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      Jeff Bezos Pays Record Price for a Waterfront Estate on Miami Beach’s “Billionaire Bunker” Island

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      It looks like Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are getting another mega-rich neighbor in Florida. Jeff Bezos and his helicopter-flying fiancée, Lauren Sanchez, are reported by Bloomberg to be the secret buyers who shelled out $68 million for a waterfront estate on Miami Beach’s Indian Creek Island. The off-market deal was sealed in June, a couple of months after Bezos took delivery of his half-billion-dollar boat, Koru, and shortly after the couple got engaged.

      The transaction sets a new price record for the ultra-exclusive island enclave, which is commonly referred to as the “Billionaire Bunker” due to the unusual number of billionaires who own homes on the tiny island. The previous record of $49.9 million was set in 2019. 

      With fewer than three dozen waterfront homes surrounding a private 18-hole golf course, the island is only accessible via a single bridge or by boat. Security is paramount, and hence, the bridge entrance is heavily guarded, and a private security force patrols the island, on land and on water, 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

      An aerial view of the 2.75-acre waterfront estate.

      Apple Maps

      The property was not officially on the market, but tax records and other resources indicate the single-story mansion was built in 1965 and expanded in 1985 to around 10,000 square feet, with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. The two-parcel spread encompasses 2.75 acres and includes a long driveway that passes under a porte cochère at the front of the house, while a secondary driveway provides access to the garage. There’s also a waterside swimming pool. 

      Bezos is also reportedly interested in the neighboring estate, an even larger and more opulent 19,000-square-foot palace that last sold in 2014 for $28 million and is now on the market with a sky-high price of $85 million.

      Kushner and Trump are shacked up in a rented condo while they renovate the 8,500-square-foot Indian Creek Island home they bought in 2021 for $24 million, and last year, former Victoria Secret model Adriana Lima sold up for about $40 million to Colombian banker Jaime Gilinski, who now owns five contiguous properties on the island. Other folks who have staked their claim on the island include Julio Iglesias, Carl Icahn, Tom Brady, hedge funder Edward Lampert, retired Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula, and car dealership mogul Norman Braman.

      Bezos, who has been renting Kenny G’s bluff-top Malibu compound for $600,000 a month while his $165 million Beverly Hills mansion undergoes renovations, maintains a vast cross-country portfolio that includes a sprawling compound in Seattle’s tech-tycoon-packed Medina neighborhood, several apartments in New York City, a couple of homes in Washington, D.C., and a 14-acre spread on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

      An aerial view of Miami Beach’s Indian Creek Island, aka the Billionaire Bunker.

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      The Producers Behind ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Back to the Future’ List Their Malibu Home for $18.5 Million

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      Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, partners personally and professionally, are seasoned experts at bringing blockbuster films to the silver screen, and now, along with Compass agent Stan Richman, they aim to produce the $18.5 million sale of their Malibu home.

      Kennedy, an eight-time Oscar nominee known for producing E.T., Jurassic Park, and Star Wars, currently serves as president of Lucasfilms, while Marshall, whose credits include Back to the Future and Jason Bourne, runs the couple’s production company, The Kennedy/Marshall Company. In 2019, they were jointly awarded the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award—Kennedy is the first and only female winner of the prestigious honor—and their latest joint venture, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, was released this summer.

      The Hollywood power couple, who also own a home in L.A.’s rustic Sullivan Canyon that was previously owned by Bea Arthur, purchased their Malibu getaway in 2015 for $9.75 million, which means they’re looking to just about double their money on the spectacularly sited residence.

      The gated courtyard entry.

      Anthony Barcelo

      The slightly shy of 4,000-square-foot, single-level home, on the high side of a steeply sloped 2.2-acre parcel and hidden behind a tall hedge at the tail end of a sinuous cul-de-sac high above La Costa Beach, makes the most of its high perch. Entry is through a wind-protected, sunken courtyard bursting with lush plantings. Inside, most rooms have huge sliding walls of glass that fill them with natural light and frame gorgeous ocean and coastline views over the infinity-edge swimming pool.

      The—ahem—cinematic sunset views take center stage in the serene and relaxed living room, where the crisply tailored and clean-lined interiors are moderated with natural materials. There are art-friendly white walls, a vaulted exposed wood ceiling, matte-finished wide-plank wood floorboards, and a minimalist fireplace set into a thick concrete column. In the eat-in kitchen, gleaming stainless-steel backsplashes and appliances are balanced with pale wooden cabinets, and in the dining area, glass sliders peel open to a grassy garden.

      The infinity-edge pool mirrors the color of the Pacific Ocean.

      Anthony Barcelo

      Among the four bedrooms and three bathrooms is the spacious main suite. In the bedroom, there’s a fireplace in the corner and a wall of sliding glass doors that open to a small private patio. Beyond the dressing area, with a 20-drawer built-in dresser, and the bedroom-sized walk-in closet, the sleek bathroom features a floating double-sink vanity with a jungle-green stone counter, an open shower, and a soaking tub set into a windowed corner with a leafy view of the gardens.

      Most rooms flow easily out to the backyard, where, in addition to the swimming pool and spa, there’s a pergola-shaded dining terrace, a tree-shaded patio with an outdoor fireplace, an outdoor shower, and, nestled into the slope below the pool, a seating area that gives the impression it’s floating on the ocean.

      The property transfers with membership rights to the low-key La Costa Beach and Tennis Club, which maintains a charming oceanfront clubhouse with barbecue facilities, bathrooms, and a beach volleyball court. The club’s three lighted tennis courts are about half a mile away.

      Click here for all the photos of 2575 Carbon Canyon Road.

      Anthony Barcelo More

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      The Producer of ‘Kung Fu Panda’ Just Listed Her 1920s Spanish Colonial in Los Feliz for $11.5 Million

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      After barely four years of ownership, Melissa Cobb has decided to hoist her elegant residence in a prime Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles onto the market. And, according to the listing held by Marci Kays and Jonathan Mogharrabi of Carolwood Estates, the glam Spanish-style mansion “truly embodies Hollywood’s golden era.”

      The veteran entertainment industry executive—probably best known for producing the Kung Fu Panda franchise—is asking a speck under $11.5 million for the multi-level digs she picked up for nearly $6.4 million back in fall 2019.

      Originally commissioned by wealthy entrepreneur William C. Hay and completed by architect Charles C. Kyson in the early 1920s, the premises were prominently featured in a 1925 Architectural Digest article. The place recently underwent an extensive renovation courtesy of its previous owner, with Cobb also sprucing up the grounds during her tenure.

      The Spanish Colonial home is fronted by an inviting entryway lined with lush foliage.

      Andrew Bramasco

      Nestled on a gated hillside parcel spanning over a half-acre, the stucco and terra-cotta-roof structure features five bedrooms and five baths in almost 5,500 square feet of living space, all of it flaunting stylish interiors accented with a mix of hardwood and marble floors, hand-painted oak doors and stained-glass windows throughout.

      A walkway passes through a lushly landscaped yard before emptying out at an ornate wood front door, which leads into an entry foyer displaying a “scene-stealing” staircase topped by a barrel-vaulted ceiling. From there, highlights include a soaring fireside living room resting beneath a hand-painted coffered ceiling, and a step-down den and seated wet bar.

      The fireside living room is adorned with an ornamental fireplace, a hand-painted coffered ceiling, and French doors spilling outside.

      Andrew Bramasco

      A formal dining room sporting wood paneling imported from England and an ornamental tracery ceiling opens to a second-level veranda, and the gourmet kitchen is outfitted with high-end appliances, an eat-in island and a cozy breakfast nook. Elsewhere are a family room, library, wine cellar, home offices and staff accommodations, along with an oversized primary bedroom that houses a fireplace, an elevated closet, and a spa-inspired bath equipped with dual vanities, a soaking tub and glass-encased shower.

      Outdoors, the grounds are laced with fruit trees, terraces and gravel pathways leading to secluded gathering spaces, and host a sunken fire-pit lounge and private pool flanked by a grassy lawn centered around a period fountain. There’s also a street-level garage for three vehicles—all just minutes away from the Griffith Observatory and Greek Theatre.

      Cobb joined Netflix as head of kids and family in 2017 and went on to gain recognition for helping to build the company’s animation studio. In 2022, after acquiring The Lego Movie animation studio Animal Logic, the former DreamWorks executive stepped down as vice president of animation film and currently serves as a producer for Netflix.

      Click here for more photos of Melissa Cobb’s home. More

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      The Former Home of a Late Hollywood Heiress Is Newly Listed at $2.8 Million

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      Barbara Warner Howard grew up in one of the most famous homes in all of Beverly Hills. Built in the 1930s by her father, entertainment industry pioneer and film executive Jack Warner, the founder of Warner Bros., the palatial Georgian-style mansion (and its ten acres of landscaped grounds) was later owned by David Geffen, who, after three decades in residence, sold up in 2020 for $165 million to Jeff Bezos.

      As the daughter of one of Hollywood’s most influential moguls, Howard lived a life sprinkled with showbiz fairy dust. So the stories go: Judy Garland sang at her Sweet 16 party, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor attended her debutante ball, and she once climbed through a window at the legendary Brown Derby restaurant to escape the wandering hands of Robert Evans.

      She later lived in Paris, where she married and divorced twice before returning to Los Angeles and marrying screenwriter and producer Cy Howard. They were married until his 1993 death. Howard eventually settled in New York City, where she became a dedicated patron of the arts and a founding member of the New York Theatre Workshop. She lived for a time in a double-height apartment at the Gainsborough Studios building on Central Park South before moving downtown to a penthouse apartment atop an old, converted hotel on lower Fifth Avenue.

      The living room offers cinematic views thanks to massive picture windows.

      Jason Harlem

      In 2004, tax records show Howard dropped $1.45 million for a house back in Los Angeles, one much more modest in scale than her childhood home. The 2,600-square-foot home, set just above Hollywood Boulevard on a prime parcel in the historic Whitley Heights neighborhood and mostly obscured behind high hedging and security gates, is elevated atop a street-level two-car garage amid lush semi-tropical landscaping. The main living spaces are on the upper level to maximize light and views.

      Howard, who died late last year at 88, sold the house in late 2013 for $1.6 million to TV producer Nick Rabb Weidenfeld and his wife Amantha. Tax records show the property last changed hands in 2021, when the Weidenfelds sold it for $2.5 million, and now the circa 1950, late Moderne-style residence is newly on the market with Tim Swan at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties for a tetch under $2.8 million.

      Dubbed “Graciebird” and listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, the property offers sweeping views that, on a clear day, extend all the way from the downtown skyline to the Pacific Ocean. Updated with in-ceiling speakers and other creature comforts, the home retains many period details. Coved ceilings in the step-down fireside library/den and in the formal dining room add sensual curves matched in the decorative wrought iron railings featured both within the house and outside along a second-floor balcony.

      The backyard is a private, courtyard-style oasis.

      Jason Harlem

      Gigantic, mullioned picture windows converge in a corner of the nearly 400-square-foot living room, making for a cinematic view of the city lights through the surrounding trees, while the eat-in kitchen is up to date and the bathrooms showcase well-preserved vintage tile work. 

      All together, there are three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms dispersed over two floors. On the lower level, along with a couple of bedrooms and baths, a family room opens to a herringbone-pattern brick patio amid lush tropical plantings.

      The narrow, winding streets of the Whitley Heights neighborhood have long been popular with entertainment industry movers and shakers. Golden Age icons like Carole Lombard, Carmen Miranda, Rudolph Valentino, Ronald Reagan, and Charlie Chaplin all resided in the hilly enclave, as have modern-day film and TV stars Ellen Pompeo, Busy Philipps, Rachel Bilson, and Ginnifer Goodwin.

      Click here for all the images of 2019 Grace Avenue.

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      in Luxury

      Kris Kristofferson’s Sprawling Northern California Ranch Hits the Market for $17.2 Million

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      Country superstar Kris Kristofferson has placed his Northern California ranch of almost 40 years on the market. Nestled on 557 lush acres outside of Elk, about three hours north of San Francisco, the retired singer-songwriter recently listed the sprawling oceanfront compound for a cool $17.2 million, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

      Kristofferson originally bought the ranch in 1980 and, over the decades since, has leased a good chunk of the land for cattle grazing, which shouldn’t really come as a surprise. He is a Texas native, after all.

      Kris Kristofferson put his Northern California ranch up for sale

      Anthony Wells/Mendo Sotheby’s International Realty

      “The ranch has always been a place of creativity and inspiration,” the A Star Is Born actor told the newspaper. Dating back to the 1800s, the legacy ranch began as a dairy farm and still includes some of the original structures. In addition to the 2,400-square-foot barn that Kristofferson and his wife used as a vacation house, there is also a 1,900-square-foot ranch house, a dairy barn, and a feed barn, all of which are in need of a little TLC.

      Listed for $17.2 million, the compound includes original buildings from its beginnings as a dairy farm

      Anthony Wells/Mendo Sotheby’s International Realty

      As it stands, the property features 300 acres of open pasture and approximately 250 acres of forestland that are dotted with old-growth redwood and fir trees. Offering up a mile of Pacific Ocean frontage, the property sits right below Devils Basin. Given the scale and location, there’s a possibility that the land could be subdivided or even expanded upon. “I grew up here, and this property, in a lot of ways, is steeped in history,” Justin Nadeau of Mendo Sotheby’s International Realty told the WSJ. “Nobody has seen a property like this one come to market.”

      The property measures over 550 acres

      Anthony Wells/Mendo Sotheby’s International Realty

      Kristofferson and his wife still own another home in Hawaii, on Maui, which has become their main residence. As for the ranch, Nadeau added at the time of the listing that the couple feels like “it’s time to let it go and move on.” 

      Click here to see all the photos of The Kristofferson Ranch. 

      Anthony Wells/Mendo Sotheby’s International Realty More

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      This One-Time Hollywood Hills Home of Celebrity Photographer Herb Ritts Can Be Yours

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      A lofty Hollywood Hills villa that Herb Ritts once called home just popped up for sale high above the Sunset Strip, asking a click under $8.4 million; and it’s every bit as sublime as the late photographer’s images capturing the likes of Olivia Newton John, Madonna, Cindy Crawford and many more notable personalities—complete with museum-quality furnishings, plus sweeping views of the Griffith Observatory, city lights and ocean beyond.

      “The property presents a peaceful tranquility to be experienced while living in a midcentury art-deco work of art,” says Ernie Carswell, who holds the listing with Spencer Daley, both of Douglas Elliman. “For purists, there is nothing finer.”

      The Hollywood Hills home is fronted by a walled and gated court entry boasting an organic vegetable garden.

      Brian Kaplan

      Ritts acquired the 1936-built premises at the start of the 2000s—shortly before his death in 2002 at age 50—and then undertook an extensive remodel and expansion that added a cabana entertainment room with a full kitchen and bath that could easily serve as a guest suite if needed, as well as an additional bedroom and bath for staff that could be accessed via its own entrance.

      Per Carswell, there have been four owners since Ritts’ tenure, all of whom meticulously maintained the residence; and the current owners even added high-tech amenities and security features, such as armored windows and “James Bond-level” surveillance, he says.

      Resting atop a promontory, amid a secluded cul-de-sac parcel spanning almost a half-acre, the white stucco structure is fronted by an attached two-car garage, and offers a total of five bedrooms and six baths in a little more than 4,200 square feet of two-level living space boasting dark hardwood floors, high ceilings and steel-case French doors spilling out to a wraparound balcony. There also are plenty of original museum-quality furnishings by the likes of Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Le Corbusier, Serge Mouille and Pierre Jeanneret that are all available for purchase.

      Furnishings crafted by French designers ranging from Jean Prouvé to Pierre Jeanneret are available for purchase separately from the home’s sale price.

      Brian Kaplan

      A walled and gated courtyard entryway centered around an organic vegetable garden leads to the main level, which features a living room/library sporting a concealed motorized screen, projector and surround sound for movie nights. Other highlights include a wet bar-equipped den, formal dining room with built-in banquette, and galley-style kitchen decked out with custom cherry wood cabinetry and high-end Sub-Zero and Viking appliances, plus a breakfast nook on one side and lounge with a wine fridge on the other.

      All of the bedrooms can be found on the lower level, including a spacious primary retreat displaying a private balcony, walk-in closets, and a tiled bath spotlighted by dual vanities, a fitted tub and glass-encased shower. As for the outdoors, the private grounds are laced with specimen trees, and host a black-bottom pool flanked by a sundeck and an al fresco dining patio; and, per the listing, the sale also comes with architectural plans for a two-story ADU/guesthouse to be built on the property, as well as permits for a Tesla Solar Roof that can provide off-grid power for the entire house.

      Click here to see more photos of 8724 St. Ives Drive. More

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      This $11 Million Vintage Bel Air Home Comes With an Impressive Hollywood Pedigree

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      Mia Farrow, 78, is best known for her role in the 1968 horror film “Rosemary’s Baby” and as Woody Allen’s former paramour. She did not, however, spring from nowhere to inhabit such rarefied showbiz circles. She was, in fact, born into it, her parents being showbiz legends in their own time. Her father, John Farrow, was an Oscar-winning film director from Australia, and her mother, Irish-born actress Maureen O’Sullivan, is most often remembered as Jane Parker in six “Tarzan” films between 1932 and 1942.

      In the mid-1930s, nearly a decade before Mia was born, Farrow and O’Sullivan hired architect Arlos R. Sedgley to design them a Monterey Colonial-style home along Chalon Road, one of the best streets in Bel Air. Called Greystoke Cottage, a designation signified on a plaque over the front door, the house sits on more than half an acre of naturalistic grounds.

      The dining room is enlivened with yellow floral curtains and an antique chandelier.

      Anthony Barcelo

      Tax records show the house was later owned by film and television composer Bruce Broughton, who sold it to the current owner in 2018 for almost $5.7 million. Now, after being renovated and worked over with interiors by designer John Cottrell, the historic home is back on the market for $10.9 million.

      In addition to a 29-foot-long living room and a separate dining room, highlights of the home’s main floor include a wood-paneled office/library, a spacious eat-in kitchen with a fireside lounge, and a media room that showcases a chevron-patterned vaulted wood ceiling and a trio of floor-to-ceiling French doors that open to a wrought-iron railed Juliet balcony.

      The gardens of Greystoke Cottage offer a private idyll in the heart of Bel Air.

      Anthony Barcelo

      Floor plans for the two-story home indicate there are four bedrooms and four bathrooms, plus a couple of powder rooms. The main-floor primary suite offers a fireplace, a roomy bath, a couple of walk-in closets, and a wraparound veranda. Another covered veranda outside the kitchen, dining room, and office/library has steps that lead down to a lower terrace for alfresco dining and lounging.

      Flagstone paths and stairways wind through the estate’s densely planted gardens below the back of the house. They lead to the swimming pool, along with several secluded patios hidden among the dense foliage and mature trees in a landscape by Tichenor & Thorpe Architects.

      The Tinseltown-pedigreed property is available via Jeffrey Hobgood and Allen Roth, both with Sotheby’s International Realty.

      Click here to see all the photos of 10770 Chalon Road. More

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      This Media Mogul’s Sprawling Hollywood Hills Estate Just Hit the Market for $60 Million

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      In early 1987, Mexican media tycoon Emilio Azcarraga Milmo paid $2.3 million for the famed Sunset Plaza Apartments building. Located in the lower Hollywood Hills just a short walk north of the Sunset Boulevard, the 1930s structure was designed by prominent architect Paul R. Williams and occupied through the decades by a litany of Tinseltown stars: Carole Lombard, Charles Farrell, Katharine Hepburn, Mitzi Gaynor and Bernadette Peters, to name a few.

      Months after acquiring the building, Milmo demolished it to build a lavish private estate that became his part-time residence. Designed by noted Mexican architect Tomas Cajiga, the hacienda-style compound was completed in 1990. Following Azcarraga Milmo’s 1997 death from pancreatic cancer, that estate was put up for sale at $16 million, though the ask was eventually slashed to $10 million. After the property did not sell, it eventually became a residence of Milmo’s son, billionaire Emilio Azcarraga Jean.

      Now offered at a whopping $60 million, indicative of how home values in the surrounding area have soared, the property is an anomaly in many ways. After all, 2.3 acres of usable land is an extremely rare find in the tightly-packed Hollywood Hills, particularly on a property so close to the Sunset Strip and West Hollywood. The estate’s gardens are also some of the most elaborate and manicured in the entire surrounding neighborhood, more akin to a palatial estate in Holmby Hills or Beverly Park.

      The estate includes an 11,000-square-foot main house, plus a separate guesthouse.

      Google

      The setting is also quirky. Though impressively private thanks to enormous hedge walls and mature trees, the house sits directly across the street from a large apartment complex, and it’s immediately next door to a spacious parking lot used by businesses on one of the Sunset Strip’s busiest blocks.

      Perhaps that’s why, despite the sky-high $60 million price tag, the place is being marketed as a development opportunity. According to the listing, which provides no interior photos of the residence, the estate is “an ideal canvas for visionary developers” and could be used to construct several new homes or multiple apartment buildings.

      But much like the loss of the Sunset Plaza Apartments, destruction of the Azcarraga Milmo estate would be a shame. Featuring appointments “suitable for royalty,” the Mexican Colonial-style property includes two dining rooms adorned with hand-cut stone and centuries-old wood beams, a chef’s kitchen, wine cellar and a library. Outside, stunningly sculpted grounds are decorated by the aforementioned lush gardens, grassy lawns and numerous fountains. There’s also a rectangular swimming pool abutted by a stone patio. And in addition to the 11,000-square-foot main house, the property includes a 2,000-square-foot guesthouse and off-street parking for more than 20 cars.

      Alejandro Aldrete and Mauricio Umansky of The Agency share the listing.

      Azcarraga Jean remains chairman of Televisa, Mexico’s largest television broadcasting company, though in 2018 he stepped away from the CEO role following two decades at the reins. The 55-year-old owns a number of other homes around the world; in 2016, he reduced the asking price of his 257-foot yacht from $144 million to $102 million. More