Kenny Chesney Buys Big Estate in Franklin

BUYER: Kenny Chesney
LOCATION: Franklin, TN
PRICE: $9,200,000 plus a little extra something to sweeten the pot
SIZE: 11,143 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 7 full and 2 half bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Yesterday, Your Mama received an unexpected and covert communique from a southern source we'll call Frannie Franklin who whispered in our big ol' ear that itty-bitty big hat wearing country music superstar Kenny Chesney has gone and bought himself a gigantic new mansion outside Nashville in Franklin, TN.

Mister Chesney, who plans to take a much needed break from touring the big stadiums for at least part of 2010, has more than 30 top ten singles including 17 songs that went to number 1, earned 9 Academy of Country Music Awards that include 4 Entertainer of the Year awards, 6 Country Music Awards including 4 Entertainer of the Year awards, 7 Country Music Television awards, a couple of Billboard Music Awards, sung his heart out at the White House, was married to squinty-eyed actress Renee Zellweger for about 42 seconds, dated a former Miss Tennessee USA in 2009, and recently launched a got-damn line of clothing. Lo-ward have mercy, it just makes us dog-ass tahrd just to think about how bizzy Mister Chesney must be and Your Mama and Mac-Donalds both think the twangin' titan deserves a damn break.

Anyhoo, according to Frannie Franklin, Mister Chesney recently completed the purchase of a 30-acre estate in the Grassland area of Franklin with a 14-room mansion that measures a ten-gallon hat sized 11,143 square feet and includes 5 bedrooms, 7 full poopers and two more half-poopers. The recently completed property was dubbed Bella Luce by its developers. A few clicks on the keyboard of our trusty laptop computer reveals Bella Luce is I-talian for, "beautiful light," which means the light up there on that hilltop where the house sits must be awful purdy. The unapologetically lavish property has received heaps and piles of attention in the last several months, both online where it was Luxist's Estate of the Day in early September 2009 and because of an exhibit/sale/event–also in September of 2009–of 23 "posthumously cast original bronze sculptures" by Rodin as well as works by a number of other artists.

Previous reports on the sale of the property reveal it was purchased for $9,200,000, which happens to be the exact same figure provided to Your Mama by Frannie Franklin who also told us, the children may be amused to know, that in addition to the nine and some million smackers part of Mister Chesney's big real estate deal included transferring the deed to his current Franklin, TN estate over to the seller. We can't confirm that bit o' deed bizness children, but we've got several reasons to believe Frannie Franklin and no reason to doubt her.

According to listing information and previous reports, the tile-roofed Tuscan style villa was designed by local architect Brad Norris and was built with 150-year old brick and sculpted stone, reclaimed walnut wood floors, Mesquite hand-carved doors, Sante Fe clay barrel tiles–whatever those are, hand-crafted iron light fixtures, hand-painted tiles, very expensive and labor intensive Venetian plaster walls, and a Crestron home automation system, which means Mister Chesney can close the curtains in his bedroom and turn on a movie in the media room while he's finishing up dinner in the kitchen.

The main rooms of Bella Luce include a leviathan living room/dining room combo with wood floors, a soaring ceiling with exposed Douglas Fir wood beams and trusses, a couple of custom Smart Car sized chandeliers, a wall of windows and French doors that open to the pool terrace, and two 25-foot high limestone fireplaces, one at each end of the room. Other main rooms include a den, billiard room, exercise room, and a colossal kitchen with double glazed cabinetry and not just one but three dishwashers. The kitchen is open to a family room area which has a wood beamed ceiling and a fireplace.

Each of the 5 bedrooms includes a private pooper and private porch or balcony. The master suite, according to listing information and previous reports, includes a gigantic boo-dwar with high beamed ceilings, sitting room, private portico, custom coffee bar, a plasma tee-vee that retracts into the ceiling (or the floor or the wall or wherever), dual custom fitted dressing rooms and two palatial marble and tile poopers that include such dee-luxe amenities as a 10-head shower with steam, music and programmable water temperatures. What a single man like Mister Chesney needs with two studio apartment sized poopers in his bedroom is beyond Your Mama's booze compromised capability of comprehension.

Some of the additional celebrity style amenities include a driveway nearly a mile long, an elevator that services all 4 floors–or five depending on where you read, three wood, Travertine, tile and wrought iron spiral staircases, a home theater with stadium seating, a sewing/gift wrapping room, a lookout tower, an infinity edged swimming pool and spa, over 3,000 square feet of covered terraces and walkways, several outdoor entertaining areas including an outdoor catering kitchen, private pond and dock, a 6-car garage equipped with heat and air-conditioning and, according to Frannie Franklin, a helipad, which ought to spare Mister Chesney any inconvenient commutes into downtown Nashville.

As far as we know from previous reports and from Frannie Franklin, Mister Chesney has shacked up in a 7,242 square foot house on 48.77 acres with 9 terlits on rural Peytonsville Road in Franklin, TN since records show he purchased it in September of 2003 for $2,500,000. According to Frannie Franklin and confirmed with property records, this property, which Mister Chesney allegedly traded as part of his purchase of Bella Luce, now belongs to the developer of Mister Chesney's new mansion.

In addition to his Nashville spread, Mister Chesney has long owned homes on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. John. In early 2008, Mister Chesney listed one of his properties, called Stoneridge House, for $14,000,000. Previous reports reveal the 10,657 square foot mansion on 1.7 acres includes 7 bedrooms, 7.5 poopers, swimming pool, spa, nearly ten thousand square feet of decking and unobstructed views of Caneel Bay and the island's north shore. The current status of the property is unclear to Your Mama. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

The children may recall that Mister Chesney also owned a house in Malee-boo, CA for a about hot minute after buying a 3,723 square foot ocean view Mediterranean on Carbon Mesa Road in February of 2008 for $7,400,000 that he turned around lickety-split, re-listed at $7,950,000, and sold–bless his lucky heart–way over the asking price and at a million dollar plus profit in November of 2008 for $8,500,000.

The Malee-boo Mediterranean wasn't the first time Mister Chesney bought a multi-million dollar house and came down with an almost instantaneous case of the Real Estate Fickle. In January of 2009 the country crooner bought the historic W. Hunt Harris House in Old Town Key West, FL for $5,700,000 and before the ink on the deed was even dry, he flipped the 5 bedroom and 7.5 pooper property back on the market with an asking price of $6,495,000. Mister Chesney has not been so lucky real estate-wise down in Key West as he was in Malibu because the pretty and pristine property remains for sale with an asking price of $5,700,000.

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