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      Shaquille O’Neal’s Super-Size Florida Mansion Is Back on the Market for $16.5 Million

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      First listed in 2018 for $28 million, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal’s massive home in Windermere, Fla., was finally sold. But the deal fell through, and the palatial estate is now back on the market for $16.5 million, with a few key updates.

      Gone is the ginormous Shaq-sized round bed in the primary bedroom; added is an improved pool area, complete with a summer kitchen, as well as landscaping and minor cosmetic fixes, such as fresh coats of paint and exterior pressure washes.

      But the mansion remains as massive as ever at 31,000 square feet, with a 6,000-square-foot indoor basketball court, 12 bedrooms and 15 baths. Of course, everything about this home was done on a grand scale. The two-story great room alone is more than 1,100 square feet, with its glass walls looking out to the pool and tranquil Lake Butler. The formal dining room, with its handcrafted wood paneling and molding, seats 16. In the kitchen, there’s a Viking six-burner stove, two built-in Wolf steamers, a side-by-side Sub-Zero fridge and freezer plus a second glass-doored fridge and two double-door convection ovens.

      The outsized porte cochere at the home’s entrance 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      Also on the main level are some of the residence’s best amenities: a sound-proofed cinema room; a “gentleman’s room” with game tables, a wet bar, wine fridge and ice maker; a separate, enclosed cedar-planked humidor and wine storage; an aquarium room with a triangular saltwater fish tank; the guest wing with its five en suite bedrooms, great room and bar; and the basketball court.
      On the second level, the primary suite is a secluded retreat that takes up a full wing of the estate. The bedroom is 900 square feet and has a private balcony, a drop-down screen for the projector TV and a marble fireplace. The walk-in closet is actually four separate rooms with custom shelving and a center island. Dual bathrooms have jetted showers, and one has a two-person Jacuzzi tub. Four other en suite bedrooms are also on the second level.

      The great room 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      Shaq likes his cars, so there’s also a 17-car garage with an attached fitness studio. A second garage houses another nine dream machines, as well as a dance studio and an enclosed recording studio (where *NSYNC is rumored to have recorded some of their first songs).
      The property sits on three acres of land in Windermere’s gated neighborhood of Isleworth, a prestigious golfing community with its own string of lakes. It’s in the most secluded section of the neighborhood. While the common amenities offer a lot, so does Shaq’s place. He named his 95-foot pool Shaq-apulco, and it does feel like a private resort out on the terrace with the large hot tub and expansive outdoor kitchen. A tiki-style cabana overlooks the sandy beach on Lake Butler, and there’s 700 feet of lakefront. A dock and boat lift provide direct access to the water.

      The fully loaded kitchen 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      The NBA star is selling because he spends much more time in Atlanta these days with his job as a sports analyst for TNT, but he told listing agent Benjamin Hillman the things he’ll miss most about this mansion, which he built in 1990, are “those panoramic views of Lake Butler and the fun water activities like riding his wave runners through the chain of lakes in Windermere.”

      The family room 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      The games room 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      The home theater 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      The 44-foot-long home office 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      The huge primary bedroom 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      One of four rooms inside the master walk-in closet 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      The two-person jetted tub in the master bath 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      One of the other 11 bedrooms in the home 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      The indoor basketball court is wired for sound. 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      The dance studio and secondary garage 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      The 95-foot pool is 15 feet deep 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

      Shaq named his pool area Shaq-apulco. 

      Photo: Christian Pestana Rodriguez/Premier Sotheby’s International Realty More

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      Rihanna Snaps Up a Luxurious 1930s-Era Beverly Hills Mansion for $13.8 Million

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      Rihanna apparently caused a big stir by skipping the 2021 Grammy awards, leaving the spotlight to other music superstars like Beyoncé, Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift. Reports said the Barbadian singer’s absence was due to not being nominated—and then there’s the pesky fact that her much-anticipated upcoming album “R9” still has yet to surface, despite being years in the works. Of course, Rihanna’s also been busy with other things, too, like becoming a retail mogul. Sales of the burgeoning cosmetics tycoon’s Fenty Beauty makeup line have gone bonkers, and her Savage x Fenty lingerie brand is now reportedly valued at a whopping $1 billion.

      The Grammys skip might also have something to do with the fact that Rihanna recently found residential love in a not-so-hopeless place. The singer has just acquired a new house—a $13.8 million mansion, to be exact—and the property is located on a highly coveted cul-de-sac in the mountains above Beverly Hills. Neighbors include Sir Paul McCartney, and a few doors away lies a sumptuous estate that was leased for several years to Mariah Carey, and was more recently rented by Madonna during the Covid-19 pandemic.
      Originally built in the 1930s, the Rihanna estate was formerly owned by Mary Sheldon, the daughter of I Dream of Jeanie creator Sidney Sheldon. In 2016, Sheldon sold the dated house for $4.3 million to entrepreneur and investor Daniel Starr, whose acquisition of the property was chronicled on Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing.

      The mansion blends both contemporary and traditional elements. 

      Alexis Adam

      Starr subsequently spent millions to demolish and rebuild nearly every inch of the house (and he would later sue his contractors for those millions, alleging fraud and shoddy workmanship.) Last year, the property was put up for sale, asking $15 million. The transfer to Rihanna appears to have gone down off-market, but the Umbrella empress forked over $13.8 million for the premises, according to tax records.
      Invisible from the street behind tall hedges and big gates, the 7,600-square-foot mansion is approached a driveway that slopes up to meet the two-car attached garage. A curved flight of stairs ascends to the house, which sports a crisply contemporary look with white paint paired against a black metal roof and black trim. The mansion features a “sophisticated design” that “blends both contemporary and traditional elements,” per the listing, and the place pays clear homage to the trendy modern farmhouse look, with its French white oak hardwood floors and open floorplan.

      A glass front door pivots into the foyer, which is dominated by a giant black bull sculpture—grab life by the horns, if you will—and overlooks the proverbial heart of the property: an open-air central courtyard with an al fresco terrace, pool, spa, and firepit.

      The open-air central courtyard features a pool, spa, and firepit. 

      Alexis Adam

      Public spaces of note include a fireplace-equipped living room with walls of Fleetwood glass sliders opening to the outdoors, while the luxe wet bar area goes for a more masculine look with its moody splash of dark gray hues. The bar services an intimate family room/lounge/library with another fireplace, plus floor-to-ceiling built-in bookshelves.
      The listing describes the kitchen as “stunningly executed.” Indeed, nearly every surface is slathered in marble, and there are not one but two islands, both with brass fixtures. Top-of-the-line stainless appliances service a breakfast banquette that goes way glam with tufted black leather seating.
      Upstairs, the master suite looks as though it just stepped out of a Bali resort travel guide, with a five-star bedroom that overlooks Coldwater Canyon, and a custom closet with black lacquer cabinetry. Decked out in a unique, thickly-veined marble, the spa-esque master bath opens to an al fresco lounge area.

      The estate offers plenty of privacy for the star. 

      Alexis Adam

      The half-acre property is steeply sloped, so tall retaining walls encircle the house and yard, providing security plus privacy—ideal for a big celebrity.
      In case anyone didn’t know, Rihanna is a real estate mogul in the making who owns at least four other multimillion-dollar homes, including a $6.8 million Hollywood Hills estate, a vacation retreat in her native Barbados, and a high-floor condo along LA’s Wilshire Corridor. The 33-year-old’s current main residence, however, is a $5.5 million penthouse in Century City’s coveted The Century skyscraper, where residents have 24/7 concierge and doorman services, plus gym, spa, and in-house restaurant facilities. Some of the high-profile neighbors in that building include Candy Spelling, Matthew Perry, and celeb chef Nobu Matsuhisa.

      Check out more photos below:

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      Derek Jeter’s $13 Million Lakefront Castle Has an Infinity Pool Shaped Like a Baseball Diamond

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      Just 50 miles from Yankee Stadium sits a four-acre parcel on Greenwood Lake, complete with two castles, owned by Derek Jeter. While it’s not a surprise that he may not be spending much time there, considering his current role 1,300 miles away as CEO of the Miami Marlins, it is a surprise that he would sell the property that has long been part of his life and on which he lavished so much time and money.

      Jeter bought the property in 2002 through a holding company, reportedly for $425,000. It was in rough shape, but it had sentimental value for him: He spent summers there with his maternal grandfather while growing up. The home was originally built in the early 1900s by Dr. Rudolph Gudewill for his wife, according to Toptenrealestatedeals.com. It was later sold to John and Julia Tiedemann, who lived there with their 13 children, one of whom, William “Sonny” Connors, they adopted after his parents died. Connors later married a Tiedemann cousin and was Jeter’s grandfather. The Tiedemann family sold the estate in 1996.

      The living room. 

      Photo: Wright Bros./ TopTenRealEstateDeals.com

      When Jeter took it over, the property needed major work. He reportedly spent $3 million on just stone, fixing up the two castles and the grounds, which include a private lagoon with a rock bridge traversing it. At one time the 12,600 square feet of living space was rumored to have held 33 bedrooms. During Jeter’s massive renovation, that was trimmed back to six bedrooms with seven full baths and five half-bathrooms. He also added some extras, like a game room and bar, an office and a gym. There are four indoor kitchens on-site, with a fifth outdoor kitchen. The dark wood-paneled formal dining room and great room are made for large family gatherings.
      Other special, and unusual, details include a turret with a widow’s walk, a dungeon with a spiral staircase, a replica of the Statue of Liberty, a stone waterfall and medieval battlements. Jeter also renovated a boathouse at the edge of the lake and built a pool house beside an oversized infinity pool that’s in the shape of a baseball diamond.

      The pool. 

      Photo: Wright Bros./ TopTenRealEstateDeals.com

      The five-story home has an elevator (even pro athletes don’t always take the stairs) and a total of 24 rooms between both the main castle and the guest castle. It also has 700 feet of dedicated shoreline on the picturesque Greenwood Lake, which has long been a haven for tourists and celebrities, including another famous Yankee, Babe Ruth, as well as Greta Garbo. The castle was often featured on local postcards.

      Now at its new asking price of $12.75 million, the estate is listed with Mary Lovera of Wright Brothers Real Estate. Check out more photos of it below:

      The kitchen. 

      Photo: Wright Bros./ TopTenRealEstateDeals.com

      The main dining room. 

      Photo: Wright Bros./ TopTenRealEstateDeals.com

      Another view of the expansive compound. 

      Photo: Wright Bros./ TopTenRealEstateDeals.com More

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      Home of the Week: Tom Cruise’s 320-Acre Winter Wonderland in Colorado Lists for $39.5 Million

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      Tom Cruise would like you to show him the money—$39.5 million, to be precise—before taking a tour of his spectacular 320-acre mountain-top Telluride lodge that the Jerry Maguire star has just listed.

      Finding a buyer for the sprawling compound has proved to be something of a mission impossible for Cruise, 58. He reportedly first privately listed the home back in 2014 for an eye-watering $59 million. With no takers, it quietly came off the market two years later.

      Now with the property market in this chic Colorado ski resort on fire, and the actor reportedly rarely visiting, he’s shaved the price by $20 million and listed it with LIV Sotheby’s International Realty in Telluride. Agents Eric Lavey  and Dan Dockray hold the listing.

      “It’s hard to express just how spectacular this property is,” Dockray tells Robb Report. “It offers the most breathtaking, awe-inspiring views you’ll ever see. It is so private and secluded, yet just minutes from the town of Telluride.”

      The front entrance to the home. 

      Courtesy Joshua Johnson for LIV Sotheby’s International Realty

      If the cedar-clad, 10,000-square-foot main lodge looks vaguely familiar, it’s where Cruise famously sat down for a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2008. You can still find it on YouTube.
      As Oprah says as she walks up to the house, gazing at the jagged peaks in the background: “I have never seen anything like this in my life. I swear I want to weep, it’s so beautiful.”
      No doubt inspired by the visit, seven years later Oprah paid $14 million for a five-bedroom Telluride cabin just down the mountain from the property, plus $10 million for a prime piece of land nearby that she’s currently developing.

      The kitchen has a wall of fridges. 

      Courtesy Joshua Johnson for LIV Sotheby’s International Realty

      Surrounded on three sides by national forest land, the Cruise home was, according to the listing, custom-built with privacy in mind. The secluded estate is accessed by a secure, gated entry and a snaking, mile-long driveway through groves of towering aspens.
      Despite its seclusion—the main house sits on an escarpment with panoramic views of the 13,000-foot-high, snow-capped Campbell Peak behind it—it’s only a 10-minute drive from downtown Telluride with its funky shops, restaurants and ski runs.

      The great room has stunning mountain views. 

      Courtesy Joshua Johnson for LIV Sotheby’s International Realty

      Cruise reportedly bought the first parcel of land in 1992 and spent the next two years working on the home’s design and overseeing the construction. It was completed in 1994. Yet, according to Dockray, it wasn’t until 2002 that the actor acquired all the land now included in the estate—five parcels in total—that make up the 320 acres.

      Clad in bleached cedar timber and native stone, the two-story main house has as its centerpiece a magical living room with a huge stone fireplace, exposed rough-hewn beams and wrap-around windows showcasing those million-dollar views.

      The dining room. 

      Courtesy Joshua Johnson for LIV Sotheby’s International Realty

      Close by is the family kitchen with industrial-grade appliances, a trio of fridges and a vast central island with twin sinks. Wooden steps lead up to a rustic dining room with stunning oversized, dove-tailed, timber-planked walls.
      A cozy den for movie watching—the new owner will definitely need a bigger TV —features overstuffed sofas and is lined with rustic bookshelves. Other spaces include a billiards room, library and gym. Upstairs are four ensuite bedrooms, and when guests stop by, the home has a stand-alone,1,700-square-foot, three-bedroom guest house.

      The cozy den. 

      Courtesy Joshua Johnson for LIV Sotheby’s International Realty

      Befitting an action-hero owner, the estate has been designed for outdoor fun. There are dirt bike and all-terrain vehicle trails and snowmobile tracks, along with a labyrinth of hiking and snow-shoeing paths.
      For aircraft-loving Cruise—his upcoming Top Gun: Maverick is set for a July 2 release—the home has added appeal in that its decks are high enough to be able to look down on the private jets flying in and out of Telluride airport. Naturally the estate has its own helipad.

      The billiards room. 

      Courtesy Joshua Johnson for LIV Sotheby’s International Realty

      In recent years, Cruise is believed to have off-loaded many of his trophy properties in Beverly Hills, New York and England to focus on a penthouse in Clearwater, Fla. Close to the headquarters of Scientology, where the actor is a devout follower, the condo is part of a building designed by Mexican property developer and major Scientology donor Moises Agami.
      The penthouse takes up the ninth and tenth floors of The SkyView tower and is said to feature a 39-foot rooftop infinity pool, a private car elevator and a passageway leading to a smaller condo with a flight simulator, office and gym. More

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      Adam Levine Shells Out $22.7 Million for a Lush, Century-Old Estate in Montecito

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      The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has sent Hollywood celebrities like Katy Perry, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Meghan Markle flocking north to the seaside town of Montecito, joining longtime area residents like Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres, and Rob Lowe in a slower-paced environment where homeowners have some breathing room, not to mention loads more privacy. The latest high-profile folks to join the herd are Adam Levine and his wife, Victoria’s Secret model Behati Prinsloo—records reveal the pair have shelled out a whopping $22.7 million for a century-old estate that spans nearly 5.2 acres, all of them set near the proverbial heart of town.

      Designed in 1923 by venerated architect George Washington Smith, the stately mansion was built for attorney John A. Jameson, one of Montecito’s founding godfathers, if you will. It subsequently passed to a number of non-famous owners and more recently had been on and off the market for years, initially at a $29.5 million ask, before along came Levine.
      Behind tall gates, a long driveway is shaded by mature oaks. The road winds up through the property’s own mini-forest and past its “seemingly endless expanses of manicured lawns,” as per the listing, before arriving at the Mediterranean villa-style main house. Of course, this is a bonafide classic Montecito compound, with at least four separate structures on the property that include a detached five-car garage with additional staff quarters, a two-bedroom guesthouse, and a so-called “garden cottage” with another spare bedroom. Join those with the main mansion’s five bedrooms, and altogether there are nine bedrooms and a total of 11 full baths on the premises.
      The home was designed in 1923 by venerated architect George Washington Smith.  Realtor.com

      The listing gently hints that the main mansion’s interiors, while well-maintained, could use a decorative refresh. Renderings included with online marketing materials suggest the new owners may want to paint the home’s heavy-handed wood trim a bright white, and replace the tile floors with a medium-toned hardwood, as is the current style.
      Still, the wood and other current details look to be in great condition. An arched front door opens into a step-down foyer; beyond lies a grandly scaled living room with a stone fireplace and multiple sets of arched windows and French doors. The chef’s kitchen has handsome—if somewhat old-fashioned—wooden cabinetry, plus expensive stainless appliances and a boxcar-sized island. The huge upstairs master suite has views of the property’s grounds and ocean glimpses via a private terrace, and somewhere in the 12,000-square-foot main house are a movie theater and wine cellar.

      The swimming pool is privately tucked away from the main house.  Realtor.com

      Outside, the fairytale-like grounds provide numerous outlets for chic recreation, including a putting green, a full-size tennis court with viewing pavilion, and a swimming pool that’s privately tucked well away from the main house, discreetly sited behind hedges and lemon trees. Elsewhere are meandering pathways through the trees, a manmade pond/creek, numerous loggias and patios for al fresco entertaining, and gurgling stone fountains.
      Besides his new Montecito vacation digs, Levine once owned a Tudor-style Beverly Hills mansion that was sold in 2019 for $42.5 million to Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi. (That house is currently back on the market, asking a hefty $53.5 million.) But the Maroon 5 frontman and Prinsloo now primarily bunk up in LA’s posh Pacific Palisades part of town, in a palatial property they bought for $32 million from now-divorced Tinseltowners Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck in 2018.
      Riskin Partners Group at Village Properties repped both sides of the Montecito deal.
      Check out more photos of the property below:
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      Pamela Anderson’s Modernist Malibu Hideaway Lists for $15 Million

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      It may not be the largest house in Malibu, but it’s owned by one of the beach town’s most famous longtime residents, actor and former Playboy model Pamela Anderson, who recently married her former bodyguard Dan Hayhurst and moved to Vancouver, Canada.
      But some might appreciate that Anderson’s four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath home is on the modest side for Malibu, especially since the price tag is way below the $50 million mark that many of the area’s villas list for. These 5,500-square-foot digs are listed with Tomer Fridman of thefridmangroup.com for $14.9 million.

      Anderson made a name for herself in the seaside enclave while playing an ocean lifeguard on the popular Baywatch TV series in the 1990s, which was filmed at Malibu’s Zuma Beach, just a short hop up the coast from where she later bought this home. She purchased the place in 2000 for $1.8 million after her fame had led to lookie-loos wandering onto a former property that was on the ocean, hoping for a star sighting. That led to a push for privacy with tall hedges and walls, which this home has, a plus for any buyers who crave the same kind of at-home seclusion.
      The modern kitchen is also warm and cozy.  Photo: Shade Degges

      Located in the gated and much-coveted Malibu Colony community, the house backs up to a scenic lagoon with many egrets and other seabirds. Anderson replaced the original structure with the main house and added a one-bedroom guest cottage. Between them sits a terrace with a pool. The home was sustainably built with teak imported from non-conflict areas. It has its own irrigated vegetable gardens and solar power.
      Anderson told The Wall Street Journal that she was inspired by modernist architecture with its wide-open spaces and glass walls when building the home. Glass pocket doors and teak pivot doors open the house to the outdoors. Inside, the sleek white kitchen with its stone countertops is warmed by wood floors. The primary bedroom suite has its own balcony and a sauna. There’s also a rooftop with beautiful views. She says she put an additional $8 million into designing and building the home.
      A floating staircase leads from the great room to the second level.  Photo: The Luxury Level

      Listing broker Tomer Fridman told Robb Report, “The most dramatic and compelling aspect of the house is the design and its organic nature.” He’s most drawn to “the indoor-outdoor combination” and its “flow toward the guest house, which anchors he backyard and adds to the bold aesthetic.”

      Anderson is already living back in her native Canada, renovating a place that belonged to her grandmother.
      The primary bedroom.  Photo: The Luxury Level

      The sauna.  Photo: Shade Degges

      The soaking tub in the primary suite.  Photo: Shade Degges

      The firepit and hot tub.  Photo: The Luxury Level

      The roofdeck.  Photo: The Luxury Level

      The street view of the home.  Photo: The Luxury Level More

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      Eddie Murphy’s Zamunda Palace in ‘Coming 2 America’ Actually Belongs to Rapper Rick Ross

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      If you were one of the millions that enjoyed Eddie Murphy’s Coming 2 America over the weekend, you’ll likely recall Prince Akeem’s luxurious Zamunda Palace. The fantastical abode looked like it’d been fabricated with some good old-fashioned movie magic, but, in reality, it’s actually the home of one of rap’s most formidable talents. That’s right, the mega-mansion belongs to the big boss Rick Ross.

      Production designer Jefferson Sage and his team scouted myriad locations before selecting the rapper’s pad to serve as home to the royal family in the long-awaited sequel to the ‘88 classic Coming To America. Fitting, since the Ross residence is nothing short of palatial.

      Located in Fayetteville, Ga., the estate spans some 235 acres and was previously owned by boxer Evander Holyfield. At its center is a 45,000-square-foot manse that boasts some 12 bedrooms and is, quite literally, fit for royalty.
      Teyana Taylor and Wesley Snipes star inside Zamunda Palace.  Quantrell D. Colbert/Amazon Studios

      The crew co-opted five key areas of the home to bring Zamunda to life. This included the grandiose foyer with a double-winding staircase, two stately rooms that feature 18-foot ceilings and oversized windows, plus a generous dining room that can accommodate up to 100 guests (or, in the case of the film, roughly 50 royal subjects). The decadent main bedroom, meanwhile, was actually Ross’s own.
      As for the exterior, the team relied on visual effects to enhance the façade and imbue it with fairytale-like accents. Of course, the original structure is nothing to sneeze at.
      Speaking to Variety, Ross said that Coming to America may be his all-time favorite movie and he was elated to see Prince Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy) and his royal aid slash bestie Semmi (Arsenio Hall) in his home. It also helps the rapper scored a few unexpected-yet-welcome perks.
      “They changed the wallpaper in the dining room so I asked them to keep it up there,” Ross told the outlet. “They also created that huge dining room table for a dining scene that seats 50-60 people, and they left that for me as a gift. It’s humungous.”
      Eddie Murphy returns as Prince Akeem Joffer in “Coming 2 America.”  Courtesy of Amazon Studios

      It may not be the last time we see Ross’s Georgia mansion on the big screen, either. During an Instagram Live video, the rapper shared that the home he purchased for approximately $5.8 million in 2014 was paying for itself thanks to movies, production inquiries and visits. (In 2018, Architectural Digest showed how the home transformed for the Set of 2018’s Superfly.) No doubt the newest exposure won’t hurt.

      Indeed, Coming 2 America reportedly achieved the biggest opening weekend of films that premiered on streaming services in the past year, according to Amazon and rating firm Screen Engine/ASI. While the exact number of viewers has not been disclosed, Coming 2 America has been named the most-watched streaming movie on a given weekend during the pandemic. That’s a good thing, too, considering Amazon forked out $125 million for the film back in October.
      If you were one of the few that didn’t watch it over the weekend, Coming 2 America is streaming now on Prime Video. More

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      Jimmy Fallon’s Tony Manhattan Triplex Hits the Market for $15 Million

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      Late-night chat show host Jimmy Fallon and film producer Nancy Juvoven, Drew Barrymore’s partner at Flower Films, spent a decade buying and combining four apartments on the top three floors of an elegant and prestigious 19th-century cooperative apartment house in New York City’s tony Gramercy Park neighborhood.
      The first of the four units was purchased in 2004, around the time the low-key but high-powered pair coupled up. Another was acquired in 2010, and two more were snapped up in two separate 2014 transactions. All together the Juvoven-Fallons coughed up $4.925 million for the four units that together, according to listings held by Jeremy V. Stein and Debbie Korb at Sotheby’s Int’l Realty—Downtown Manhattan Brokerage, sprawl across approximately 4,950-square-feet with six bedrooms and five bathrooms.

      Not counting carry costs and real estate fees, not to mention the unquestionably considerable expense of joining the four units into one family-sized triplex penthouse, the couple is set to more than triple their money on the fabulously quirky spread that’s popped up for sale at $15 million.
      The 4,950-square-feet abode is located in the Gramercy Park neighborhood.  Yale Wagner/Sotheby’s International Realty

      Comprehensively updated with modern-day creature comforts, the vast residence respects its architectural pedigree with carefully restored original window frames, as well as original wood floors that are enhanced by what marketing materials describe as “a curated collection of treasured vintage and antique finds from around the world.”
      A frothy confection of red brick and intricately ornamented red terra-cotta designed by little-celebrated architect George W. DaCunha, and built in 1883, the Queen Anne-style apartment house lords over the southeast corner of private Gramercy Park. Only those fortunate to live in the few dozen townhouses and apartment buildings that ring the serene and manicured green space are provided one of the roughly 400 keys that open the annually changed locks that secure the gates of the two-acre idyll. The Juvoven-Fallons’ penthouse transfers with a key to the park, and, in a city that relishes rarity and exclusivity, a key to Gramercy Park, one of just two private parks in New York City, is certainly one of its most coveted privileges.
      Corinthian columns flank the main entrance of the idiosyncratically turreted full-service building that, besides Fallon and Juvoven, has been home to a fair number of Hollywood heavy hitters including James Cagney and Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West in the original Wizard of Oz.

      The sunny, west-facing eat-in kitchen incorporates top-end culinary equipment.  Evan Joseph/Sotheby’s International Realty

      Even by New York standards, the sprawling apartment has an unconventional layout, and decorative eclecticism reigns in the not-so-formal formal living room. A gigantic Tiffany-blue tufted sectional sofa sits on a geometric green rug, and painstakingly applied skewed wood cladding is fearlessly paired with vintage floral wallpaper from the 1940s. A discreet in-ceiling projector means the cozy room does double duty a professional screening room.
      Multicolor satellite-style light fixtures and six vermillion stools at the island snack bar punch up the huge and sunny, west-facing eat-in kitchen that incorporates top-end culinary equipment, bespoke cabinetry with designer hardware and a gas fireplace with an original mantelpiece and vintage tiles.
      A cushioned window seat offers a bird’s eye view over the park and surrounding skyline. The casual family space also includes a huge pantry stocked with canned beans, a remarkable amount of Spagehettios and a 7-11’s worth of snacks and sodas. The pantry once served as a sound studio and is still fully soundproofed.
      Beneath the staircase lies a children’s playroom.  Evan Joseph/Sotheby’s International Realty

      A bookcase nipped under the handsomely crafted and mural-showcasing staircase swings opens to reveal a hidden, whimsically wallpapered children’s playroom complete with an arched fireplace. A secret hatch opens to the kitchen’s pantry, and a handy-dandy intercom makes a link to a second playroom on the triplex’s top floor.
      The middle level has the least amount of square footage of the apartment’s three floors but nonetheless comfortably packs in a guest bedroom and bathroom, a small gym and a 500-plus-square-foot lodge-like saloon and family room. The walls are emblazoned with plaid wallpaper and a deer antler chandelier hangs from the exposed wood coffered ceiling. A huge semi-circular wet bar showcases a series of custom-made backlit stained glass panels set in to an antique bar cabinet, and a small sign hung on the massive stone fireplace reads “WEEKEND UPDATE,” a not-so-subtle nod to Fallon’s long-ago days as co-anchor of the iconic parody news segment on Saturday Night Live.

      There are two guest bedrooms and a huge combination laundry room/bath tucked away down a long, meandering corridor at the back of the main floor. The larger of the bedrooms has a fireplace and east-facing windows that flood the room with morning light, while the smaller is less-than-ideally windowless yet still (and thankfully) filled with light that streams through a giant skylight.
      The bar comes complete with a “Weekend Update” sign.  Evan Joseph/Sotheby’s International Realty

      Two more guest or family bedrooms, a shared hall bath, a second playroom and a second laundry room share the top floor with the deluxe primary suite. Occupying a spacious wing of its own with two walk-in closets and a fireplace, the suite comprises a skylight topped bedroom with custom-built massage bed and a sitting room designed to look like the inside of a tree, giving new meaning to the idea of an urban tree house. The commodious main bathroom includes a steam shower plus a separate room with a jetted tub for soaking in solitude.
      The floor plan reveals the triplex’s unusual layout, with its zigzagging hallways, far-flung bedrooms and unconventionally shaped rooms.
      Like many New Yorkers with the means to do so, Fallon and Juvoven also have a home in the Hamptons. Bought nearly ten years ago for $5.5 million, and picturesquely set on 2.2 beautifully landscaped acres in sleepy (yet powefully swank) Amagansett, the nearly 8,300-square-foot farmhouse stands three stories tall with weathered cedar shingles accented with gingerbread fretwork around the two-story porch. The grounds additionally include a detached garage, a huge barn, a swimming pool and a couple of guest cottages. The family has spent much of the last year quarantined on the expansive estate that is just as whimsically outfitted as their city digs.
      Check out more photos below:
      Evan Joseph/Sotheby’s International Realty

      Evan Joseph/Sotheby’s International Realty

      Evan Joseph/Sotheby’s International Realty

      Evan Joseph/Sotheby’s International Realty

      Evan Joseph/Sotheby’s International Realty

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