10 Most Expensive Properties Listed for Sale in 2010
Wasn't 2010 the year that we rejected our gluttonous spending ways, when we convinced ourselves that less was more and that Dante intended to have a circle for those who couldn't make do with any fewer than five bathrooms? Well, no doubt the following homeowners just want to join the downsizing party.
Presenting, the Luxist List of the 10 Most Expensive Properties on the Market in 2010. (An asterisk or two: Some of these listings are holdovers from 2009, one even from 2006. And while it's inconceivable that a publicly listed home in this price bracket would escape our attention, frequently homes are available as pocket listings -- the owner will sell them for the right price, but oh-so-quietly.)
1) The Manor -- or aka, Candyland, as the Candy Spelling mansion is dubbed. On the market at $150 million for eons now, the mistress of the mansion appears unwilling to bequeath the title of "most expensive home in America" to anyone else. Fair enough. But unless the frog she kisses turns into a Saudi prince, we fear this palace will be heading our list in 2011 too.
Besides, in this new era of austerity, what does one woman really need with 123 rooms and 56,500-square feet? It's the largest home in Los Angeles County and was built by Candy and her deceased husband Aaron Spelling, the entertainment mogul who created -- among other things -- "Beverly Hills 90290" that starred their daughter Tori Spelling. The two-story house has a level between the second story and the attic that is just for closets. There is a screening room, bowling alley, three rooms for wrapping presents and a parking lot for 100 cars. Oprah is said to have looked but if she did, she didn't buy. Listing agent: Jeff Hyland of Hilton & Hyland in Beverly Hills, who shares it with partner Rick Hilton and Coldwell Banker agent Sally Forster Jones.
2) Fleur de Lys, the 41,000-square-foot estate that makes no attempt at understatement. Listed at $125,000 million, it is modeled after a French Ducal palace. Following the Candy Spelling School of Real Estate Marketing, owner Suzanne Saperstein hasn't budged on the price since it was first listed in 2007. If you're interested, talk to Joyce Rey of Coldwell Banker, who shares the listing with Robert Kass of Hilton & Hyland.
3) Tranquility in Zephyr Cove, NV remains on the market at $100 million as it has been since 2006. That's four years folks. The seller is Joel Horowitz, the co-founder of the Tommy Hilfiger Corp., and the estate sits in the tax-favorable Nevada side of Lake Tahoe. The estate has its own private lake, boat house and sits on 210 prime acres. The marble flooring in the entrance hall of the 20,000-square-foot main house is patterned after that of the New York Public Library's and the staircase is a replica of the Titanic's. Is there a lesson here involving sinking ships? Shari Chase of Chase International has the listing.
4) Hearst's Beverly House is listed at $95 million. No, William Randolph Hearst doesn't still own it, but the financier who does -- Leonard Ross has declared bankruptcy. Ross' troubles notwithstanding, this is a spectacular home that was built in 1927 for banker Milton Getz. Hearst and Marion Davies got it in 1946 for $120,000, a price that makes us weep just to type it. Ross bought the home in 1976. It would be disrespectful to a property of this scale to suggest it was a fixer-upper, but we'll float the notion that it needs some updating. We love, love, love the library with hand-carved woodwork and wrap-around balcony and bookshelves. There's also a massive carved stone fireplace from San Simeon and an outdoor terrace that can fit up to 400 people for a sit-down dinner. Count Jeff Hyland of Hilton & Hyland as listing this one too.
5) Richard and Liane Weintraub's Malibu estate -- $75 million if you buy the whole 8-acre shabang, but they are willing to sell you just parts of it. This is an interesting property for a number of reasons, chief among them is the pool house, which commercial real estate developer Richard Weintraub had a heavy hand in designing. It has a natatorium; yeah, we had to look it up too. Constructed of carved marble, the building is Romanesque in design and has a spectacular frieze over the doorway. About a million seashells were used and the pool is tiled in Murano glass. The three-story main house has 12,500 square feet and all together, there are three swimming pools. Liane Weintraub is the co-founder of the organic food line, Tasty Brand, the people who bring your kids Tasty Baby organic snacks that taste so good you wind up eating them all. Chris Cortazzo of Coldwell Banker Previews International, Malibu West, has the listing.
6) 1016 Madison, a seven-story pre-war townhouse on New York's Upper Eastside is listed at $72 million. Pardon the West Coast bias here, but doesn't seven stories mean a lot of climbing steps? Oh right, they have an elevator. The renovated 12,000-square-foot townhouse is in the center of the upper Madison Avenue cultural district and retains many of the original architectural details, including said elevator. The listing agent thinks it would be perfect for an art gallery, office space or high-profile retailer. Michael Pellegrino of Sotheby's International Realty in New York City has the listing.
7) The most expensive ZIP Code in the nation (which is Alpine, New Jersey) has an offering in the most expensive house category. Four years ago, real estate developer Richard J. Kurtz spent $58 million for the 60-acre Henry Clay Frick estate. He turned the property into eight separate multi-acre properties and put mega-mansions on each. This one, known as the Stone Mansion, is now sporting a price tag of $68 million and is listed through Prominent Properties Sotheby's International Realty broker Dennis McCormack. It's a 30,000-square-foot estate that sits on 6 acres. Kurtz handpicked the more than $2 million of antique chandeliers and sconces from antiquarian Cedric Dupont, so don't you go assuming this is a McMansion. Anything but.
8) 9577 Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills listed at $68.5 million
There are spec houses and then there are spec houses. This is a new construction built on the site of a home that was destroyed in a fire decades ago. The lot sat vacant for about 20 years and then along came some high-end developers who must not have read about the recession. The 36,000-square-foot home has nine bedrooms and 13 baths and 24-karat gold-plated doorknobs made by the same French workshop that allegedly serviced the Palace of Versailles. Mauricio Umansky of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, shares the listing with Joyce Rey and Jade Mills, both of Coldwell Banker.
9) We don't pretend to understand the logic behind the pricing of Tranquility--Greg Norman, Hobe Sound Florida, which now sits at $65 million. It came to market at $65 million in 2007, an oddity of thinking since it had been assessed at just $21 million and when Norman and the ex-Mrs. Norman bought it in 1991, they paid just $4.9 million. In a fleeting moment of pricing sanity, they lowered the asking to $47.5 million, but when we checked in on it recently, it was back at $65 million. We'd like to think Norman did a lot of renovations on the property, but the listing photos sure look the same as they always did.
10) 22 East 71st Street has 21,000 square feet for $50 million, recently reduced from $59 million. An elegant neo-Italian Renaissance mansion that's 45-feet wide and one of the largest and historical town-homes in Manhattan. It was commissioned in 1922 by a prominent German merchant, Julius Forstmann, and designed by the renowned architect C.P.H. Gilbert, who built majestic mansion for New York's leading families. The home has five floors plus an additional garden level and a full sub-basement.
