JamesFrey

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Palais Rhoul, a family-owned boutique hotel in Marrakech, Morocco has gone on the market for €25 million. The small hotel which is a fave of celebrities in the know could also be turned back into a luxurious private residence. The listing can be found here and the hotel website is here.
--Locksley Hall, a Bay Area home we first mentioned in 2006 when it was listed at $65 million has gone through one monster pay cut and is now listed at $48 million. Mining executive Robert Friedland bought the home for $5.5 million but has said he spend $32 million and nine years turning it into the showplace it is today. The listing is here.
--Chris Whittle, founder of school-management company Edison Schools, has listed part of his 11-acre waterfront Hamptons estate for $27 million. We'll be checking it out as our estate of the day later today.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Is New York powerhouse Dolly Lenz no longer the top real estate broker in the country? She didn't make the Real Estate Top 200, an objective ranking sponsored by the Wall Street Journal, Real Trends and Lore Magazine but that's because she didn't submit her numbers.
--Robert C. Almon, who began his career at General Motors, was made one of Lorillard's eight board members earlier this month, has sold his Park Avenue apartment for $3.75 million. It was listed at $3.85 million.
--John C. Whitehead, a former Goldman co-chairman who served as the deputy secretary of state during the Reagan administration sold a five-room, two-bedroom co-op at 830 Park Avenue for $3.2 million, also only $100,000 below its asking price.
Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland has paid $3.4 million for a condo at 21 Astor Place .

From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--Real estate heir Leslie Spira Lopez has closed on a four-bedroom apartment on the 18th floor of 15 Madison Square Park for $5.5 million.
--James Frey has cut the price on his four-bedroom condo at 505 Greenwich Street, it is now listed at $3.995 million.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Retired basketball star and current broadcaster Mark Jackson and his singer wife, Desiree Jackson have listed their home in Calabasas, California for $4.995 million. The couple bought the home from NBA star Mitch Richmond in July 2004 for $3.4 million.
--Leonardo DiCaprio has closed on his unit in Manhattan's new Riverhouse development, paying $3.6 million last month.
--A Los Feliz mansion once owned by long-ago Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler is on the market for $6.799 million. The listing is here.
A two-bedroom home near Los Angeles' Hancock Park area that actor Christopher Lloyd owned from 1981 until 2002 and that actor/director Howard Morris later owned is on the market for $1.229 million. The listing is here.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Talk radio host John Kobylt of the "The John and Ken Show" has listed his Beverly Hills home for sale at $2.695 million. The listing for the six-bedroom home is here.

From Contact Music via the NY Post:
--Tommy Hilfiger has taken his $50 million listing at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan off the market.

Because there isn't a lot of real estate dish lately, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some estate of the days that have been on the market for over a year:

--Hillandale on the New York-Connecticut border is still on the market for $95 million for over a year.
--Boldwater in Maine has been sitting at $7.5 million for over a year.
--Four Ponds in Vermont is still listed at $8.7 million.
--The price on this Mt. Tiburon, California house has been dropped to $9.95 million but it is still on the market.
--Pinnacle Farm in Connecticut seems to have inexplicably gone up over $10 million and is now listed at $35 million.
--This massive chateau in McLean, Virginia has been reduced to $15 million from $17.5 million.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Donald Trump is asking a truly stunning amount of rent for one of his unsold Park Avenue penthouses: $200,000 per month for a three-bedroom condominium, shown above, that is listed at $45 million. The listing is here.
--We first heard rumors of this back in December but now it seems that it is official that the listing for Oscar-winning producer Marty Richards' apartment went to contract. It's selling for somewhere just below its $22.7 million asking price. The buyer is said to be fashion-show mogul Elyse Kroll. Her 23-room townhouse is on the market for $29.75 million. The listing is here.
--Hopedene, a fabulous mansion on Newport, Rhode Island's famous Cliff Walk has hit the market. It's our estate of the day later today.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Steven Croman who has been named to The Village Voice's 10 Worst Landlords List, has picked up a townhouse at 7 East 75th Street,paying $14.5 million to a family that had owned the house for decades. (The home's facade was used as home on the TV show The Nanny). Croman says he has no plans to make it into a single family home or to raise rent for existing tenants.
--Writer and Oprah scapegoat James Frey has picked up a $985,000 one-bedroom apartment which is next door to his three-bedroom apartment at 505 Greenwich Street.
--One of New York city's most coveted homes, Brooke Astor's 778 Park Avenue duplex may soon be on the market. Agents from five of the city's top brokerages met in the 778 Park duplex's library to audition for the listing which could be as much as $46 million.

From The Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Bear Sterns Chief Executive Alan D. Schwartz has taken his Purchase, New York house off the market and is renting it instead. The home was listed for $4.5 million. Bear Chairman and former CEO James Cayne closed last month on a $27.4 million purchase of two adjacent apartments at the Plaza in New York.
--Allman Brothers Band drummer Claude "Butch" Trucks has cut the asking price on his Palm Beach, Fla., house again this month to $3.995 million, down 17% from the original $4.8 million. The listing is here.
--In Manhattan, a few new high-profile condo buildings with unusual designs are selling at high prices for downtown neighborhoods. At 100 11th Ave., an irregular, glass-faceted tower designed by France's Jean Nouvel, 70% of the building's 72 original units have sold since sales began in April. Eight of the nine units at Shigeru Ban's "Metal Shutter Houses" development have sold at full asking price of up to $10.25 million. Herzog & de Meuron's 28-unit green-glass 40 Bond building still has one original unit for sale after two years on the market, in addition to several resale listings.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--via WSJ Private Properties, retired quarterback Drew Bledsoe is selling his home in Westlake, Texas. He already lives in Bend, Oregon. The listing is here.
--Sitcom actress Jaime Pressly has paid $2,250,000 for a new five-bedroom home in Sherman Oaks.
--British TV presenter and Simon Cowell girlfriend Terri Seymour, has paid $4.6 million for a home in the Bird Streets area of the Hollywood Hills. Pictures of the beautiful contemporary home are here.
--A modern home in the Hollywood Hills that once was owned by actress Milla Jovovich has been listed for $2,399,000. The virtual tour is here.
--Michael J. Fox has paid $6,300,000 for a new six-bedroom house in Quogue, N.Y.
--Charlotte Bobcats shooting guard Jason Richardson has listed his five-bedroom home in Oakland, CA for $3,100,000. The listing is here.
--O magazine editor-at-large and Oprah BFF Gayle King has closed on the purchase of a $7,100,000 condo in Manhattan.
--Rumor has it that Jessica Simpson may have purchased a large house in Nashville, Tennessee but so far she has denied this.
--Danny Masterson has sold his four-bedroom, Spanish-style house in the Beachwood Canyon area of Los Angeles for $1.2 million.
--via TMZ Tom Arnold has listed his five-bedroom, 4,211-square-foot house in Tarzana for $2,275,000. The virtual tour is here.

From the Real Estalker:
--The $81.5 million Sidney Kimmel home in Palm Beach may have already gone to contract for a number over $75 million.
--Actor Enrique Murciano has listed his home in Los Angeles for $1.795 million. The listing is here.
--via NY Daily News, Mary J. Blige has paid $12.3 million for a home in Saddle River, NJ that was originally listed at $17 million.

From the LA Times: Hot Property:
--Another look at the home that DJ Paul Oakenfold has put on the market for $10 million. It was our estate of the day in February.
--Hotelier Jason Pomeranc has purchased a former Hollywood Hills home of actress Sandra Dee and singer Bobby Darin for about $3 million.
--Frank Sinatra's Palm Desert hideaway,Villa Maggio, has hit the market for $4.995 million. The compound sleeps up to 22 people and there is a helicopter pad, movie theater and outdoor dance floor. The listing is here.
--Actress Dedee Pfeiffer, sister of Michelle Pfeiffer, has listed her home in Mandeville Canyon for $1.195 million. It looks like the three-bedroom home with hot and cold Japanese-style dipping pools has already gone to contract. The listing is here.
--Actor Gregory Harrison has listed his southern Oregon home at $5.9 million. We covered this home as an estate of the day back in January but were unaware of its celebrity provenance