank found that the percentage of U.S. buyers purchasing homes in London rose to 6.1 percent in the first six months of this year from 3.3 percent in the second part of 2023. 

    “There are obvious risks at the moment, but the super-prime market is still functioning, just at a reduced level,” Paddy Dring, global head of prime sales at Knight Frank, said in a statement. “It’s sometimes easy to forget just how attractive London is on the global stage.”

    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…

    Read More More

  • 88 Shares84 Views

    in Luxury

    Incredible Historic Seafront Fortress In Italy (PHOTOS)

    Listed with Lionard Luxury Real Estate LOCATION: Capraia, Tuscany, Italy SQUARE FOOTAGE: 16,000+ BEDROOMS & BATHROOMS: 25 bedrooms & 22 bathrooms PRICE: Available Upon Application This historic seafront fortress is situated on the island of Capraia, the northwestern-most of the seven islands of the Tuscan Archipelago in Italy. It was built by the Republic of Genoa starting in […] More

  • 175 Shares143 Views

    in Luxury

    Red Hot Chili Peppers Frontman Anthony Kiedis’s Former L.A. Home Lists for $5.5 Million

    Over a decade after rocker Anthony Kiedis sold his home in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles for nearly $1.9 million, the Red Hot Chili Peppers founder and lead singer’s former residence has once again surfaced for sale. Known as Castillo de la Esperanza (Castle of Hope), the Mediterranean-style abode is now on the market for $5.5 million. The listing is held by Markus Canter of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties.

    Records show Kiedis paid around $2.2 million for the property in 2000. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer then wound up selling the residence three years later for almost $1.9 million to New York Times bestselling author J. Randy Taraborrelli, best known for penning celebrity biographies. He went on to offload the place in 2009 for $3.1 million to Desperate Housewives producer Kevin Murphy and his TV producer wife Noreen Halpern, who sold it in late 2023 for $4 million.

    The ornate living room is enhanced with a vaulted wood-beam ceiling and a stone fireplace.

    Danny Farrell/Ingenious Media Lab, courtesy of St. James + Canter, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services California Properties

    Perched atop a walled and gated parcel spanning roughly a half-acre in the Hollywood Knolls enclave overlooking Lake Hollywood, the stucco and terracotta-roof structure was originally built in the mid-1930s. Remodeled through the years, the estate features a main home and a guesthouse that was tacked on in 2016—for a total of six bedrooms and an equal number of baths in 6,300 square feet.

    As for the primary four-bedroom, four-bath dwelling, it’s fronted by a fountain-clad courtyard and boasts a little more than 4,000 square feet of two-level living space accented with a mix of hardwood and stone floors, high wood-beam ceilings, hand-laid Spanish tile, and vintage-inspired light fixtures, plus picturesque city lights, mountain, and valley views from almost every room.

    Among the highlights are a chandelier-topped foyer displaying a wrought iron-railed staircase and a spacious living room sporting a decorative fireplace and a cozy library area with built-in shelving. A 12-seat dining room resting beneath a curved ceiling and donning a stained-glass window opens out onto a terrace ideal for alfresco dining, while the sky-lit kitchen is outfitted with custom cabinetry, a center island, top-tier stainless appliances, and an accompanying lounge/breakfast nook.

    The two-story guesthouse offers versatile living spaces, making it perfect for a variety of uses.

    Danny Farrell/Ingenious Media Lab, courtesy of St. James + Canter, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services California Properties

    Elsewhere is a bar/parlor room, as well as an inviting primary suite that comes complete with a Juliette balcony, a walk-in closet, and a luxe bath flaunting dual vanities and a large shower. Outdoors, the landscaped grounds are laced with water-wise gardens and meandering pathways and host numerous terraces and patios. A curving pool and spa are flanked by a sundeck and a rustic pavilion used for entertaining.

    Also holding court on the property is a two-story guesthouse with two bedrooms, two baths, a kitchenette, a living area, laundry facilities, a wine cellar, and a gym. There’s also an owned array of solar panels, along with two separate entrances that empty out at a detached three-car garage and an adjacent carport with room for one vehicle.

    Click here for more photos of Anthony Kiedis’s former house.

    Danny Farrell/Ingenious Media Lab, courtesy of St. James + Canter, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services California Properties More

  • 175 Shares111 Views

    in Luxury

    Kanye West Reportedly Drops $35 Million on a Saudi Billionaire’s Former Los Angeles Mansion

    Now that he’s offloaded his gutted Tadao Ando-designed home in Malibu to a California house-flipping firm for $21 million—a staggering $36 million less than he forked over for the oceanfront digs around three years ago—Kanye West is spreading his real estate wings to Los Angeles. The music mogul-turned-Yeezy fashion designer has just added another property to his portfolio, this one a glitzy mansion in the exclusive gated community of Beverly Park North.

    Though the deal was done off market, TMZ is reporting that West has doled out $35 million for his new villa, which is roughly $10.5 million more than its previous owner paid for the home back in early 2022. Originally built for Perfect 10 magazine founder Norm Zada in 2000 and designed by celebrity architect Richard Landry, the contemporary structure was also owned at one time by the late Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, a prominent Saudi banker who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the Arab world’s wealthiest men.

    Hidden away behind gates on a parcel of land spanning nearly seven acres, the residence is fronted by two separate motor courts with room for dozens of vehicles. Though current MLS images aren’t available, and it’s not known whether the previous owner made any improvements during their tenure, on-line listings show the place has 11 bedrooms and a whopping 18 bathrooms in roughly 20,000 square feet accessed via a soaring foyer flaunting a dangling chandelier.

    In addition to generous-size living areas drenched with light, other notable features include a kitchen outfitted with granite countertops, stainless appliances, and a breakfast nook, as well as a secluded primary retreat boasting a custom closet and a luxe bath equipped with a soaking tub and a window-lined spa. More amenities can be found outdoors, where the grassy grounds are spotlighted by not one but two pools and a sports court. There’s also a guesthouse and an entertainment pavilion connected to the main house by a steel-columned bridge, plus a hefty $3,300-per-month HOA fee.

    Per TMZ, Gigi Gharai of Coldwell Banker Real Estate represented the seller, with Jacob Greene of Douglas Elliman handling the deal for Kanye.

    West still maintains another L.A. property in Calabasas, where he operated his now-shuttered Donda Academy. More