July 4, 2008

Which celebrity’s house is this? House #38: a three-bedroom, 1,601-square-foot town house at 17943 Magnolia Boulevard in Los Angeles’ Encino area, which closed in late March for $425K

Today’s installment of “Which celebrity’s house is this?” involves a three-bedroom, 1,601-square-foot town house that is located at 17943 Magnolia Boulevard in Los Angeles’ Encino area, which closed in late March for $425,000.

The purchase price is a little low compared to what we normally write about here at Big Time Listings, but even so, we have reason to believe that the buyer — i.e., the person behind the Percilla Trust, which is the name of the trust that is shown on the deed as the buyer — of this town house is a celebrity? Why? Because the money manager whose name appears on the deed, Nancy Chapman, frequently represents mega-celebrities, including Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes (last year, Chapman’s name was on Cruise and Holmes’ deed next to the couple’s Fornow Trust when the couple purchased their seven-bedroom, 10,286-square-foot mansion at 1111 Calle Vista Drive in Beverly Hills, Calif. for $30,500,000), entertainment honcho Brad Grey (who owns a 13,143-square-foot mansion through his Palisades Trust at 1425 Monaco Drive in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades area), and Bruce Springsteen. In fact, Chapman’s name is on the assessor records for Springsteen’s 378-acre horse farm in Colts Neck, N.J., which he owns through his Stone Hill Trust and which has many addresses, including 132 Muhlenbrink Road and 2 Cross Road and which is bordered by Route 34, Laird Road and Phalanx Road, according to public records. Chapman’s firm’s address also is on the assessor records — along with the name Fareholm, which is another one of “The Boss’” land trusts — for Springsteen’s in-town residence at 36 and 40 Bellevue Avenue in Rumson, N.J., according to public records. Chapman’s name also is on some of the assessment records for Springsteen’s longtime (since 1990) estate that his Benedict Canyon owns at 9922 and 9930 Tower Lane in Beverly Hills. “The Boss’s” Benedict Canyon Trust paid $13,750,000 in April 1990 — and not the $14 million figure frequently thrown around — to purchase a slew of properties totaling at least 4.69 acres that lie between Tower Lane and Benedict Canyon Drive.

Built in 1975, the mystery Encino town home that sold in March has three baths, according to public records. There was no listing information available for the town house, whose seller was not a celebrity.

Records show that the Percilla Trust closed on the Encino town house on March 28, with the deal being recorded on April 25.

So, dear readers, we ask you: which celebrity purchased this modest town house?

(Incidentally, Springsteen for many years — going back to what looks like 1982! — quietly had owned a 2,342-square-foot house at 7965 Fareholm Drive in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Hills. His Fareholm Sequoia Grantor Trust — represented, natch, by Chapman and by Jon Landau — even more quietly sold the house in November 2003 for just $1,100,000. The transaction got absolutely zero real-estate gossip coverage (we weren’t blogging at the time). For more information on other past and present owners on Fareholm Drive, check out our February 6, 2008 post on this star-studded street.)

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July 3, 2008

Husband-and-wife actors Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman sell condo in Los Angeles’ Encino area for an undisclosed price after it had been listed for $750K

Husband-and-wife actors Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman have sold their two-bedroom, 1,837-square-foot condo unit in Los Angeles’ Encino area after it had been on the market for $750,000.

In a Big Time Listings exclusive, we can report on the entertainment power couple’s recent sale of the penthouse unit, which is at 4774 Park Encino Lane in Encino. Records show that they sold the third-floor penthouse unit on May 13, with the deal being recorded on May 22.

We wrote about this listing back on May 15. It remains unclear how the couple used the unit, although it’s probably most likely that the unit was provided as a form of compensation for Perlman and DeVito’s staff. Records show that DeVito and Perlman had purchased this unit in 1998 for $350,000.

The unit is in a building that was constructed in 1981. Features in the unit include two baths and a sun-filled living room with cathedral ceilings and clerestory windows, according to listing information. The unit also has a large eat-in kitchen with a laundry room, a master suite with a walk-in closet and bath, clerestory windows in the master bedroom, and balconies, according to listing information.

When we get the exact selling price of the condo unit in the next few weeks, we’ll make sure to publish it here.

Separately, the diminutive couple long has been trying sell their 14,579-square-foot mansion at 1028 Ridgedale Avenue in nearby Beverly Hills, which last was on the market for $31,900,000.

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Actress Brett Butler sells her house in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Hills for exactly $2M

Actress Brett Butler has sold her three-bedroom house in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Hills for exactly $2,000,000 after it had been on the market for $2,347,000.

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Our friends over at the Real Estalker beat us to the punch literally by one day in posting the news of Butler’s recent sale of her 3,314-square-foot house, which is at 7321 Woodrow Wilson Drive in the Hills. Indeed, records show that Butler’s Wunjo Trust sold the house on April 15, with the deal being recorded on June 17. The buyer, an entity called 7321 Woodrow Wilson Drive LLC, is not a celebrity to the best of our knowledge and instead appears to trace back to a London-based investment banker.

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Back on April 21, we had broken the story of Butler’s listing of the house, and we noted at that time that the actress had appeared to have found a buyer, given that the MLS at that time showed that the house was “looking for backup.”

Built in 1950, the house that Butler sold has three fireplaces, a master suite with a large bath and shower, an atrium great room, and an overscale living room, according to public records and listing information. The property also contains city and Hollywood sign views, a long, flat grassy yard, a pool, tall palms and a separate guest house, all on a 0.78-acre parcel, according to public records and listing information. Butler had purchased the house in 1994 for an undisclosed price through her Graceland Trust (ostensibly named for her TV show “Grace Under Fire”).

Take a look at a website created especially for this listing.

Once we learn where Butler has moved, we’ll of course report it here.

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Which celebrity’s house is this? House #37: the 5,152-square-foot house at 1542 Tower Grove Drive high above Beverly Hills, CA, which sold on May 30 for an undisclosed price (likely in the $10M range)

Today’s installment of “Which celebrity’s house is this?” involves the 5,152-square-foot house at 1542 Tower Grove Drive high above Beverly Hills, Calif. (in the BHPO), which sold on May 30 for an undisclosed price, likely for around $10 million.

The reason that we believe that this house was purchased by a celebrity is because public records show the buyer to be something called the Jack Daniels House Trust. Such a whimsical name could only have been created by a celebrity. In addition, the money manager whose name appears on the deed, Marie Ambrosino, is a well-known celebrity manager, handling real-estate affairs for other celebs, including Drew Barrymore and Nicollette Sheridan.

Although the deal was recorded on June 12, the purchase price remains a mystery, although we should learn it in the next few weeks. The buyer took out a $7,000,000 mortgage on the house, which led us to extrapolate (and this is just a wild guess) that the sale price of the house was somewhere around $10,000,000 (rough, rough ballpark estimate).

Built in 1981, the house has three bedrooms, five baths, and a pool and sits on a 0.88-acre parcel, according to public records. Unfortunately, no listing information or photos are readily available on the property. If the house’s street name sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the same street where actress Lisa Kudrow long has quietly owned a 6,397-square-foot house whose details until this week had evaded all celebrity real estate gossips, as we noted on Monday when we unveiled details of Kudrow’s home. The house at 1542 Tower Grove Drive is another six-tenths of a mile farther up in the hills than Kudrow’s house is.

So, dear readers, tell us: which celebrity purchased the home at 1542 Tower Grove Drive?

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Singer Julio Iglesias pays $7M for a 6,256-square-foot house in Miami

Singer Julio Iglesias has paid $7,000,000 to purchase a 6,256-square-foot, Mediterranean-style house in the Indian Creek Village area of Miami.

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First off, this is a bit of a dated item; it’s been sitting on our desk to follow up on since the Wall Street Journal’s “Private Properties” column led their March 14 column on it. Having gotten some time recently, we decided to finally weigh in on Iglesias’ purchase of the house, which is at 30 Indian Creek Drive #A in Miami’s Indian Creek Village area. Records show that Iglesias’ Mirasong Ltd. company paid exactly $7,000,000 for the house on March 3, with the deal being recorded on March 7.

Iglesias decided to buy the 6,256-square-foot house to live in while work is finished on a new Spanish-style hacienda that he is building on his existing four-acre property at 5 Indian Creek Drive in the exact same subdivision, the Journal reported back in March. Back in December 2007, we wrote a lengthy post about Julio’s teardown of the approximately 10,000-square-foot mansion at 5 Indian Creek Drive. Iglesias owns that house through his Somerville Corporation NV, according to public records.

Built in 1976, the house that Julio purchased had been on the market for $8,750,000. Features in the four-bedroom house include four and a half baths, according to listing information.

Check out an online listing sheet for Iglesias’ new house – complete with photos.

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July 2, 2008

Actress Teri Garr sells her house in Los Angeles’ Brentwood area for an undisclosed price after it had been listed for $3.995M

Actress Teri Garr has sold her two-bedroom house in Los Angeles’ Brentwood area for an undisclosed price after it had been on the market for $3,995,000.

In a Big Time Listings exclusive, we can report on the sale of the house at 322 S. Chadbourne Avenue in Brentwood by the enormously likable Garr, who sadly suffers from multiple sclerosis and who suffered a brain aneurysm in 2006. Records show that Garr sold the house on June 4, with the deal being recorded on June 17. The buyer is not a celebrity.

Back on May 12, we broke the story of Garr’s listing of the house, just three days after it had come on the market. The listing was hardly a surprise, however, since, as we had noted on May 12, Garr had told the Daily News of Los Angeles on April 21, 2008 that she had to sell the house “because I can’t work.”

Built in 1924 (according to listing information) or 1925 (according to public records), Garr’s 1,658-square-foot house in Brentwood has two bedroom suites (including a master suite that fills the entire second floor), three baths, and an office, according to public records and listing information. Other features include a detached guest house, a rear garden, a pool and a spa, all on a 0.41-acre parcel, according to public records and listing information.

Records show that Garr had purchased the house through her One Way Investment Trust in 1992 for $1,455,000.

Check out an online listing sheet for the house that Garr sold.

We have yet to ascertain where Garr has moved. When we do, we’ll of course provide that information here.

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Actor Ralph Fiennes pays $2M for a two-bedroom condo unit in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District

Actor Ralph Fiennes has paid $2,000,000 to purchase a 1,220-square-foot condominium unit in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.

The New York Post’s fine celebrity real estate columnist Braden Keil on Friday broke the story in his paper’s “Page Six” gossip column of Fiennes’ purchase of the sixth-floor condominium unit, which is at 321 W. 13th Street in Manhattan. Records show that Fiennes, who purchased the unit in his own name, went to contract to buy the condo on February 5, and that he closed on the deal on June 17. The transaction was recorded with city officials last Thursday, June 26.

Features in Fiennes’ new unit include one bedroom, an office that could easily be converted into a second bedroom, high (11.5-foot) ceilings, a wood-burning fireplace, a top-of-the-line chef’s kitchen with a pantry, a marble and mosaic bath with a separate shower and soaking tub, prewar details, exposed brick, hardwood floors, and lots of closets and storage, according to listing information. The unit had been on the market for $2,100,000.

Check out an online listing sheet for Fiennes’ new unit — complete with photos in flash.

Where else does Fiennes live? News accounts state that he lives in West London, on a street called Hammersmith Grove, which is in the Shepherd’s Bush precinct. He also has in the past owned a four-story Victorian house in the past (we’re not sure if he still does) in London’s Notting Hill area, where his actor brother Joseph Fiennes also has owned a house.

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