1.
In late August of 2009, word on the celebrity real estate street was that actor and prolific property collector Nic Cage had two offers on his two-unit combination pied a terre at the Olympic Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Today the ladees who pen the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties column confirmed the rumor but, alas, had no other details of the alleged sale.
The 3,500 square foot, 48th floor unit first arrived on the market in July of 2008 but after a flurry of breathy press was immediately removed. It reappeared in November 2008 with an asking price of $9,750,000. Property records show Mister Cage picked up one of the units in 2004–for $3,800,000–and the other in 2005–for $1,700,000–and then rather haphazardly combined them in a wonky way that requires slipping through the playroom and traversing complicated hallways to get from one end of the apartment to the other.
The oddly configured corner condo has three entrances, two kitchens plus a wet bar, 2 bedrooms plus a "sleep area" and a windowless playroom, 7 closets and 3.5 poopers, not a one of which has a damn window for ventilation.
The children will recall that the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill designed Olympic Tower is the very same mixed-use building in which weapons dealer Adnan Khashoggi once owned an 18,000 square foot doo-plex on the 46th and 47th floors. Other residents of the bronze glass building include various and sundry international corporations, dignitaries and bizness people.
In other Nic Cage real estate news...It appears the scheduled September 24, 2009 auction for his white elephant in Bel Air–which put an opening bid at just $9,950,000–did not go as well as hoped because the Copa de Oro Road residence is back on the market with an asking price of $17,500,000. As far as we know, Mister Cage still has two houses in New Orleans on the market, as well as an island in the Bahamas, an ass-uglee mansion in Las Vegas and an historic, 27-acre estate in Middletown, RI. There are probably others, but we're too damn worn out talking about Mister Cage's real estate portfolio that we can't be bothered to look.
2.
Apparently, and until this morning unbeknownst to Your Mama, skeletal skinny singer Marc Anthony and his big-booty super star wife Jennifer Lopez recently purchased a minority stake in the Miami Dolphins football team. This might seem odd to the children, but the marketing powers that be at the Dolphins are making a bit of a habit of selling minority stakes to major celebrities. In late August, tennis titans Venus and Serena Williams also bought a minority stake as did the queen of Latin Pop (and Miami) Gloria Estefan and her man-mate Emilio.
Given Mister and Missus Jennifer Lopez's new found interest (and stake) in the Miami Dolphins and according to the people at People, the Long Island based couple have reportedly forked over a few pennies for a condo at the three tower, Philippe Starck designed Icon Brickell condominium complex in downtown Miami.
It's certainly not surprising that the Puerto Rican cantantes would want a base in Miami...they've both owned property in Miami in the past. However, Your Mama is a squinty eyed cynic and we can't help but question this report. Although Mister Lopez is quoted as saying, "I bought a condo today in Miami," he is also quoted as saying, "We are not selling our homes in New York or Los Angeles, we are just adding Miami."
Here's the thing butter beans: The couple have been trying to unload their Bel Air mansion since at least November of 2008 when they put it on the open market with an asking price of $8,500,000–it's now listed at $7,900,000–a simple fact we're sort of surprised the people at People did not mention or question Mister Lopez about.
So, like the folks at the South Beach Condos Blog, we're gonna wait until we see some transfer records before we get convinced JLo and Mister Lopez are moving into a condo complex where only 30 (or so) of the 560+ units have closed. But then again, maybe a nearly empty building is exactly what the privacy seeking, security craving couple were after.
3.
Like so many other professional athletes, retired basketballer Michael Jordan is a real estate size queen. According to the Palm Beach Post, Mister Jordon has applied to build a boo-teek hotel size house at the gated Bear's Club golf community in Jupiter, FL.
The plans call for 37,942 square feet of living space with 26,000 square feet under air conditioning with 11 bedrooms, an as yet undetermined number of terlits, an elevator, guest cottage and a guard gate.
Mister Jordan forked over $4,800,000 for the two adjacent wooded parches that total approximately 3 acres and back up to the Jack Nicklaus designed golf course on Bears Club Drive. Building permit applications indicate he's planning on spending (at least) another $7,627,669 to build the planned two story contemporary beast and according to the Palm Beach Post he's already had most of the trees on the land bulldozed to make way for his hulking house.
Given that property records show Mister Jordan currently owns and occupies a 27,648 square foot contemporary spread with 17 terlits, an indoor basketball court, a putting green and a private damn lake on Point Lane in Highland Park, IL, is it really much of a surprise he wants something equally and unnecessarily elephantine in Florida?
4.This week on tawdry and dee-voonly trashy reality program The Real Housewives of Atlanta, wigged out "singer" Kim Zolciak was given a bowling ball sized diamond engagement ring by "Big Poppa," her still married sugar daddy man-friend who is widely rumored and reported to be large-living Atlanta, GA based real estate tycoon Lee Najjar.
We have no inside knowledge regarding the health or status of Mister Najjar's marriage–Miz Zolciak claims he's getting a dee-vorce–or whether that engagement ring is an actual engagement ring, but we do know that Mister Najjar recently hoisted his massive Atlanta mansion on the market with a knee buckling asking price of $25,000,000 (shown above).
The ornate and decadent W. Paces Ferry Road residence was built in 1914 with additional renovations and additions in 1921. The recently completed overhaul by Mister Najjar retained the original coral stone clad front facade and added a butt load of square footage to the rear of the house which now flanks and surrounds the swimming pool and spa. Listing information for the Buckhead behemoth indicates the 24,549 square foot mansion sits on a 2.05 acre parcel and includes 9 bedrooms, 11 full and 4 half poopers, 16 fireplaces, 7 full kitchens, garaging for 4 or more cars, lavish public rooms, a theater, smoking room, recording studio, ballroom, massage room, and a hair/nail salon because bee-hawtchas this rich and spoiled do not go to see the beautician, the beautician comes to them.
Listing photos of the property are slim but it wasn't so long ago that Mister Najjar's not very modest manse was featured on MTV Teen Cribs during which two of his youngest children Kaitlin and Jamen escorted cameras into all the excessively opulent nooks and crannies.
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