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    Radio and TV Personality Bobby Bones Spins His Sprawling Nashville Home Onto the Market

    About seven miles south of downtown Nashville, in the affluent Oak Hill neighborhood, a five-acre compound owned by veteran radio personality and reality TV regular Bobby Bones has hit the market. Initially priced at $9.25 million, the price was lickety-split dropped to $8.75 million. 

    The syndicated radio host, who has a popular iHeart radio broadcast, has over the years also appeared in a variety of roles on several reality TV programs. There was the short-lived docuseries “Breaking Bobby Bones” (2021), in which he traveled the country taking on unusual jobs; he was a full-time mentor on “American Idol” for a couple of seasons; he won the crown on the 27th season of “Dancing with the Stars”; and last year he served as the host of the reality competition series “Snake in the Grass.”

    The double-height living room, traversed by a catwalk, spills out to a terrace with a stone fireplace.

    Paul Nicol

    Records show the property last sold a bit more than three years ago for $3.75 million. Since then, among other updates and enhancements, the shingled and wood-planked exterior of the residence has been stained charcoal, a comprehensive surveillance system has been installed, and an old barn has been converted into an airy guesthouse. The pastoral estate’s three residences together span nearly 15,000 square feet, with a total of six bedrooms and eight bathrooms, plus four powder rooms. 

    The main house is a sprawling collection of shapes and volumes, some of which take their cues from vernacular rural buildings, capped by a combination of flat, arched, and peaked rooflines. There are four ensuite bedrooms, a home gym, a state-of-the-art home theater, and a heated garage that will accommodate six cars. In addition to a cavernous double-height living room traversed by a catwalk, there’s a 49-foot-long dining room with a built-in bar area and an octagonal kitchen with a triangular light fixture suspended above a u-shaped island.

    The swimming pool is set agains a backdrop of old-growth specimen trees.

    Paul Nicol

    A soaring breezeway separates the main house from the guest house, which doubles as a poolside entertainment pavilion. On its playlist of features are a fireside lounge, a huge great room with a large kitchen, a basement, a sauna, and an indoor-outdoor bar that opens to the pool deck. And, privately positioned in a wooded area away from the main and guest houses, a second guesthouse—the old barn—has two more bedrooms and baths, plus soaring ceilings, honed concrete flooring, a fireplace in the living area, and an open-plan kitchen.

    The grounds, a park-like mix of lush lawns shaded by mature specimen trees, include a sports court for tennis and basketball and a resort-style swimming pool alongside a vast terrace. The boulder-bordered pool has two poolside ramadas, one that shelters a spa and another a sitting area.

    The home is listed with Carrie Prickett at Compass.

    Click here for more photos of Bobby Bone’s house.

    Paul Nichol More

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    Bill Gates Just Dropped $60 Million on a Castle in Northern Italy

    Bill Gates is now the king of his very own castle.

    The Microsoft co-founder purchased the famous Castello di San Giorgio in Italy’s Liguria region for approximately $60 million, Il Secolo XIX first reported. According to the local newspaper, Gates bought the historic property through his Four Seasons real estate company, meaning there’s a chance that the tech billionaire turned hotelier could turn the building into a luxury resort.

    The fortress-like structure was used for military defense during the Roman Times because of its elevated position; however, it was later abandoned, The Daily Mail reported. After a British diplomat scooped the place up some decades later, it was converted into the luxury villa seen today. Also known as Portofino Castle, the ancient European spread measures 12,917 square feet, and it even sports an elevator that will bring you directly down to the beach.

    Bill Gates reportedly bought a castle in Northern Italy for $60 million

    Kevin Britland/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    Portofino, which is perched on Italy’s northwest coast, has long been a popular hideaway for jet setters, entrepreneurs, and celebs. Fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana famously have villas there, while Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeff Bezos, and Jennifer Lopez have all visited the colorful fishing village, not to mention it’s where Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker got married at Villa Olivetta.

    This isn’t the first time that Gates has added an Italian property to his impressive $170 million real estate portfolio. In 2021, Gates’s private equity firm, Cascade Investment, bought a majority stake in the Four Seasons Hotel chain from Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal in a $2.2 billion deal. Four Seasons was subsequently awarded a contract for a new resort in Rome, located within a 17th-century palazzo right by St. Peter’s Basilica and the Spanish Steps, which will become the city’s first six-star hotel. More

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    Heather Graham Just Rolled into Snazzy Midcentury L.A. Digs

    Not too long ago, after 22 years of ownership, veteran actress Heather Graham sold the Hollywood Hills hacienda she purchased for $880,000 soon after her breakout role as “Rollergirl” in the film Boogie Nights. Now she’s finally settled on a new Los Angeles base, having doled out a speck over $3.7 million for a secluded midcentury modern residence in the Crestwood Hills neighborhood of Brentwood.

    Records show Graham—who is set to star as a possessed psychiatrist in the upcoming H.P. Lovecraft-inspired movie Suitable Flesh—paid around $66,000 over the asking price for her recently acquired property. Built in the mid-1950s, but since upgraded, the wood-clad structure rests on a third-acre parcel fronted by a gated driveway that empties out at a two-car garage sporting glass-paneled doors.

    Inside, three bedrooms and three baths are packed into a little more than 2,100 square feet of two-level living space adorned throughout with red oak hardwood floors and whitewashed wood-beam ceilings. Found down a set of steps, the open-concept main level is highlighted by a fireside living room displaying walls of glass spilling out to a newly renovated deck area offering sweeping views stretching from the Getty Center and Santa Monica coastline to Catalina Island and beyond.

    An adjacent dining area connects to a sleekly designed gourmet kitchen outfitted with Caesarstone countertops, an eat-in island and stainless appliances, while a spacious master retreat boasts a fireplace, walk-in closet, and spa-inspired bath equipped with dual vanities, an oval soaking tub and open shower, plus access to a private garden overlooking the canyon.

    Elsewhere in the house is an upstairs en-suite bedroom with its own balcony, as well as a downstairs office that could easily serve as a fourth bedroom, per the listing.

    A Wisconsin native, the 53-year-old film actress garnered critical praise for her roles in Boogie Nights and Drugstore Cowboy, which led to turns in flicks such as Austin Powers: the Spy Who Shagged Me, Lost in Space, Bowfinger, From Hell, Anger Management, The Hangover and The Hangover Part III. Coming up in 2024, look for her to direct and appear in a movie she wrote titled Chosen Family.

    The listing was held by Jenny Tucker of Douglas Elliman; Marc Silver of The Agency repped Graham. More

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    Paul Allen’s Historic Villa in the South of France Has Been Sold to a Hedge Fund Billionaire

    Villa Maryland, Paul Allen’s hilltop mansion in the South of France, has just been snapped up by Millennium Management founder Israel Englander, Bloomberg reported.

    According to local agents, the palatial pad, one of the late Microsoft co-founder’s many prized real estate properties around the world, is worth upwards of €100 million (or roughly $105 million). Although the sale price has not yet been disclosed, the transaction, which was brokered by Savills, is positioned to rank among the biggest private-party transactions this year.

    Paul Allen’s home in the South of France sold to Millennium Management founder Israel Englander.

    Toni Anne Barson/WireImage/Getty Images

    Prominently sited above the seaside fishing village of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, a favorite summer destination for the beau monde, the 18-bedroom villa measures a whopping 27,000 square feet and sports 10 acres of terraced gardens. The Côte d’Azur spread dates back to 1904, when it was commissioned by shipping and railroad magnate Sir Arthur Wilson, an acquaintance of Edward VII.  

    Per the city’s website, Wilson held a number of grand receptions here, and Allen seems to have continued the tradition; according to the Wall Street Journal, Allen hosted a pirate-themed soirée at Villa Maryland in 1996 during the Cannes Film Festival. It was also reported that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie spent time at the estate in 2008 before they separated in 2016. Every summer, Allen would anchor his megayacht Octopus in the harbor of Villefranche-sur-Mer before journeying over to the estate. 

    The entrance to Villa Maryland in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.

    Toni Anne Barson/WireImage/Getty Images

    Englander, whose net worth clocks in at $11.4 billion, has recently been expanding his portfolio. At the start of 2022, he acquired a $20 million apartment in Paris, formerly owned by Jean-Victor Meyers, the great-grandson of the founder of L’Oréal. He’s also taken a lease on an office building in the French capital, Bloomberg reported. 

    Before Allen’s passing in 2018, he pledged that all of the proceeds from his trust would go to charity. Last year, his art collection was hammered down for a record-setting $1.5 billion at Christie’s, and several of the tech tycoon’s lavish properties have already been sold or are currently for sale. They include a sprawling Beverly Hills estate, a Bay Area mansion, a cluster of homes on Seattle’s Mercer Island, and Georgia O’Keeffe’s former home in New Mexico. More

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    Nancy Sinatra’s Former Beverly Hills Pad Can Be Yours for $3 Million

    Got a pair of boots that are made for walkin’? You might want to throw them on and stroll on over to this hot property before it’s gone!

    As first announced by The Hollywood Reporter, a groovy midcentury modern abode once owned by singer Nancy Sinatra has just popped up for sale in a canyon high above Beverly Hills for the first time in five decades, asking a step under $3 million.

    “Rarely do we see a home come to the market with such a rich Hollywood history,” listing agent Steve Frankel of Coldwell Banker Realty told THR. “This is a wonderful opportunity to restore this midcentury gem and further cement it as the Hollywood treasure it is for years to come.”

    The singer poses at her former home with a selection of boots.

    Gunther/MPTV Images

    Per records, the eldest daughter of legendary crooner Frank Sinatra purchased the place while married to pop star Tommy Sands back in the ’60s, around the same time she released her No. 1 hit These Boots Are Made For Walkin‘. The Beverly Hills Post Office residence was subsequently occupied for a short time by Lost in Space director Sobey Martin, before ultimately selling to Abraham and Renee Frank for a mere $103,000 back in June 1973.

    Currently owned by the couple’s daughter Orly Frank, who has lived there since she was in high school, the low-slung whitewashed structure rests on a gated quarter-acre parcel in the Beverly Hills Post Office area, and features four bedrooms and a matching number of baths filtered across a little more than 2,700 square feet of “largely preserved” living space.

    Sliding glass doors open to a pool area surrounded by a sundeck.

    Jeff Ong

    Other highlights include a gated motorcourt with a “mod entry,” which opens into a spacious living room sporting a martini bar, white brick fireplace with a yellow floating hearth and walls of glass spilling out to a sundeck-encased pool area offering picturesque hillside views; and elsewhere is a dining area, the original kitchen and a primary bedroom hosting a walk-in closet.

    Last, but not least, there’s also a two-car garage that’s accessible via a driveway where Sinatra filmed the video for her ’67 tune I Gotta Get Outta This Town.

    According to THR, Frank is selling because her parents have since passed away. “My mom just loved that house so much and so did my dad,” she said. “It’s a great home. It has all the midcentury modern bones.”

    Click here for more photos of Nancy Sinatra’s former Beverly Hills house.

    David Sutton/MPTV Images More

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    ‘Clerks’ Filmmaker Kevin Smith Lists Ben Affleck’s Former Hollywood Hills Home

    Indie filmmaker Kevin Smith is best known for making indie films set in his native state of New Jersey. These include the cult favorite Clerks franchise (1994–2022), Mallrats (1995), and Chasing Amy (1997). And he remains deeply tied to the Garden State, where he’s long owned a comic book store in Red Bank and where he recently bought the historic Atlantic Moviehouse in the coastal community of Highlands.

    But, for the last two decades, he and his wife, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, have lived in Los Angeles, in a rambling mansion in the Hollywood Hills that he bought from his buddy and frequent collaborator Ben Affleck. Now looking to downsize, the couple has listed the property for sale for just under $6 million. The listing agents are Brock Harris and Lori Harris of Brock & Lori at Keller Williams Realty Los Feliz.

    The three-story home was built in the mid-1990s and is characterized by swooping curves.

    Gavin Cater

    Smith told Mansion Global that he and his wife first saw the 8,144-square-foot house at a Fourth of July barbecue in 2001, instantly “admiring how beautiful the home was.” Affleck, then at the height of his early fame as a leading man, had bought the house just a few years earlier but, according to Smith, had soured on it because it sits right up next to the street, making it too visible to paparazzi.

    Since they loved it so much, Affleck suggested they buy the house for the same price he paid in 1998. And, in early 2003, they did, shelling out $1.62 million for the three-story home that’s notched into a steep hillside. Notable for its verticality and curved façade, the five-bedroom, eight-bath home was built in 1993 and features nearly 12-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, custom-crafted ironwork, and a combination of hardwood and terra cotta tile flooring. An elevator services all floors, including the street-level three-car garage.

    A sculptural bar anchors one end of the living room.

    Gavin Cater

    There’s a sculptural wet bar in the fireside living room, and the kitchen, with two stainless-steel-topped islands, wooden cabinets, and designer appliances, features a curved wall of windows with a leafy, over-the-treetop view of the surrounding hills. Other rooms include a dedicated dining room and a library where Smith recorded his SModcast podcast, as well as the Vegan Abbatoir podcast he co-hosted with his actress and musician daughter, Harley Quinn Smith.

    Three of the four guest bedrooms are ensuite, while the primary suite is described in marketing material as “reminiscent of a Parisian apartment.” The spacious suite includes a living room with fireplace, a raised bedroom area, an adjoining study/office, two walk-in closets, and a sophisticated bathroom with a sauna. 

    Huge potted plants envelop a secluded patio warmed by an adobe fireplace.

    Gavin Cater

    A plant-filled patio with a chunky, tile-accented adobe fireplace runs along a slender gap between the house and a retaining wall, while the rooftop swimming pool and spa are bathed in sunlight.

    The home was used during the pandemic as a set for the TBS reality competition series Celebrity Show-Off, on which Smith placed as runner-up. Now empty nesters, the couple have downsized to a recently renovated home in nearby Studio City.

    Other Hollywood heavy hitters who have called the Outpost Estates neighborhood home include Dolores del Rio, Bela Lugosi, and Gore Vidal, along with Charlize Theron, Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy, Ben Stiller, Winona Ryder, and David Lynch.

    Click here for more photos of Kevin Smith’s L.A. home. More

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    ‘NYPD Blue’ Creator’s $25 Million L.A. Spread Sells to a Prominent Media Financier

    Last year, Joe Ravitch warned Variety of further upcoming media upheaval and the looming prospect of a “good recession.” But that hasn’t stopped the veteran media financier — his Raine Group famously took home $65 million in fees for advising the WWE on its recent takeover by the Endeavor Group — from investing lots of money into Los Angeles real estate. Ravitch and his wife Sonya were the buyers who recently paid $25 million for a rather stunning Pacific Palisades compound with a very Hollywood history.

    Built in 1937 and designed by famed architect Paul R. Williams, the Tudor-esque home was reportedly occupied Sylvester Stallone during the 1970s. In 1997, it was acquired by prolific and Emmy-winning producer Steven Bochco, who created some of the most beloved television shows of all time — NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues and Doogie Howser, M.D., to name a few.

    Sited on the Pacific Palisades Riviera, the compound is equipped with a lighted tennis court.

    Anthony Barcelo

    Bochco utilized the 1.4-acre spread as a main residence until his 2018 death, after which it was inherited by his son Jesse. The younger Bochco put the Palisades Riviera estate up for grabs last summer, asking $35 million, but it took a year and several big price chops before Ravitch came calling.

    Completely walled and surrounded by an enormous hedge, the very private compound features two gated driveways and a two-story, mansion-sized main house that was recently renovated and painted a crisp white throughout, per the listing. But the real star of this show are the property’s park-like grounds, which also encompass a detached guesthouse, a full-size tennis court and a poolside cabana. All told, the place offers seven bedrooms and 10 baths in nearly 11,000 square feet of living space.

    The kitchen has a pizza oven, marble countertops and a breakfast nook with garden views.

    Anthony Barcelo

    In the main house, indoor highlights include a modernized kitchen kitted out with a wood-burning pizza oven and stone countertops, plus a library with a built-in bookshelves, a family room with a drop-down projector screen, a wine cellar and a separate guest wing. The detached guesthouse has a bedroom and bathroom, plus its own kitchen and gym.

    Outdoors, the rolling grounds include vast swaths of grassy lawn, mature trees and a sparkling pool set well away from the main house. Scattered throughout the property are several spots ideal for al fresco dining and entertaining.

    The lush grounds span 1.4 fully landscaped acres.

    Anthony Barcelo

    Ravitch, 61, is relocating to L.A. from New York, where he owns a home in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighborhood. That three-bedroom apartment sports contemporary finishes and is currently listed for sale, asking $5 million.

    The listing was held by Aaron Kirman, Morgan Trent and Dalton Gomez of Aaron Kirman Group at Compass.

    Click here for more photos of the Bochco Estate. More

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    Filmmaker Gavin Hood Is Selling His Resort-Like Malibu Estate

    It’s officially a wrap for Gavin Hood, who has decided to part ways with his compound in Malibu’s exclusive Point Dume enclave after less than four years of ownership.

    The South African film director—best known for his work on the Oscar-winning Tsotsi, as well as Rendition, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Ender’s Game—is asking exactly $7 million for the Cape Cod-style spread, which he originally acquired for about $4 million, back during the initial onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Built in 2003, and tucked away on a double-gated and fenced parcel spanning just over an acre, the wood-sided structure features three bedrooms and an equal number of baths in almost 3,800 square feet of two-level living space boasting dark hardwood floors, high ceilings and plenty of natural light throughout.

    The Cape Cod-style estate features a three-bedroom main home resting bedside a separate guesthouse with two garage bays.

    Roy Gelbart/One Shot Productions

    A koi pond sits right outside the front door, which opens into a foyer that flows to a formal sitting/music room and private study with built-in shelving, both of which are adorned with rustic stone fireplaces. Other highlights include a family room, wet bar-equipped dining area, and gourmet kitchen outfitted with granite countertops, an eat-in island, and GE Monogram and Sub-Zero appliances.

    All of the bedrooms can be found upstairs, including a spacious master retreat flaunting a balcony overlooking views of the ocean and Santa Monica Mountains, along with a walk-in closet and bath decked out with an inviting soaking tub; and outdoors, the resort-like grounds host an infinity-edge pool and raised spa, a secluded hammock, barbecue and bar setup, and several spots ideal for al fresco lounging and entertaining.

    A picturesque koi pond sits directly outside the front door of the main home.

    Roy Gelbart/One Shot Productions

    Rounding it all out are two attached garage bays flanking a detached two-story guesthouse, which has its own bedroom, bath, living area and French doors spilling out to a waterfall-fed turtle pond sporting a meditation deck. There’s also a coveted key to Little Dume Beach, plus an outdoor shower for rinsing off after your surf session.

    The listing is held by Nerissa Hood and Michelle Butler of Engel & Völkers Calabasas.

    Click here for more photos of Gavin Hood’s Malibu house.

    Roy Gelbart/One Shot Productions More