Charlottesville

Trump Bids on Patricia Kluge's Virginia Estate

Filed under: Estates, Auctions, Real Estate Developments, Wealth

trump bids on patricia kluge estate The latest wrinkle in Patricia Kluge's dispursal of fortune involves another famed billionaire: Donald Trump. This Wednesday, Trump had two lawyers representing him at the auction of Albemarle House, Kluge's luxe estate on 300 acres in tony Albemarle County, Va.

Shortly before the auction began, Steve Blaine and Les Goldman announced to the crowd of approximately 60 gathered in front of the Albemarle County Courthouse that they represented Donald Trump. What others might not have realized is that Trump had already purchased the adjacent 200 acres which, because of conditions outlined when Kluge gained the property in her divorce, would grant him right of first refusal on Albemare House.

"I think Mr. Trump wanted others to be aware that he was a bidder and he controlled the front yard of the house," said Baine, a Charlottesville, Va. lawyer. "He's a savvy business person but I think any other person with a serious interest in the house would have tried to figure out how to secure those 200 acres first."

Gallery: Patricia Kluge's Albemarle House

Tags: albemarle county, albemarle house, Charlottesville, Donald Trump, Luxury Real Estate, Patricia Kluge, Patricia Kluge Broke, virginia real estate

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Shack Mountain, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

If you love the elegant look of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, today's estate might just next best thing. Shack Mountain was designed by Fiske Kimball, (1888-1955), a an aficionado of Jeffersonian architecture and the first Chair of the University of Virginia's School of Architecture. Completed in 1937, Shack Mountain, Kimball's home, carries many of the hallmarks of Jefferson's architectural ideals. The front of the house is an elongated octagon dominated by a Tuscan portico with paired columns, a shape Jefferson believed ideal for light.

The home is located minutes from downtown Charlottesville and the University of Virginia and protected on one side by the Ivy Creek Natural Area owned by the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County and on another side by an historic estate subject to a conservation easement meaning that Shack Mountain's privacy is ensured in perpetuity. It is on 102 acres that are mostly wooded with open fields to the north and east and lovely mountain views. It has never been for sale on the open market before and guessing at the listing picture of the kitchen I'm guessing some renovations might be needed. But please, dear future owner, be gentle. You wouldn't put granite countertops in Monticello now would you? This home is listed at $4.495 million.

Gallery: Shack Mountain

[Thanks, Spec.]

Tags: Charlottesville, charlottesville virginia, estate of the day, virginia real estate

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Patricia Kluge: Billionaire's Ex-Wife Faces Foreclosure

by Carrie N. Culpepper (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Wine, Real Estate Developments, Wealth, Architecture & Design

Patricia Kluge photos, Patricia Kluge house photos

Patricia Kluge, the 1980s society queen and ex-wife of billionaire media mogul John Kluge, has fallen on some hard times. Kluge was famously awarded the largest divorce settlement in history (a reported $1.6 million a week) but she seems to have figured out a way to spend it – and then some.

She's allegedly in default of nearly $23 million on her gilded mansion in Virginia, which made headlines for its outlandish $100 million price tag when it first hit the market in October 2009. Sotheby's didn't get that asking price, nor the drastically reduced $24 million it was eventually priced at. Instead, on Feb. 16, the 23,538-square-foot home will be auctioned on the Albemarle County courthouse steps.

Kluge's house isn't the only possession she's losing: Her antiques and jewelry have already been auctioned through Sotheby's. Her winery was foreclosed on and its inventory also sold off at auction. On top of that, several lots in the Vineyard Estates subdivision she devised for her property were also auctioned.

The Hook reported that according to court records, Kluge borrowed a whopping $66 million for the house, winery and subdivision.

How could Kluge have blown through her fortune and now lost it all?

Tags: albemarle house, AlbemarleVirginia, Charlottesville, charlottesville virginia, kluge, kluge estates, kluge vineyards, kluge winery, KlugeEstates, patricia kluge, Patricia Kluge broke, vineyard estates, vineyard for sale, virginia real estate, William Moses

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Chapter 11 Filed For Halsey Minor's Landmark Hotel

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

More bad news for CNET founder Halsey Minor. We've been watching as he has divested himself of some of his art and real estate and now his long-stalled Landmark Hotel project in Charlottesville, Virginia is in major trouble. Minor Family Hotels, LLC, the official owner of the hotel, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal bankruptcy court.

Minor made around $100 million from the sale of his technology company CNET in 2000 but he has spent quite a bit since then. In 2006 he bought a home in the Bel Air area for $20 million. In 2008 he put the home on the market for just $12.9 million and rumors were that much of the home was in disrepair. He eventually cut down the price to $11.4 million. It appears to be still owned by Minor and is not on the market. In 2007 he bought the Koshland mansion in San Francisco, an eight-bedroom mansion built to resemble Marie Antoinette's Le Petit Trianon and was reported to be spending $15 million to fix it up. Fox Ridge Farm, his 205-acre farm near Charlottesville, Virginia faced foreclosure twice but Minor eventually brought the mortgage current avoiding a second public auction in February 2010. The stalled Landmark Hotel project has remained in a state of partial construction for years.

In a press release Minor Family Hotels stated that it filed Chapter 11 "in order to more quickly resolve the burdensome lawsuits that have prevented it from completing construction and putting people back to work." Minor is fighting off a total of eight lawsuits involving the Landmark Hotel, in Georgia and Virginia courts. In the release, Minor says that he remains committed to seeing the project through.

A trial involving Minor, former Landmark developer Lee Danielson, the FDIC and Specialty Finance Group, the real estate financing company that was supposed to lend Minor $23.6 million for the construction of the hotel in 2008 was scheduled for November. Specialty Finance Group's parent company, Atlanta-based Silverton Bank failed in May of last year and was taken over by the FDIC. The Chapter 11 filing means that the trial is on hold. The loan for the Landmark is divided among multiple banks. Documents in the bankruptcy suit show 20 creditors. Some have criticized the Chapter 11 filing as just a stalling tactic and question whether the 100-room boutique hotel project will ever be completed.

Tags: chapter 11, chapter 11 bankruptcy, charlotte, Charlottesville, halsey minor, landmark hotel

$100 Million Estate Gets A Major Price Chop

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

It's been a hard time for the big estates in the country. Candy Spelling can't sell her $150 million Los Angeles home. Leona Helmsley's Dunellen Hall in Greenwich Connecticut has fallen in price from $125 million to $60 million. Now Patricia Kluge has dropped the price on her home, Albemarle in Charlottesville, Virginia. The 300-acre English country estate hit the market at $100 million last October but has had one hell of a price chop, down by 52 percent. The Wall Street Journal's Hot Properties column reports that the property is now listed at just $48 million.

The estate is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and James Monroe's Ash Lawn-Highland. On the grounds there are three ponds, a pool as well as a pool house, log cabin, a greenhouse and several staff cottages. The main house was completed in 1985 and spans over 25,000 square feet with 45 rooms. The home was designed by architect David Easton and his team and includes a theater, library, recreation room with spa and sauna, a card room and an Islamic gallery featuring an antique Syrian fountain. Should you have some leftover cash after buying the home you can turn the front grounds into an 18-hole golf course. Arnold Palmer has already designed it or you can buy some of the furnishings. Antiques, art and furniture will go on sale at Sotheby's in June.

For more on Patricia Kluge, check out Carrie Culpepper's interview with her on her winery.

Gallery: Albemarle

Tags: albemarle house, AlbemarleHouse, biggest price drops, BiggestPriceDrops, Charlottesville, patricia kluge, PatriciaKluge, Virginia

Albemarle, The $100 Million Listing

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Earlier a bunch of you lamented that we didn't have the $100 million listing in Charlottesville, Virginia up yet. Thanks to a kind gentleman for directing me toward the listing which has now gone live. The Wall Street Journal broke the story that Virginia winemaker and philanthropist Patricia Kluge has put Albemarle House, her 300-acre English country estate up for sale for $100 million,making it one of just a handful of listings in the nine-figure range. Kluge is the former wife of John Kluge, a billionaire who founded the Metromedia. She has been living in the area for a while making wine and working on a development called Vineyard Estates which is selling multi-million homes in the area.

Her estate is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and James Monroe's Ash Lawn-Highland on over 300 acres. On the grounds there are three ponds, a pool as well as a pool house, log cabin, a greenhouse and several staff cottages. The main house was completed in 1985 and spans over 25,000 square feet with 45 rooms. The home was designed by architect David Easton and his team and includes a theater, library, recreation room with spa and sauna, a card room and an Islamic gallery featuring an antique Syrian fountain. It's a bit of a pastiche, gilded Versailles-like rooms contrast with simpler spaces that have a more Early American style. Should you have some leftover cash after buying the home you can turn the front grounds into an 18-hole golf course. Arnold Palmer has already designed it.

Any guesses on a final sale price?

Gallery: Albemarle

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Tags: 100 million house, 100MillionHouse, albemarle house, AlbemarleHouse, charlottesville, estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, luxury real estate, LuxuryRealEstate, patricia kluge, PatriciaKluge

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Glen Love Cottage, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

A year ago I wrote about the Vineyard Estates real estate project in Charlottesville, Virginia on the grounds of the Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard. Vineyard Estates is a joint venture between winemaker Patricia Kluge and First Colony Resorts on 511 acres of the 2,000 acre vineyard property on Carter's Mountain near Monticello. The first house to be built in Vineyard Estates at Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard is Glen Love Cottage. It is located in Meadow Estates, the first of Vineyard Estates' three phases. The house was created to set the standard for Vineyard Estates. The five-bedroom home has 6500 feet of indoor living space with clean, classic country estate lines. Outside there is a swimming pool, covered porch, formal flower gardens and a half-acre vineyard. It is listed at $6.8 million.
Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Gallery: Glen Love Cottage

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Vineyard Estates

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Wine

Here's a new way to live your winery fantasy. Vineyard Estates is a real estate project in Charlottesville, Virginia on the grounds of the Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard. Vineyard Estates is a joint venture between winemaker Patricia Kluge and First Colony Resorts and will be developed on 511 acres of the 2,000 acre vineyard property on Carter's Mountain near Monticello. More than half of the 24 planned home locations will have vineyards. There are six home styles available: Early Virginian, Georgian, Federal, Gothic, Beaux Arts and Early Modern and each home will be customized to the owner's preference both inside and outside including pools, tennis courts and other outdoor amenities.The homes vary from nearly three acres to over 32 acres and are pricey ($6 million to $23 million).

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