Here we go again.

On Thursday, the New York Post’s Jennifer Gould Keil reported that actor Jeremy Piven had been in New York the previous week to promote his new movie, and while he was in town, he stayed for a week in a three-bedroom, 4,800-square-foot triplex penthouse in the Prime condo building, at 333 W. 14th Street. Keil also noted that Piven is looking to buy in downtown Manhattan and that he is considering buying the triplex penthouse.

To that we would say: don’t hold your breath.

More than any other celeb that we have run across, Piven (shown here on the beach in Malibu with a lady friend) is notorious for getting his name in the paper for his temporary housing whereabouts and for rumors of the sort that he is “considering” buying something. If a person didn’t know better, he might think that 1) Jeremy allows his name to be used by developers as a (free) publicity draw; and 2) in exchange for being used, Piven gladly accepts free lodging for his time in NYC.

By our count, this is the third time that Piven has been involved in a similar kind of situation. Keil obviously is new to the celebrity real estate beat, and she likely was pushed hard on this item by the real estate development PR machine, which undoubtedly lured her in with the promise of an exclusive (and hey — we can relate to that, since exclusives are hard to come by and always welcomed!).

Our guess, however, is that the past is prologue, and it’s just more of the same for Piven when it comes to New York housing shenanigans. Count on the fact that that one-week stay was the last that Piven will ever see of the Prime condo building. Let’s roll the tape, shall we:

–August 17, 2005: The New York Post reports that “we hear” that Jeremy Piven is buying a penthouse condo at Sundari Lofts & Tower, a new 50-unit development near Madison Square Park with a 58-foot lap pool. Piven was attracted to the private elevator and teak hot tub on his roof deck.”

–August 31, 2005: Real Estate Weekly unwittingly unmasks the (paid!) connection between Piven and Sundari (and the fact that the 8/17/2005 Post item was a complete, publicity-driven fabrication): “On Saturday, August 20, Sundari Lofts & Tower hosted the final day of the Mercedes-Benz Polo Challenge at Bridgehampton Polo Club. A record-breaking crowd of 2,500 attended the sneak preview of Sundari, which included a massive 5′ high model of the condominium’s signature glass towers. The event was emceed by Jeremy Piven.”

–September 17, 2005: The New York Post’s Andy Wang interviews the head of development for the company developing Sundari. Ever the gullible one (and apparently oblivious to the fact that Piven’s on Sundari’s payroll), Wang writes, “We hear Jeremy Piven’s going after a penthouse here.” Ummm, yeah.

–November 12, 2005: The Wall Street Journal’s Deborah Schoeneman, to her credit, pens a lengthy (and terrific) piece about the whole concept of celebrities as development marketers, writing: “Typically, developers and brokers say a celebrity resident accepts a discount in exchange for allowing his name be used to promote the project. Often, that means having a publicist “leak” the A-list name to gossip columns. Having a celebrity neighbor doesn’t increase values, brokers say, but it does get more potential buyers looking at a building.” In the final few paragraphs of the story, Schoeneman addresses (and unfortunately, herself is taken in by) Piven’s apparent role at the Sundari. Schoeneman writes: “Although there is no offering plan yet for the Sundari Lofts & Tower in Manhattan, for example, one of the building’s developers has already lined up his first customer, actor Jeremy Piven, of HBO’s Entourage. The developer, Andrew Heiberger, says he gave Piven first dibs after meeting him through a mutual friend. “His persona is consistent with the persona I’m trying to target for the building,” says Heiberger. Piven’s publicist, Siri Garber, says that in addition to planning to buy a unit, “Jeremy is even going to the ribbon-cutting at the groundbreaking.”

–November 4, 2008: It’s three years later, and it’s time for Piven to get free rent from another building. How about the Atelier? The New York Post now at least acknowledges Piven’s practice, writing: “The Atelier building is still luring celebrities. An insider tells us “Speed-the-Plow” star Jeremy Piven (above) is moving into a space in the West 42nd Street tower this week. Page Six reported Piven was subletting Sean Avery’s Gramercy Park apartment, but we’re sure the free rent the Atelier offers boldfaces (Maggie Rizer, James Blake, Nick Lachey and Lindsay Lohan) is a sweet inducement - especially for a star on a theater salary.”

Several years of history would tell one that there is little chance that Piven will cough up the dough for the triplex penthouse in the Prime. We will gladly purchase a prime (steak, that is) — and the rest of dinner, at a restaurant of her choice — for our New York Post counterpart Ms. Keil the next time we’re in New York (and we’re there often), if Piven goes through with this purchase.

In the meantime, where is it that Piven actually *has* put down his money and actually purchased property? He currently owns a 2,424-square-foot house in Malibu, Calif., which he purchased in May 2004 for $3,500,000 from hockey star Chris Chelios (”Cheli” now owns another house in Malibu). Although Piven kept the bar and built-in icemaker from Chelios’ ownership days, “I did change almost everything else,” he told Cargo magazine in its March 2006 issue. “Chris has a family of four, and I’m an army of one, so I sanded the floors, knocked down walls, opened it up a bit. I flipped into a Zen-beach-cowboy-bachelor vibe. I have a Tibetan swing on my patio that I love. It’s where I sit and meditate while looking out at the ocean.”

In the past, Piven has owned the following two properties:

–A 1,736-square-foot house at 703 10th Street in Santa Monica, Calif., which Piven sold in 2004 for $1,975,000 (after having listed it for $2,195,000) — which was right at the same time that he purchased his house in Malibu;

–And a top-floor loft unit (#721) in the building at 540 N. Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, which Piven had owned through a bank trust from 1998, when he purchased it for $296,000, until October 2005, when he sold it to a neighbor for $495,000. Actress Joan Cusack, a longtime family friend of Piven’s, had owned in a condo unit next door from when she bought it in 1992 for $240,500 until she sold it in 1998 for $310,000. The unit that Piven sold had a spalike second bathroom with a rain shower, a 12-person Jacuzzi tub and a hot rock sauna, according to listing information.

Rolling Stone founder and publisher Jann Wenner and his partner Matt Nye reportedly have paid $11.9 million for a three-story, waterfront house on Old Montauk Highway in Montauk, N.Y., on Long Island’s South Fork.

The New York Post’s Jennifer Gould Keil broke the story on Thursday of Wenner’s purchase of the eight-bedroom, 6,300-square-foot house, which had been on the market for $14.9 million. The deal hasn’t cleared public records yet for us to confirm either the amount or the buyer’s identity, but we’ll of course take Keil’s word for it. Records show that the property had been in the hands of something called 372 Assets, LLC, which is a company owned by the fellow who Keil noted had developed the property and built the house, George Filopoulos of Manhattan-based Metrovest.

Built in 2005, Wenner’s new, eight-bedroom, traditional-style mansion has six and a half baths, a vaulted living room and dining room and huge stone fireplace, an additional great room with an eating area, an office, and an exercise room, according to listing information. Outdoor features on the two-lot, 1.5-acre property include lush landscaping, multi-level patios and decking including an oceanfront hot tub, 200 feet of ocean frontage, and existing plans for a guest house and pool, according to listing information.

Wenner (shown here on the far left, along with his actress pal Ellen Barkin and New York nightclub owner Steve Walter) owns plenty of other properties as well. Records show that he owns the following:

–A 9,030-square-foot brownstone on West 74th Street in Manhattan, which Nye has worked out of and which Wenner purchased in 1996;

–A five-story, 6,540-square-foot town home on West 70th Street in Manhattan, which Wenner and his then-wife Jane purchased in early 1987 from the estate of the late designer Perry Ellis for either $4.2 million or $5.7 million, depending on which news account one believes;

–A ski condo in Sun Valley, Idaho (Ketchum), or rather a “ski locker,” as it’s called (or a “major convenience,” as Wenner has called it in the past), in the aging, Bavarian-style Edelweiss apartment building, at 204 Picabo Street in Ketchum. Wenner owns that condo not for sleeping in, but rather because its building is literally across the street from the No. 10, which goes directly to the top of Bald Mountain and is the best ski lift in Sun Valley;

–A much bigger, 200-acre Sun Valley ranch (in Bellevue) that Wenner long has owned through his Hyndman Creek LLC company;

–A 4,068-square-foot house that was built in 1843 on a 67- to 70-acre spread on Davis Lane (off Woods Road) in Tivoli/Red Hook, N.Y., in upstate Dutchess County, which Wenner’s Teviot Property LLC company purchased in December 2007 (deal recorded January 2008) for $5,800,000. A listing sheet for that property is here.

Wenner also still technically has his name on the deed of an oceanfront house on 11.59 acres on Further Lane in East Hampton, N.Y. that he had owned with his ex-wife (and that she still occupies). He and his ex separated in 1995, which was the same year that he paired up with Nye, a model turned fashion designer.

The buyer of disgraced financier Bernie Madoff’s four-bedroom beach house in Montauk, N.Y. has been revealed, and it’s real-estate mogul Steven Roth, who paid $9.41 million for Madoff’s scruffy property.

The Wall Street Journal’s “Private Properties” column on Friday broke the story of the identity of the buyer, plus what he paid for the 1.2-acre estate, which is at 216 Old Montauk Highway in Montauk. The seller was the U.S. Marshals service, which seized the property from the now-imprisoned Madoff on July 1 in order to start to repay the victims of his Ponzi scheme.

The Journal reported that Madoff paid $250,000 in the early 1980s for the land, then built the 3,014-square-foot house, which has three baths, a grand columned porch with views of the Atlantic Ocean, a second-floor entrance that leads to a small master bedroom with a private terrace, a staircase that descends to a living room with vaulted ceilings, exposed beams and a stone fireplace. Outside are a small swimming pool overlooking the ocean, and a private path that winds to the beach through pine trees.

Did Roth, who chairs the Vornado Realty Trust real-estate investment trust, get a good deal? Who knows for sure — Madoff wrote in a filing last year that he thought the property was worth just $3 million, while the U.S. Marshals (not exactly master appraisers!) had believed it was worth around $8 million. Roth, 67, clearly knows what he’s doing when it comes to valuing properties, so he undoubtedly sees major potential with the property.

Two other properties of Madoff that have been seized by the feds remain on the market: a 4,000-square-foot duplex penthouse at 133 E. 64th Street on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that hit the market last month for $9.9 million; and an 8,753-square-foot, waterfront mansion at 410 N. Lake Way in Palm Beach, Fla., which came on the market last month for $8.49 million. Madoff and his wife, Ruth, paid $3.8 million in 1994 for the Palm Beach mansion, which was built in 1973.

Check out Bob’s weekly column in tomorrow’s Chicago Tribune (but available online now) about Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, who is renting a house in Lake Forest, Ill. for $3,750 per month. Cutler also has two houses in Colorado on the market, one for $1,675,000 and another for $699,900.

Also featured: retired hockey star Alexei Zhamnov, who just sold a house in Chicago’s Lincoln Park for $2,725,000; and noted Chicago lawyer Thomas Demetrio, who is trying to sell a house on Chicago’s Gold Coast (just two doors down from actress Joan Cusack) for $4,300,000.

Check out Bob’s weekly column from this past Sunday’s Chicago Tribune about retired Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon selling his 9,626-square-foot mansion in Northbrook, Ill. for $2,850,000. Also featured: former NBA star Antonio Davis, who took a loss on a 5,438-square-foot house he sold in Naperville, Ill. for $1.4 million, and who also has a mansion in Burr Ridge, Ill. that he is expected to close on at the end of this month after having had it on the market for $3,299,000. Davis also has a waterfront lot in Plainfield, Ill. on the market for $399,000.

Retired NBA star Calbert Cheaney is trying to sell his six-bedroom mansion on 2.3 acres in Potomac, Md. for $4,350,000.

In a Big Time Listings exclusive, we can report on Cheaney’s listing of his longtime mansion, which he purchased for $2,100,000, according to public records.

Cheaney (shown here with his wife) was a star with the Washington Bullets/Wizards from 1993 until 1999. However, he hasn’t played in the NBA since 2005-2006, and in August he was named a special assistant of the team where he spent his final three years, the Golden State Warriors.

Built in 1991, Cheaney’s two-story mansion is in the Falconhurst area of Potomac, according to public records. Custom-built by something called Gene May, the mansion has seven full baths (six of which are en-suite with bedrooms) and one half bath, a movie theater with nine leather Shiatsu recliners, an updated chef’s kitchen, a great room with 20-foot ceilings, formal living and dining rooms with fireplaces, a private library with a fireplace, a master suite with a sitting room, a walkout lower level with a custom wet bar, and a gym, according to listing information. Outdoor features on the property — which is on a cul-de-sac — include a heated pool, a cabana, and a guest house, according to listing information.

The mansion’s precise square footage is something of a mystery. Public records say it measures 8,818 square feet. However, some listing information calculates it at 11,318 square feet, while other listing information states that it’s 15,000 square feet.

It’s not clear where Cheaney is off to. Public records do show that since 2004, he has owned a 2,003-square-foot house in Newburgh, Ind., which is near his native Evansville. We doubt that that’s where he’s planning to move (more likely, it’s a house he bought for a relative, and Cheaney instead is house-hunting in the Oakland, Calif. area, where the Golden State Warriors are based), but who can say for sure. We will keep you posted as we learn more.

Belated thanks to a wonderful and anonymous tipster (you know who you are) for this great tip!

Socialite/model/actress/celebutante Kim Kardashian has placed her condo unit in 1,720-square-foot Los Angeles on the market for $1,099,000.

Our friends over at the Real Estalker wrote about Kardashian’s listing a little less than two weeks ago, and we wanted to piggyback on that before it gets too late. Interestingly, we actually were the first of all celebrity real estate gossips to write about the existence of Kardashian’s condo, in our inaugural post in our popular “Where in the world is?” series, back on December 16, 2007. You can see that post here.

Although listing information calls the condo West Hollywood, we actually consider the neighborhood *next to* West Hollywood. But, let’s not quibble about that; let’s instead talk about the unit itself.

Records show that Kardashian paid $850,000 in 2005 — just a year after the 23-unit, Mediterranean-style building was erected — to purchase the unit from a builder. Kim’s second-floor unit has three bedrooms and two and a half baths, according to public records and listing information. It’s in “one of the trendiest buildings in West Hollywood,” according to listing information (and yes, we’d definitely agree with the Real Estalker that that statement is a stretch — by a lot!), and has a “massive walk in closet” in the “luxurious master suite,” according to listing information. Check out Your Mama’s post over at the Real Estalker for a thorough (and accurate) deconstruction of Kardashian’s interior design.

Pay no attention to listing information that says the unit measures 1,750 square feet; they’re rounding up. Public records say it’s 1,720 square feet.

Where is Kim off to? A great clue can be found in our December 2007 post, where we predicted that “if Kim’s career takes off, expect to see her trade up from this condo unit to a gated single-family dwelling somewhere.” We stand by that prediction. Stay tuned.

Comedian Steve Harvey has his 19-room mansion in Plano, Tex. — outside of Dallas — on the market for $3,500,000.

In a Big Time Listings exclusive, we can report on Harvey’s listing of his longtime mansion, which he has owned since 2003. He previously had had it on the market for $4,500,000, listing information shows.

Built in 1986 and remodeled in 2004, the five-bedroom, Mediterranean-style home has five full baths, two half baths, a gourmet kitchen, a master suite with a sitting area, five closets and two fireplaces, a study with a fireplace, and a game room, according to public records and listing information. Outdoor features on the 3.25-acre property, which backs up to White Rock Creek and a golf course, include private two-story guest quarters with an elevator, a private exercise room that is detached from the main house, a four-car garage with marble floors, a sport court, a gazebo, a walk-in humidor, a pool and a spa, according to public records and listing information.

Harvey, whose personal life over the last few years has been fairly tumultuous, also owns lots of acreage in Denton County, Tex. and also a 4,192-square-foot house in Frisco, Tex., according to public records.

Thanks to a tipster — whose identity we are keeping anonymous — for this tip!

“Soul Train” creator Don Cornelius has continued sharpening his real-estate portfolio, by paying $1,475,000 to purchase a 3,499-square-foot house on a flag-shaped lot in Los Angeles’ Beverly Crest area.

In a Big Time Listings exclusive, we can report on Cornelius’ purchase of the house. He closed on the deal on August 4, with the transaction being recorded on August 12.

Earlier, we told you about Cornelius (shown here with a female companion, leaving Mr. Chow’s restaurant in L.A.) having a post-and-beam house in the Beverly Hills Post Office on the market for $1,950,000. We wanted to separately address Cornelius’ recent, post-divorce purchase of a pad in Bel-Air.

Built in 1982, Cornelius’ new house had been on the market for $1,449,000. Features in the four-bedroom house include three baths, an open floor plan, vaulted ceilings, a den with a wet bar, a double-sided fireplace facing the living room and the family room, French doors, a large master suite and an attached three-car garage, according to listing information. The house sits on a 0.26-acre (11,330-square-foot) lot, according to public records.

In addition to the various parcels on Mulholland Drive in the BH PO that we mentioned in our post from earlier today, we think it’s only right to provide information for you on all the other real estate that Cornelius owns. According to our records, he owns at least two other houses:

–A 2,917-square-foot house on a 0.54-acre (23,618-square-foot) lot on Cobham Court in Bel-Air, which Cornelius has owned for a long time;

–And a 2,961-square-foot Cape Cod-style house on a 0.40-acre (17,590-square-foot) lot on Henley Lane in Los Angeles’ Bel-Air Crest neighborhood, which Cornelius appears to have purchased in December 2008 for $1,790,000, according to public records.

“Soul Train” creator Don Cornelius has a two-bedroom, post-and-beam house in the Beverly Hills, Calif. postal area — also known as the BH PO — on the market for $1,950,000.

In a Big Time Listings exclusive, we can report on Cornelius’ listing of the house, which was designed by celebrated architect Edward H. Fickett (1916-1999). Cornelius, 73, has made the news a lot in the last year for reasons that he probably would just as soon would not have gotten in print: allegations of spousal abuse against his estranged wife. Not surprisingly, some real-estate portfolio changes are going on in his life, ostensibly as a result of the discord in the man’s personal life.

Built in 1951, the one-story, 1,822-square-foot house is right on Mulholland Drive, according to public records and listing information. It has two baths, an exercise room next to the garage, a pool, a hot tub, an open cabana with a shower, and a separate guest house with a kitchen and bath, according to listing information.

Cornelius took title to the house from his now-former wife in May, according to public records. He first listed it in late May, but none of us real-estate gossips found out about his listing (we don’t believe) until now.

Cornelius technically is selling two lots of record: a 0.64-acre (27,778-square-foot), street-to-street parcel that contains the house (which Cornelius’ production company purchased in 2001 for an undisclosed price), and an adjoining, 11,400-square-foot vacant lot (PIN # 2385-023-028), meaning his total property is just a hair shy of nine-tenths of an acre, according to public records. The two lots are just west of a tiny, triangular-shaped residential lot at the northwest corner of Mulholland Drive and Coldwater Canyon Avenue. Cornelius does not appear to be selling a 2,977-square-foot house on a 0.48-acre (20,739-square-foot) lot next door to the west, which he has owned for years.

Cornelius purchased the post-and-beam property in 2001 for an undisclosed price.

Special thanks to a tipster — whose identity we are keeping confidential — for the tip!