Michael Jordan

The Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational Golf Tournament hosted by Aria Resort And Casino, was recently held at the Shadow Creek Golf Course in North Las Vegas. Luxist attended the event this past weekend and experienced first-hand the unique blend of celebrity and philanthropy. However, this year the event took place at one of the most alluring, mythic, elite golf courses in the U.S., Tom Fazio's Shadow Creek. And for the first time, the course opened to the general public.

A little more on this golf course: unlike many famous courses, this one is hard to imagine, out in the middle of the Nevada desert, and even harder to find. From the Las Vegas strip, it's about a half hour away -- north on I-15 to Craig Road, then go west, then north again, and finally, through some imposing guard gates. And then, there it is, beyond the gates -- the 350-acre, $60 million plus, exceptionally private, painfully green, Tom Fazio course looking more like courses at Pinehurst, or Kiawah, or Augusta. Anywhere, almost, but Nevada.

Shadow Creek boasts quiet streams, rushing brooks, weeping willows, waterfalls, ducks, pheasants, rabbits, and stone bridges that look eerily like the old Swilken bridge at St. Andrews. Indeed, Shadow Creek, has an untouched, impossibly perfect, movie-set look, as if few mortals would ever dare to actually play the course.

For many years, adding to this ineffable allure, is fact: for years, and even now, ONLY MGM Resort guests are permitted to play Shadow Creek. Green fees are listed at $500.00 -- with limo service to and from the course. And the players must schedule tee times at least an hour apart, giving the impression that golfers are on the course by themselves. All of this plays into an image of ultimate elitism combined with escapism, creating a course intrigue that involves rarity, mystery, and sanctuary.

The course's route runs mostly north and south so the sun's glare would miss the golfer's eyes, and Fazio with his builders, dug 50 feet into the low desert to provide for elevation changes and enough dirt to build hills around the entire property to provide another dimension of privacy. One of the stories heard, perhaps apocryphal, was that many who live close to the golf course don't know of its existence.

"I'm truly excited about bringing my tournament to Las Vegas. Shadow Creek is one of my favorite courses and ARIA is a spectacular resort. I love seeing old friends, playing golf and having fun, but the most gratifying aspect of hosting the event is what we've been able to give back." said Michael Jordan in a recent interview.

Significant wealth and great philanthropy are often interconnected, as philanthropic giving among the uber-wealthy is a common occurrence. Bill Gates, Steve Case, Warren Buffett and others have donated billions to help others and have started their own foundations to do it. Certainly, to whom much is given, much is required, is an oft-quoted line from the New Testament in the Bible. This sense of a returning a cosmic favor also lives among significant celebrities, with Michael Jordan as a prime example.

Charlotte Bobcats owner and basketball legend Michael Jordan is putting down roots in Charlotte, North Carolina. Although Jordan is at work on a lavish Florida mansion he also needs a home in Charlotte (in addition to his longtime Chicago residence). The Charlotte Observer reports that Jordan is combining two units in the Trust, a condo building walking distance from the Time Warner Cable Arena.

He bought the two top-floor penthouses at The Trust for $3.15 million to create one massive 7,000-square-foot residence with his own private elevator.

The seven-floor Trust building is home to the Chima Brazilian Steakhouse and eight units. The former Home Federal Savings and Loan Building was built in 1967. Building amenities include a private rooftop lounge. The condos have gourmet kitchens, outdoor living spaces, grilling areas and gas fireplaces.

Want to be like Mike? If you've got $3.2 million you can pick up unit #5a, a four-bedroom unit listed for sale.

From the WSJ:
--Paramount Chairman and CEO Brad Grey has bought a hacienda-style home in Los Angeles for $18.5 million. The six-bedroom home, which was lived in by Frank Sinatra's ex-wife Nancy Barbato was listed at $22.5 million when we first checked it out back in September. Grey, a Sinatra fan, recently sold his Pacific Palisades home for $21.5 million. His new home needs a bit of updating.

--The Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade has bought a Miami Beach home for $10.6 million. The six-bedroom Mediterranean-style house has 150-plus feet of bay frontage and a tennis court that he's planning to convert to a basketball court.
--The former Beverly Hills home of late television sidekick Ed McMahon was foreclosed on by Dan Schryer, of DCI Technology Holdings, the investor who purchased Mr. McMahon's underlying loan from Countrywide Financial. It had been listed earlier this year for $4.6 million. Schryer bought the home's mortgage in 2009, allowing Mr.McMahon and his wife to remain in the home. Hee decided to foreclose on the home now so he could put it on the market again early next year.


From the NY Post:
--Halle Berry has shown interest in a three-bedroom unit at the Park Imperial building at 230 W. 56th St., the Sean "Diddy" Combs, Deepak Chopra and Christopher Meloni of "Law & Order" all call home.
--Two Trees Farm in Bridgehampton has had a major price cut. The 115-acre property was once $95 million but is now listed for $55 million, which includes development rights. Or you can buy 73 acres without development rights for $20 million.
--A home used in the movie "The Godfather," is up for sale for $2.9 million.
--Chef Marc Murphy has been spotted checking out apartments in the new 535 West End Ave. condo building.
--The buyer of Elie and Rory Tahari's 141 Prince St. triplex is Ted Waitt, the billionaire founder of computer maker Gateway who paid $27.5 million.
-- Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick have settled in at 88 Central Park West in an apartment with a 32-foot living room and eight bedrooms. It was most recently listed at $21.5 million.

From CNBC:
--Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's former rental home in Palo Alto, California is listed for $7,850 a month.

From Newsday:
--Former tennis player Ruta Gerulaitis has sold her Centre Island home for $1.965 million.
--Ogden Phipps II and wife, Ashley, have sold their Glen Cove home for $2.25 million, $100,000 less than they paid for the home in 2007. Phipps is the great-great grandson of Henry Phipps, who made his fortune as steel magnate Andrew Carnegie's business partner.


From the LA Times:
--Lisa Marie Presley has sold a ranch-style house in gated Hidden Hills for $5 million.
--Advertising pro Lee Clow, co-creator of Apple's "Think Different" campaign, has purchased a vacation home at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes for $2.2 million.
--Television host and singer Mark McGrath has sold his home in the Hollywood Hills for above its asking price of $1.25 million.
--The personal residence and studio of the late photographer Julius Shulman has sold for $2.25 million in the Hollywood Hills.

From the NY Times:
--A "double-height artist studio" with many original Charles Platt touches has recently gone on the market in the building, at 131 East 66th Street, known as the Studio Building. The listing is here.

From Homes of the Rich:
--Real estate developer, Lee Najjar, the rumored "Big Poppa" of "Real Housewives of Atlanta" housewife Kim Zolciak has put his Atlanta mansion up for sale for $25 million. The nine-bedroom home, shown above, was completed this year but retained the original 1920s facade. It has multiple kitchens, a ballroom, theater, hair/nail salon, smoking room and recording studio.

Stockworth Realty Group is selling Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard's four-bedroom home near southwest Orlando. It is listed at $2.95 million.


From the Chicago Tribune's Elite Street:
--NBA player Ben Wallace has reduced the price on his former Lake Forest, Illinois mansion. It is now listed at $2.49 million.

--Former Bears quarterback and current ESPN commentator Brian Griese has sold his four-bedroom house in Glencoe, Illinois for $2.125 million.

From the NY Post:
--Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander has just closed on a $25 million penthouse at the new Superior Ink condo building in the West Village. Superior Ink already has a list of buyers in contract that includes Hilary Swank, Marc Jacobs and NASCAR star Jimmie Johnson. But a week later the unit has hit the market for $39.5 million (via Curbed). His Hamptons home is for sale for $20.5 million.
--Designer Tory Burch has bought the Howard Gittis home at 500 Ox Pasture Lane in Southampton. Sources say the mansion and an adjacent parcel of land was sold separately to Burch and another buyer for around $40 million. The home had been on the market at a variety of prices over the years but Corcoran Group broker Tim Davis split up the estate into different parcels to attract buyers. Burch bought the house, and a neighbor bought an adjacent parcel because he didn't want to see anything developed on the land.
--Kimberly Dawn Neumann, a 39-year-old Broadway actress is the winner of the contest conducted by discount clothing retailer Daffy's that offered a two-bedroom apartment in the West Village for $700 a month for 10 months.
--An Italian-born real estate mogul and diplomat, Daniele Bodini,has just bought an apartment above Sting's duplex at 88 Central Park West.Bodini paid $10.9 million for the seventh-floor, 3,500-square-foot co-op. Sting's 6,600-square-foot apartment has been on and off the market, it currently remains on at $19 million.


From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--The townhouse at 11 East 82nd Street that we covered earlier this year as an estate of the day has gone into contract after more than a year and a half on the market. The limestone mansion was most recently priced at $29.5 million.

--Filmmaker Keiko Ibi put her one-bedroom condo at 15 Central Park West on the market for $3.75 million earlier this year. Now she and her seventh floor neighbors, Young-oh and Byungwha Yoon, have listed their two apartments together for a combined $10.285 million. The listing is here.
--Three months after he paid $12 million for a 49th-floor apartment at One Beacon Court, Archibald "Archie" Cox, Jr. has sold his former apartment in the same building for $5 million.
--via the NY Times, Hedge funder John Griffin and his wife Amy, who paid $32.25 million for a full-floor apartment at 1030 Fifth Avenue last year have listed their old apartment in the same building for $16.5 million.
--Photographer Kelly Klein, Calvin Klein's second ex-wife, has paid $2.091 million for a two-bedroom co-op at 2 West 67th Street.
--Bjork and Matthew Barney have closed on the purchase of a condo at 160 Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights. Their former place at 180 West Houston Street is still on the market for $1.7 million.
--Attorney Bruce Kaye and his wife Deborah have sold their two-bedroom condo at 15 Cenral Park West for $11.7 million. They paid $7.8 million in July 2008.
--Brandon Fradd, founder of the hedge fund Apollo Medical Partners, has sold his apartment at 68 Jane Street for $3.7 million.
--Investor Paul Cejas has dropped the price of his apartment at 834 Fifth Avenue from $18.5 million to $16.5 million. The listing is here.
--via NY Mag, Alec Baldwin has taken his apartment at the El Dorado off the market just a month after listing it. Will he be sticking around?

--Artist Bruce Robbins has dropped the price of his loft at 43 Clarkson Street. It was first listed for $4.895 million back in 2008 and is now for sale for $3.249 million.
--via Real Deal, Turkish tycoon Turgay Ciner has picked up a second apartment at the Plaza. He paid $10.725 million for an apartment two floors below the 17th-floor apartment he bought in January 2008 for $9.16 million.
--via Curbed, Paul O'Reilly-Hyland and Joelle Wyser-Pratte, who are both managing partners at Ounavarra Capital, have put their 4,700-square-foot Sutton Place townhouse on the market. The renovated manse at 3 Riverview Terrace is currently listed for $19 million.
--via Curbed, NYC's skinniest townhouse has had a price cut, from $2.75 million to $2.499 million.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--An apartment which was once on the market for $80 million has sold for $37.5 million.

--A condo at the 40 Mercer Street building designed by architect, Jean Nouvel has sold for $4.22 million. It was once listed as high as $7.25 million.
--Andrei Vavilov, the Russian oligarch who sued the Plaza last year over a duplex penthouse and triplex penthouse he was supposed to buy there for $53.5 million, then paid $11 million for another unit, has finally left the building. He sold his apartment for $8.4 million.

From Homes and Property UK:
--A home in the Notting Hill area of London which was lived in for three years by Salman Rushdie is now listed for £2.25 million.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--Actress Jennifer Carpenter, who stars on "Dexter" with her husband, Michael C. Hall, has listed her two-bedroom Hollywood Hills home for $695,000. The listing is here.
--Phoenix Pictures Chairman and co-founder Mike Medavoy and his wife, Irena, have purchased a Beverly Hills home for $5.85 million.
---A 1929 Los Feliz home once owned actor Cary Grant and, later, drummer Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers has come on the market at $3.485 million. The listing is here.

Restaurants everywhere are struggling, Las Vegas tourism is down and still somehow Tao Restaurant and Nightclub in Las Vegas owns the top spot on the list of the 100 highest grossing independent restaurants in the U.S.according to the latest data from Restaurants and Institutions. This was Tao's third time at number one in a year where sales in the top 100 pretty much stayed the same as last year's numbers ($1.52 billion in 2008, compared to $1.53 billion in 2007).

Tao Las Vegas brought in $68.4 million in food and beverage revenue in 2008 which is a three percent gain over 2007. The rest of the top five, Tavern on the Green in New York City, Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Beach, Smith & Wollensky in New York City and Tao Asian Bistro in New York City were all also in the top five last year.

The list includes a few celebrity restaurants. Danny DeVito's DeVito South Beach is in the 19th slot, Michael Jordan's steakhouse at the Mohegan Sun is number 62 and Mike Ditka's Chicago restaurant is in the 94th position. Celebrity chefs also appear on the list. Wolfgang Puck owns a few slots, Mario Batali and Lydia Bastianich's Del Posto in New York is at number 45. "Top Chef" host Tom Colicchio is on the list for Craftsteak in Las Vegas and Daniel Boulud hits the list twice.

Most of the restaurants are located in major cities or in vacation destinations but there are a few surprises. The Harris Ranch restaurant is located in the small cow town of Coalinga, California and Zehnder's is in the Bavarian-themed town of Frankenmuth, Michigan.

[via Bloomberg]

From Move Trends:
--You can rent the home once rented by Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes for $100,000 a month. The listing is here.
--Katherine Heigl is trying her hand at selling her house, shown above, again. The home was listed last summer for $1.75 million and is now listed at $1.595 million.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--"ER" actress Maura Tierney has listed her Los Angeles home for $2.195 million. The listing is here.
--The Toluca Lake home of actor Alan Thicke is for lease at $15,000 a month. The listing is here.
--Screenwriter turned art gallery owner Laurie Frank has put her Hollywood Hills home on the market for $1.495 million. The listing is here.
--Former football player Brian Bosworth has listed has listed his seven-bedroom Malibu home for $8.995 million. The listing is here.
--Emmy award-winning writer and television show creator Gary David Goldberg has listed his eight-bedroom Brentwood home for $19.95 million. The listing is here.
--London rapper and mixed martial arts fighter Mams Taylor has listed his Beverly Hills home for $9.95 million. The listing is here.
--Kirsten Kemp Becker, host of TLC's series "Hope for Your Home" and "Property Ladder" has listed her Montecito estate at $5.195 million. She has renovated the eight bedroom home which sits on 1.71 acres. The listing is here.
--Actress Natasha Henstridge has put her five-bedroom home in Sherman Oaks, California on the market for $1.75 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Former Japanese soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata has cut the price of the apartment building he owns in New York City. The price for 43 Crosby is now $15 million. Last year, he was asking $22 million for the freshly renovated building which includes three floor through apartments, a duplex penthouse plus a ground floor/basement retail. The listing is here.
--Iceland has put four of its ambassadorial residences up for sale. We'll check out the Washington DC ambassadorial residence Monday as an estate of the day.


From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Danny Errico, the co-founder of Equinox gyms, has sold his home in Amagansett, New York for $11.895 million. His asking price was $14.995 million.
--Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of England's Manchester United soccer team, may be trying to back out of purchasing a penthouse at the Manhattan House development on East 66th Street.
--Richard and Cherylyn Cieri closed on their Manhattan House penthouse purchase for close to $8 million.
--Financier Stephen Benson has reduced the asking price on his Park Avenue apartment again. He originally wanted $13 million for the two-bedroom residence at 885 Park Ave. but is now asking $8.25 million. The listing is here.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Financier J. Christopher Flowers has put the Harkness mansion, which he bought in 2006, on the market for $49.95 million. He reportedly also spent millions on renovations.
--Aby Rosen's $75 million listing at 22 East 71st Street will be the site of the 37th annual Decorator Show House to be held this April and May. Rosen reports that he has received two offers above $60 million for it. Rosen paid $15.65 million for the house in August 2004 but isn't interested in cutting the price. We covered this home as an estate of the day last November.

From the Real Estalker:
--Moby and Stacey Bendet are leasing their Hollywood Hills home for $15,000 a month.
--Adam Levine of the band Maroon 5 has put his Los Angeles home up for rent for $10,000 a month. The listing is here.
The Castillo del Lago mansion in the Hollywood Hills is rumored to be soon to hit the market. The home was once owned by Madonna.
Last year, Los Angeles real estate agent Kurt Rappaport paid $15.99 million for a home in Beverly Hills. He has now renovated it and flipped it back on to the market for $28.5 million. The listing is here.
--Tennis star Lindsay Davenport has put two of her Southern California homes up for sale. We'll check out her Ventura beach house as today's estate of the day.

If you are planning to pick up the new Jordan jeans and the Air Jordan XX3 sneakers, then you are probably going to want to get your hands on this too. The Nike Limited Edition Jordan commemorative basketball is made of full-grain leather and has a graphic that wraps around the ball. There are 2323 of these balls made and each one is individually numbered on the box and ball. It also comes with an embroidered sport sack with shoelace drawstring and it sells for $150.

[via Uncrate]

The Air Jordan shoe line has been making history since it was first released back in 1985, and the newest member of the family -- Air Jordan XX3 -- is no exception. The 23rd edition is not only special because of its connection to Jordan's iconic jersey number, but it's also the first design released under the "Considered" ethos -- meaning it's more environmentally friendly. The Air Jordan will now be made with more sustainable materials and will create less waste through the manufacturing the process.

The Air Jordan XX3 will start hitting select stores this month, with a national launch following in the spring. The shoes will be priced at $185.

It's the ultimate package for the Michael Jordan sneaker fan, a package that includes unworn Air Jordan basketball shoes I through XXI. The collection is autographed by Michael Jordan and the set comes with a custom-built display case. Best of all, 90% of the profits go to Habitat for Humanity's Hurricane Katrina and Rita relief.  The shoes comes in the sizes and colors worn by Jordan throughout his career. The starting bid is $425,000 and there have been no bids yet.

[Thanks, Nadim]