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      Showbiz Couple Joshua Leonard and Alison Pill List Their Revamped New York Home for $4.2 Million

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      Back in 2021, Joshua Leonard and Alison Pill fell in love with a home in New York’s Hudson Valley that immediately struck them as a “weird, rundown, hodgepodge of styles and eras.”

      The married actors—he probably most known for The Blair Witch Project, and she The Newsroom—wound up purchasing the 200-year-old property for a mere $718,900, and subsequently renovated and updated the place to suit “a new generation of tastes”; now, two years later, the couple is putting their fully transformed compound up for sale, asking just over $4.2 million.

      “When I first laid eyes on Breezy Hill, none of it really made sense,” says Leonard, who recently retired from a 25-year stint in the film industry to pursue his passion for building. “From the early 19th-century stone house, built with bluestone excavated on site, to the civil war-era post-and-beam barn…to the two 1950s-era boarding houses. It was magical and derelict, but even in its rawest state, I could feel the generations of hands and hearts that had gone into building it.

      “It spoke to me—like when you meet a lover who’s weirdest, most hidden parts are what you actually find the most appealing,” he adds. “I knew how epic the property could be with the right stewardship, and believed (for better or worse), that I was the one to do it.”

      Much of the stone used in the renovation was excavated on the property. 

      Morten Smidt

      During the construction process, Leonard says protecting the marks of craftsmanship that came before him was just as important as updating the property with his own twist, which included the challenging task of bringing all of the infrastructure and creature comforts up to modern-day standards. Per The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the sale, the multi-seven-figure project encompassed raising the ceilings and exterior stone walls, adding a cupola, reconfiguring the floor plan and building an 1,800-square-foot addition onto the main house.

      The result is a stunningly reimagined property sited on a 20-acre parcel of heavily wooded land in the rural community of Accord, about 90 miles north of Manhattan. Included is a 19th-century stone house, plus two newly rebuilt guesthouses—for a total of six bedrooms and an equal number of baths in around 5,000 square feet of living space spotlighted by stone excavated from the property. There also is the aforementioned barn and a detached one-car garage.

      Especially standing out in the three-story main house is a sitting room featuring reclaimed wood and the original stone, which opens to a spacious kitchen outfitted with white oak floors, custom cabinetry, an under-lit marble island, a built-in butcher block and top-tier stainless appliances, as well as a window-lined breakfast nook and French doors spilling out to a veranda.

      Other highlights include a newly enlarged 1,000-square-foot primary bedroom suite resting behind a sliding wood bar door, and holding French doors leading to a private balcony, a walk-in closet, and spa-inspired bath equipped with radiant-heated floors, dual vanities, a soaking tub and large glass-encased shower.

      Perhaps the most special part of the property, though, are the secluded and picturesque grounds, which are laced with rolling hills, a spring-fed pond and streams with seasonal waterfalls. Then there’s the beautifully restored barn, which flaunts the stained-glass windows, along with a hand-chiseled chestnut staircase and massive wrought-iron chandelier salvaged from a circa-1860s hotel in Manhattan.

      The teal-hued kitchen sports white oak floors, custom cabinetry, an eat-in island and top-tier stainless appliances.

      Morten Smidt

      What’s next for Leonard now that he’s completed his first professional renovation? “I’m excited to spend this next chapter of my life building in the Hudson Valley,” he says. “I just contracted myself out to a client for the first time to design and build a house that I think will be very special. I also want to keep building/rebuilding/imagining/reimagining my own projects. I don’t have a specific agenda, but am very excited for all the possibilities that this area and its community have to offer.”

      One of the most expensive homes currently on the market in Ulster County, the home is listed by Robert Airhart with the Clement, Brooks & Safier Team of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hudson Valley Properties.

      Click here for more images of Joshua Leonard and Alison Pill’s Breezy Hill compound.

      Morten Smidt More

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      Alfred Hitchcock’s Former L.A. Home Has Been Sold for $8.8 Million to a Dutch Media Mogul

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      When English filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock moved to Los Angeles to conquer Hollywood in 1939—he made “Rebecca” the following year, which earned him the first of his five Oscar nominations—he and his wife, Alma, and daughter, Pat, initially made their home in a spacious rented apartment on Wilshire Boulevard. 

      Several years later, after acquiring a 200-acre getaway near Scotts Valley in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the family set down permanent roots in Los Angeles with the purchase of an English-Country-inspired home just up from the West Gate entrance to the tony Bel Air neighborhood.

      The Bel Air home, where the “Psycho” filmmaker lived until his death at age 80 in 1980, came up for sale earlier this year for $8.25 million, and though out of step with current decorative trends, the immaculately maintained home drew multiple offers that drove the recorded sale price up to just over $8.8 million.

      Tax records show the home had long been owned by a local businessman who made his fortune in the lumber and building supply industries and list the buyer as a foreign corporate entity linked to Dutch media mogul Reinout Oerlemans, founder of the TV production company Eyeworks.

      The loggia overlooks the swimming pool and lushly planted grounds.

      Mary E. Nichols

      Originally created by Carlton Burgess, who also designed and built Jack Benny’s Beverly Hills home, Hitchcock’s former sanctuary was extensively renovated and expanded in 1983. Concealed behind a dense wall of trees and vegetation and situated on almost two-thirds of an acre, the primarily single-story home measures somewhat more than 7,500 square feet and has two (and potentially four) bedrooms and five bathrooms.

      Beyond the fountained front entry, the living room features an oversized fireplace and vaulted wood-beamed ceilings; the dining room overlooks flowering gardens; and the eat-in kitchen showcases hand-painted tiles and blue Brazilian granite counters. There are two substantial bedroom suites, one for guests with a white marble bath and the other for the homeowner with dual dressing areas and baths.

      There are two more rooms that can be converted to additional bedrooms, according to marketing material, as well as a “hidden upstairs office/guest room with plumbing in place” to add another bathroom.

      The grounds offer a gated entry, mature trees and flowering gardens, a spacious courtyard, and a huge loggia with an outdoor fireplace alongside a turquoise swimming pool. There’s also garaging for three cars and parking for many more, as well as a couple of storage buildings.

      Snapdragons add color to the edge of the swimming pool.

      Mary E. Nichols

      Steeped in Hollywood lore and ready for its next close-up, the property was listed with Ginger Glass at Compass, while Oerlemans was represented in the transaction by Rayni Williams and Branden Williams at The Beverly Hills Estates.

      If their former homes in Los Angeles are any indication, Oerlemans and his wife Danielle will likely embark on an extensive re-make of the property. The couple previously owned a spectacular, 33,000-square-foot Bel Air mansion—perhaps not coincidentally, it’s directly across the 15th fairway from their new property—that they sold in 2021 for $70 million to The Weeknd, who used the home as the set for his HBO series “The Idol.”

      Click here for all the photos of Alfred Hitchcock’s former home at 10957 Bellagio Road.

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      Rockstar Energy’s Founder Sells His Sprawling L.A. Estate for $25 Million

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      After more than three years of it bouncing on and off the market, energy drink mogul Russ Weiner has finally succeeded in unloading his Beverly Park mansion, one of two lavish estates he owns in the famously expensive and star-studded gated community. The 1.2-acre property sold for exactly $25 million to local businessman Tony Safoian, the CEO of Google Cloud-focused technology consultancy SADA Systems, and his longtime wife Lana.

      Built in 1999 for a now-deceased Russian businessman and designed by noted architect Richard Landry, the Tuscan-style manor sits behind gates and tall hedges. With 10,575 square feet of main house living space, plus a detached guesthouse, the resort-like place has more than enough room for grand galas and events.

      Weiner, 53, bought the house in 2015 for $18.6 million. With brief interruptions, the essentially unchanged property has been on the market since early 2020, with asking prices ranging from a high of $35 million to a low of $27.9 million. When Safoian finally came calling, the house was listed at $30 million.

      In addition to eight bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, interior highlights include an enormous foyer with dual staircases, limestone flooring throughout, a gym with an attached sauna and massage room, a chef’s kitchen with commercial-grade appliances and a mahogany library that includes a walk-in safe. Upstairs, the master retreat is itself the size of a small house, and packs in a spa-style bathroom, dual closets, a private office, private balcony and a “hidden” spiral staircase leading down into the library, per the listing.

      Outdoors, the grounds include two expansive lawns, one made of AstroTurf and the other containing real grass. There are also pathways traced by manicured boxwood, bright bunches of bougainvillea and olive trees. And al fresco entertaining is made easy with a loggia-covered dining area and a poolside outdoor kitchen with an outdoor fireplace, wet bar and built-in BBQ center.

      Safoian, 45, cofounded SADA Systems in 2000. In 2021, the North Hollywood-based tech company surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue for the first time; last year, it inked a $2.5 billion partnership deal with Google. Since 2015, Safoian has owned and occupied a two-story house in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood.

      As for Weiner, he now primarily resides in Florida but still owns a mansion in Park City, Utah, in addition to another Beverly Park home he’s owned since 2007 and an investment property in the Hollywood Hills.

      Beverly Park, long famed as the most expensive gated community in Los Angeles, boasts a number of high-profile residents behind its heavily guarded gates. While turnover has been heavy in recent years, Hollywood figures such as Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington, Sofia Vergara, Adele, The Rock and Rod Stewart still call the enclave home. More

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      Restoration Hardware’s CEO Snaps Up an Oceanfront Malibu Mansion for $26 Million

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      Gary Friedman recently said the “housing market is collapsing” at 2008 levels, but that hasn’t stopped the famously candid and longtime RH chief executive from dipping his toe into the choppy real estate waters. In a deal that closed last week, Friedman paid $26.7 million for an oceanfront mansion in Malibu.

      The 66-year-old billionaire and his wife Bella Hunter actually scored a deal on their new vacation home, which sits on prestigious Carbon Beach — the long strip of sand also home to fellow billionaires such as Larry Ellison, Michael Milken and film producer Arnon Milchan. The new Friedman residence was originally offered a year ago at $40 million, though the price tag was slashed down to $30 million before the buyers came calling.

      The 0.36-acre lot and its 80 feet of beach frontage last sold in 1994 for just $1 million. The buyer, local philanthropist Mel Rosenthal, subsequently custom-built the current house. Completed in 1997, the boxy contemporary structure is clad in pale yellow stucco and features a gated motorcourt with garage parking for three cars.

      Inside, highlights include disappearing walls of glass that drink in the unstoppable ocean views, plus Portuguese limestone floors, a huge atrium skylight, a chef’s kitchen with granite countertops, a laundry room with a dog-washing station, an elevator and long gallery walls “suitable for a museum-quality art collection,” per the listing.

      Also on tap are five bedrooms, each with ensuite bathrooms and one that currently functions as an at-home gym. The 5,600-square-foot house also offers an upstairs master suite with a fireplace, bespoke closet, private balcony and a private office with a sink and beverage refrigerator.

      Out back, an oceanfront deck spans the full width of the house and sports ceramic tile floors, ample space for al fresco entertaining and a built-in barbecue center and hot tub. And while landscaping is sparse, typical of oceanfront Malibu properties, the front courtyard does offer several mature palm trees and lushly filled planters that lend the place a distinctly tropical vibe.

      With only one brief interruption, Friedman has been a top executive of the company formerly known as Restoration Hardware since 2001 and has a personal net worth of $1.8 billion, per Forbes. In addition to his new beachfront retreat, he also maintains a $37 million mansion in the mountains above Beverly Hills. Last year, the San Francisco native has sold a half-built Los Angeles estate for $24 million to an anonymous buyer. More

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      Nicollette Sheridan Is Selling Her French Country-Style Estate in SoCal

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      A sprawling Hidden Hills estate long owned by veteran film and TV actress Nicollette Sheridan has just popped up for sale with a nearly $16 million asking price—or almost $12 million more than the Desperate Housewives star and her ex-fiancé Michael Bolton paid Melissa Etheridge and wife Tammy Lynn Michaels for the place around 15 years ago, back in spring 2008.

      Originally built in the late 1970s and extensively updated through the years, the San Fernando Valley spread is “elegantly designed in Country French style,” per the listing, which is held by Mark S. Gruskin and Stephen Shapiro of Westside Estate Agency.

      Nestled behind a lengthy gated driveway, on an almost 4-acre hilltop parcel of land surrounded by equestrian amenities and riding trails, the ivy-clad structure has six bedrooms and seven baths in 7,500 square feet of living space punctuated throughout by vaulted wood-beam ceilings, and a mix of limestone and wide-plank French oak floors.

      Also on tap are plenty of snazzy amenities—a wine closet, tennis court, gym, freeform pool and raised spa, an outdoor kitchen boasting a pizza oven imported from Italy, and high-tech Control4, Nest, Ring and Aqua Link systems, just for starters.

      A seated wet bar and floor-to-ceiling fireplace hold court in the inviting family room.

      Marcelo Lagos

      Other standout features include formal living and dining rooms with French doors spilling out to a covered patio, plus a wet bar-equipped family room warmed by a fireplace. An adjoining gourmet kitchen sports Calacatta marble countertops, a central island, top-tier Viking and Sub-Zero appliances (including two built-in refrigerators), a windowed breakfast nook with built-in banquette seating, and butler and silver pantries.

      There’s also a wood-paneled office and an additional lounge area on the upper level, as well as a sumptuous primary bedroom that comes complete with a fireplace, sitting area, walk-in closet, and luxe bath hosting a pedestal spa tub, steam shower and sauna; and rounding it all out is a separate guest suite with its own stairway entrance, three-car garage and hefty monthly $1,132 HOA fee just for the privilege of calling the exclusive enclave home.

      In addition to a pool and spa, the grassy backyard hosts an outdoor kitchen equipped with a pizza oven imported from Italy.

      Marcelo Lagos

      The England-born actress, 59, began her career as a fashion model before landing her first TV acting job in the short-lived ABC drama Paper Dolls. She went on to star in the movie The Sure Thing, but her breakout role came as Paige Matheson on the CBS primetime soap opera Knots Landing, for which she earned two Soap Opera Digest Awards. She also received a Golden Globe nod for her work on Desperate Housewives, and most recently, she reprised Joan Collins’ part as Alexis Carrington on The CW’s Dynasty reboot.

      After dating Bolton for several years in the early 1990s, she and the Grammy-winning singer later rekindled their relationship and became engaged in 2006. Though he put his Connecticut digs up for sale at $11 million to move into the Hidden Hills property with her, the pair split just two days later. 

      Click here for more photos of Nicollette Sheridan’s Hidden Hills house. More

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      For $4.2 Million, You Can Step Into a Footwear Mogul’s Idyllic Costa Rica Retreat

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      Always wanted to experience a privileged coastal lifestyle rarely afforded to anyone other than perhaps a multimillionaire footwear mogul—one where you can easily walk to a famed surf break on the Pacific or seamlessly commune with nature amid your very own rainforest-encased haven, for instance?

      Well, if you have an extra $4 million and change burning a hole in your proverbial pocket, this idyllic Costa Rica estate owned by Toms Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie just might be the perfect spot to put down some roots…or should we say soles?

      Nestled amid a forested parcel of land on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula, in the affluent Playa Hermosa neighborhood of Santa Teresa, the modern residence was designed by architect Benjamin Garcia Saxe of Studio Saxe and completed in 2020, and features two distinct side-by-side homes in a serene abode collectively known as “Naia.”

      The Costa Rica estate is made up of two separate homes known collectively as “Naia.”

      Andres Garcia Lachner/Studio Saxe

      Fronting the complex is a single-level residence that opens to an interior garden and pool, and sitting adjacent is a larger two-story house hosting another pool. Both have been crafted with central walkways that separate the open-concept common areas on one side from the more self-contained bedrooms on the other, with the al fresco living and dining area in the main structure holding court beneath a striking double-height atrium.

      Overall, there is a combined total of six bedrooms and eight baths in a little more than 6,400 square feet of minimalist living space boasting polished floors, concrete walls and striking teak screens throughout; and the place also comes with plenty of sustainable features, including naturally lit and ventilated rooms, solar panels to provide hot water and roof-collected rainwater for irrigating the grounds.

      A striking double-height atrium tops the open-concept living and dining portion of the main two-story home, sheltering residents from the elements.

      Andres Garcia Lachner/Studio Saxe

      MyCoskie, who is newly married to former model Molly Holm, launched Toms after a 2006 trip to Argentina where he saw kids with no shoes and decided to donate a pair for each one sold. Most recently, he’s been in the news for contributing $100 million (reportedly a quarter of his net worth) to support research into the medical and mental health benefits of psychedelics.

      The listing is held by Andrea Bissinger and Reese Langston of 2Costa Rica Real Estate.

      Click here for more photos of Blake Mycoskie’s Costa Rica estate. More

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      Halsey Buys the Beatles Sound Engineer’s Magical Los Angeles Hideaway

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      Halsey recently put her extravagant estate near Calabasas up for sale, asking $12 million. Previously owned by One Direction’s Liam Payne and sprawling across some five contiguous acres, that property has since sold for $11.6 million to an anonymous buyer.

      The “Without Me” singer appears to have radically altered her living situation; records confirm she’s paid $2.5 million to buy a small but stunning bungalow in L.A.’s musician-loved Laurel Canyon neighborhood. Nestled into the base of a rugged hill, the 1929 cottage was recently updated and heavily revised by Lauren Caris Cohan, a filmmaker and chief creative officer for the fashion brand Reformation. Before that, the 1,117-square-foot residence was long owned by music industry legend Geoff Emerick.

      Emerick, best known as an audio engineer for The Beatles, helped produce some of the most iconic albums in rock history — “Revolver,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Abbey Road.” And Emerick’s talents proved immensely popular with other industry folk, as he later worked with Elvis Costello, Kate Bush, The Zombies, and Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles group Wings.

      Walled, gated and set high above the street, the Laurel Canyon home is admirably private. A quaint stone-and-brick staircase leads to a hand-carved front door; inside, the two-bedroom structure includes a surprisingly large living room with a soaring ceiling, original oak hardwood floors, intricate iron detailing and an original wood-burning fireplace.

      Mixed in with all those vintage features are plenty of modern amenities, too. Most notably, the kitchen offers new Italian terracotta floors, top-of-the-line Bertazzoni appliances and brass fixtures. Elsewhere are two bathrooms, both slathered in Japanese ceramic tile, and a spacious rooftop deck with built-in seating and a gas fireplace.

      Out back, the half-acre lot is shaded by mature trees and is visually spruced up by a Mediterranean-style garden awash in lavender and bougainvillea. Those lush pantings surround multiple terraced patios ideal for al fresco entertaining, a petite plunge pool and even an outdoor shower.

      Halsey, 28, is new to the Laurel Canyon area but not to the Hollywood Hills. From 2017-2020, she lived in the nearby Beachwood Canyon neighborhood, where she owned an updated midcentury home situated almost directly below the famed Hollywood Sign. More

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      Reclusive French Entertainer Claudine Longet Lists $60 Million Aspen Estate

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      Over the summer, a 5.4-acre estate within the private Red Mountain Ranch enclave just north of downtown Aspen, Colo., came to market with an $80 million price tag. Had it sold for anywhere near the sky-high asking price, it would have easily surpassed the current record—$72.5 million—for the most expensive home ever sold in the wealthy and notoriously pricy Rocky Mountain retreat. Alas, with no takers ready to break that real estate record, the price has since tumbled by about 25% to its current (and still eye-popping!) $59.5 million. 

      Described in marketing material as “Aspen’s last great property,” the unpretentious estate “offers privacy, luxury, and stunning views from Aspen Mountain to Mount Sopris.” In addition to the main house, which disperses three bedrooms and three bathrooms over about 3,500 square feet, there’s an almost 1,400-square-foot studio/guesthouse with another bedroom and bath, plus a detached two-car garage.

      The main house sits just above a small private pond.

      Mountain Home Photo/Sotheby’s International Realty

      Capped by a green metal roof, the wood-clad two-story main house spills out to a huge deck and a flagstone patio perched above a boulder-strewn lawn that rolls down to and surrounds a postcard-ready private pond with the Rocky Mountains as its dramatic backdrop. The guesthouse, which also has a deck with stunning mountain views, is privately squirreled away from the main house amid a forest of mature cottonwood and aspen trees. 

      Gorgeous and alluring at every time of year, with a slender stream that meanders through it, the picturesque property has the potential to be split into several lots, according to listings held by Lex Tarumianz of Aspen Snowmass Sotheby’s International Realty and Brian Hazen at Coldwell Banker Mason Morse.

      A stream meanders through the estate’s rolling landscape.

      Mountain Home Photo/Sotheby’s International Realty

      Tax records show the property is owned by French entertainer Claudine Longet, now in her 80s. Longet skyrocketed to showbiz stardom in the early 1960s when she married crooner Andy “Mr. Christmas” Williams. During her time in the showbiz limelight, she released numerous albums and appeared in many TV programs and movies, including opposite Peter Sellers in Blake Edwards’s 1968 box-office hit The Party. (She also sang the dreamy song Nothing to Lose in the film.)

      Sometime after she and Williams split up in 1970, Longet moved to Aspen, where she’s lived a quiet life among the world’s snow skiing glitterati since she was convicted in 1977 on a negligent homicide charge in connection to the accidental shooting death of her then boyfriend, former Olympic skier Spider Sabich. She later married local Aspen attorney Ron Austin, who represented her at her trial. The couple has long maintained a home in Hawaii as well.

      Click here for all the photos of 209 East Reds Road.

      Mountain Home Photo/Sotheby’s International Realty More