Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Velvet Rope Queen Rachel Uchitel–Otherwise Known as the Alleged Mistress of Tiger Woods–Lists Las Vegas Condo

SELLER: Rachel Uchitel
LOCATION: Turnberry Place, Las Vegas, NV
PRICE: $1,350,000
SIZE: 1,556 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Decorator furnished designer ground floor penthouse. 14 ft. ceilings and floor to ceiling windows. HUGE private terrace, approx. 1,700 sq. ft. with views of lush landscaping and Hilton neon sign. Private walk and entrance to pool. An entertainers dream!

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Okay puppies, buckle your safety belts because thanks to Leonard Looselipsinlasvegas Your Mama is gonna get all tabloid on the children's backsides and discuss the Las Vegas, NV condo listed for sale at $1,350,000 by none other than Rachel Uchitel, the large lipped and too much in the news woman who may or may not have had an illicit affair with toothy golf guru Tiger Woods. It seems we can't turn on the damn tee-vee without being assaulted and confronted with the "news" about ol' Tiger running his Cadillac Escalade up on a tree in his Florida front yard and subsequently (and allegedly) offering to pay his blondie ladee-wife Elin many millions of smackers to stay married to his wholesome, clean cut and allegedly cheating butt.

At the center of the tabloid storm is our 30-something year old Miss Uchitel, who publicly denies having an illicit relationship with the golf great even though there is some circumstantial and unsubstantiated evidence that her recent trip Down Under–where Mister Woods won the Australian Masters–was booked and paid for by Mister Wood's peeps. Denial or no denial, affair or no affair, this ain't Miss Uchitel's first time at the star screwing tabloid rodeo. It wasn't so long ago that Miss Uchitel made a blip on the tabloid radar amid whispers, rumors and reports that she had done the dirty with actor David Boreanaz (Bones). Of course, Your Mama don't know nuthin' about that bit o' bidness other than Mister and Missus Boreanaz recently listed their Los Angeles home for just over three million clams. A real estate co-inky-dink? You decide. But that's another story for another time.

Here are a few other bio-bits that Your Mama has bothered to piece together from the interweb about Miss Uchitel: Although she once had a job producing news segments for Bloomberg News, working the velvet rope and entertaining high profile customers comes quite naturally, even genetically, to Miss Uchitel. Her grandfather, a man named Maurice Uchitel, once owned the celeb friendly Eden Roc Hotel in Miami and in the late 1960s owned the legendary and star stuffed El Morroco nightclub on West 54th Street in Manhattan. In 2006, Miss Uchitel made a professional 180 and moved to Las Vegas in order to open and run the VIP operations at the celebrity packed nightclub and restaurant Tao. Sometime in 2008, Miss Uchitel packed up her little black book and Jimmy Choos and headed back to New York where she oversaw VIP operations at a number of famous folk filled clubs like Stanton Social, Tao Bistro and Marquee. In the summer of 2008, Miss Uchitel commuted on weekends to the Hamp-toons where she worked her VIP stuff as the director of VIP operations for the Southampton outpost of Pink Elephant. According to a magazine profile from the summer of 2008, Miss Uchitel loves Saint-Tropez–natch–has a couple of dogs with the improbable and unfortunate names of Ozzy Osbourne and Rudy Guiliani, and dreams of following in her family foot steps by opening a modern day El Morocco.

Now that we all know more than we ever cared to know about Miss Uchitel, let's get down to real estate brass tacks. Property records reveal that Miss Uchitel purchased her "ground floor penthouse" at Las Vegas' multi-towered Turnberry Place complex in October of 2006 for $820,000. Ground floor penthouse? What the hell is that? Your Mama thinks that by definition a penthouse apartment sits on top of a building not on the damn grand floor. Anyhoo, records and listing information show this so-called "ground floor penthouse" measures 1,556 square feet, has another 1,700-ish square feet of private terrace and includes 2 bedrooms and 2 poopers.

We don't have a clue if Miss Uchitel and her nice, gay decorator are the folks responsible for the chocolate and cream colored decorating scheme or if it was a previous owner who made the mistake of green-lighting the installation of that upsetting and decoratively undignified copper mosaic tiled wall in the living room. Making the deeply disturbing mosaic matters worse is the dizzying, puzzle-like shelving unit installed on top of that glimmery and shimmery wall, which might be appropriate for a nightclub but not, and Your Mama repeats, not for a private residence. Ever. To the living/dining room's credit, there is a fab 14-foot ceiling and a long wall of floor to ceiling glass.

The gore-may kitchen is open to the combination living/dining room and has an unfortunate view of that ridiculous tile situation. The angled, galley kitchen features flat fronted wood cabinetry with an unusual but kind of nice of moiré effect, speckled beige and chocolate brown granite counter tops, a breakfast bar perfect for guests to sit and imbibe booze while the hostess makes dinner, and a full suite of top notch appliances including a Sub-Zero fridge and a Gaggenau range top.

According to listing information, the second bedroom–currently containing an cargo-ship sized desk–has a "built-in Asian Cabana," whatever that is, and a back wall punished by a grid of nine mirrored squares on which drunken guests might choose to play tic-tac-toe with lipstick. The master bedroom, all fabric walls and mood lighting, has electronically controlled curtains–which Your Mama's lazy butt loves–and a biscuit and beige marble pooper with built in cabinetry, a jetted tub and a separate shower stall.

One of the better amenities of Miss Uchitel's "ground floor penthouse" is the tremendous 1,700-ish square foot terrace that provides private access to one of the complex's many swimming pools. Unfortunately the terrace appears to be little more than a sizable slab of poured concrete with a few pieces of outdoor furniture tucked up into the corner, but that's easily remedied by a smart landscape architect. Other tidbits and treats include a custom sound system, touch pad controlled lighting and dimmers, and flat screen boob-toobs in every room. The Turnberry Place complex offers residents secured grounds, a 24-hour doorman, limo and valet service, exercise facilities and a multiple swimming pools. The Stirling Club, located in the heart of the complex offers fine dining options to invited members and their guests only.

Miss Uchitel currently resides in New York City so it's unclear how much or how often she uses her Las Vegas crib. Frankly, the place looks like it was staged by Staging Lady in a Pink Toyota so we kinda doubt she camps out there at all anymore. But as y'all know, Your Mama don't know nuthin' from a coffee cup. So really, who knows? Or maybe, who cares?

Tiger Woods and his obviously hurt and angry wife Elin have been living behind the gates of the Isleworth Golf and Country Club in Windermere, FL while building a major modern manse on 12-ish waterfront acres on Jupiter Island's S. Beach Road that The Palm Beach Post's gossip Jose Lambiet cattily described as a cross between a "Motel 6 and a beachside nursing home." Amid new and scandalous reports that Mister Woods may have had as many as 10 mistresses, the New York Post reported that last week–somehow, in the midst of all this tabloid fury–Mrs. Woods paid $2,290,000 for a house on an island near Stockholm in her native Sweden.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Is Richard Gere Taking a Million Dollar Loss At the Chupi?

According the the always on top of things real estate writer Josh Barbanel at The New York Times (via the lovlies over at Curbed NY), actor/global do gooder Richard Gere (Nights of Rodanthe, Bee Season, Chicago, The Cotton Club and the bare booty extravaganza Breathless) is in contract to sell his never occupied apartment at Palazzo Chupi. Well Hah-lay-damn-loo-ya. It's about time. That man has been trying to unload that white elephant almost since the day he and the Missus Carrie Lowell purchased the place in August or September of 2007 for $12,000,000.

The Chupi, for those in the real estate dark, is the former stable in New York City's far West Village on top of which über-artist Julian Schnabel built fourquirky, quasi-Venetian style condos–plus studio space and a fifth unit for him–that he planned to market and sell, by private invite only, to well to do friends and associates who thought it sounded like a good idea to spend many millions to share an address, elevator and private, indoor pool with the portly and often pajama clad Mister Schnabel.

But alas, Mister Schnabels romantic dreams of a dee-luxe dormitory brimming with high profile people has not materialized. Until very recently, besides Mister Gere and Ms. Lowell, the only other unit to sell was one of the simplex units that was bought in the fall of 2008 by Credit Suisse banker William J.B. Brady for $15,500,000.

That left two more units, a doo-plex and a wedding caked triplex, both with multiple terraces and balconies. Despite heaps of publicity–good, bad, ugly and even worse–the doo-plex and triplex units, both originally listed at well over $30,000,000, didn't attract any willing buyers until October of 2009 when the aforementioned Mister Brady snagged the triplex at the fire sale price of $10,691,625, which happens to be exactly one-third of its highest asking price. The remaining doo-plex with its 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 3 balconies, and 3,960 square feet, last listed at $12,950,000, is rumored and reported to be in contract although all parties involved are mum on the details. Of course, we don't know nuthin' from a cookie jar but Your Mama would bet our long bodied bitches and our mean ol' pussy Sugar that the buyer, whomever it is, is getting a damn good deal. Or at least a bargain in comparison to the original asking price of $30,000,000.

Now then, let's get on back to Mister Gere, who quickly had a real estate change of heart after buying his 4 bedroom and 4 pooper spread in 2007 and flipped the beehawtcha back on the market in the spring of 2008 with an asking price of $17,995,000. A price chop or two later, the asking price stood at $15,000,000 before it was ripped off the open market. The 4,000ish square foot unit, which includes several outdoor spaces, is now reported to be in contract for $11,000,000. Your Mama don't even need to bother flicking the beads on our bejeweled abacus to figure out that's a whopping million bucks less than Mister Gere and Ms. Lowell paid for the place.

While Your Mama imagines it must be powefully painful for Mister Gere and Ms. Lowell to watch their million clams (plus taxes, fees, maintenance and carrying costs) swirl down the terlit of an unforgiving real estate market, the real loser here is, obviously Mister Schnabel who not only lives and works in the building but now has to contend with whatever wealthy riff-raff is willing for fork over the ducats to live in the architecturally controversial pinky-red palazzo on West 11th Street.

And so it goes at the Chupi.

In other Gere/Lowell real estate news, the couple recently sold their house on Halsey Lane in the hoity-toity Hamptons. Originally listed in February 2009 at $8,800,000, the 7 bedroom and 10.5 pooper Water Mill property sold for the super-substantially lesser amount of $5,900,000.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Christmas at the White House

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No, this is NOT Houston, even though we did have a freak snowfall that lasted all day and turned the city into a magical place!  No, this is the White House during the holiday season, of course, taken from a new book:  “Christmas at the White House.”   If you are into both the White House and Christmas decorating, this book is definitely for you:  a chronicle of the past 50 years, it starts with the Kennedys and ends with the Bushes II.    Former First Lady Laura Bush wrote the forward, and amazingly all the living First Ladies wrote the introduction to their own chapter.  For the First Ladies who have passed away, their daughters wrote their own memories, while Social Secretary for Jacqueline Kennedy, Letitia Baldrige, added her recollections. 

                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

image Here comes da tree!

 

The book is large with over 400 pages and more than 500 glorious pictures, many of which have never been seen before.  It is filled with interesting stories about what goes on behind the scenes each year in order to pull the amazing event together.    The modern day Christmas at the White House tradition was started by Jacqueline Kennedy when she was the first to place the tree in the Blue Room and decorated the White House around the Nutcracker Suite theme.   Today, the season is a true extravaganza – with TV specials documenting the preparations behind the event.    “Christmas at the White House” is written by Dallasite Jennifer Pickens who says she was driven to write the book after a memorable visit to the White House during the  2004 holiday season.  When she was back home, hungry for more, she searched for a book on the subject, dismayed to find none.   Pickens spent four years writing this book, and her efforts show – not a single detail has been overlooked.  

 

 

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I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas in the White House!

 

If you are in Houston – Pickens will be here this Saturday, Dec. 5th, signing books.   Her first stop will be at Berings on Westheimer from 11:30 – 1:30 pm.  Next, she’ll head up to Neiman Marcus in the Galleria from 2:00 -4:00 pm.     If you can’t make it - you can always buy the book online HERE.  Free shipping is offered too.    The coffee table book, which was printed “green” will make wonderful Christmas gifts – I know my mother-in-law will love it!

 

 

image It takes a village to bring to the tree to the Blue Room.

 

 

image I love this picture – the Johnsons with their Beagle.

 

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Awww, Christmas with Barney and Mrs. Beasley!   I wonder if Bo is going to have a good Christmas too?

 

Information:   Pickens will be here this Saturday, Dec. 5th, signing books.  

Berings on Westheimer from 11:30 – 1:30 pm.

Neiman Marcus at the Galleria from 2:00 -4:00 pm. 

To purchase the book online, go HERE.