From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--The condo Jay-Z has been renting at the Time Warner Center is set to be sold for $27 million. Jay-Z has been renting the four-bedroom penthouse for around $40,000 a month since 2005. Jay-Z is renovating a penthouse on Hudson Street in TriBeCa.
--Real-estate broker Kirk Henckels and his socialite wife Fernanda Kellogg have sold their three-bedroom apartment at 88 Central Park West above apartments owned by Sting and Robert De Niro for $4.6 million.
--Catesby Kilmer, the Hamptons socialite who went to jail for embezzlement and had to sell her Southampton home for around $1.7 million, a bit below the $2.25 million asking price.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
Week of 12/31/06
--L.A. Lakers forward Lamar Odom becomes the latest Los Angeles sports figure to move to Manhattan Beach. He has purchased a house for $2.7 million.
--A home which once belong to Benny Goodman is now the home of film score composer John Frizzell. He and his wife, Stacey, bought the former Goodman home for close to $4.7 million.
--Actress Jaime Pressly has put her Tarzana residence on the market at close to $1.4 million.
--Author Jack J. Miller, who wrote the novel "Millionaire City," has picked up a a weekend home in Lake Arrowhead for $1.2 million.
Week of 1/7/06
--Cher has put a Palm Springs home on the market for $2.495 million. It's our estate of the day later today.
--Actor Chad Allen has sold his Sunset Strip-area home for $750,000.
--A Los Feliz home once owned by actor Cary Grant has been sold for $3.2 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
Former San Diego Padres star Tony Gwynn and his wife, Alicia have put their Indiana home on the market for $725,000. The listing is here.
--Larry Bird and his wife Dinah have put their Naples, Florida home, shown above, on the market for $4.8 million. Check out the listing for the very impressivie four-bedroom waterfront home with a home theater and a bar with a salt-water aquarium here.
--Tyco International's former chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski, who is in jail, has cut $3 million off the price of his Nantucket, Mass., estate. It is now listed at $19.95 million, he bought the home in 1997 for $5 million.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Ryan Gentles, the manager of the Strokes, has bought a penthouse at the American Felt building, also the home to the band's drummer, Fabrizio Morretti for $1.8 million.
--Real-estate broker Michael Shvo has purchased a new apartment at 15 Broad Street, otherwise known as "Downtown by Philippe Starck."
--Film producer Verna Harrah, the widow of Bill Harrah, has sold her 64th-floor apartment at the Time Warner Center for around $25 million. She bought a penthouse at 110 Central Park South which was listed for $13,350,000.
--Film Forum has paid $6.3 million in late November for a five-story townhouse at 3 King Street. The purchase of the building was made possible by two donors one of which is keeping the top two floors for her personal use. Other floors will be marketed as one-bedroom luxury residences and the townhouse's two bottom floors will be used as office space for Film Forum administration.

After denouncing Cristal, the luxe drink of choice of rap artists for many years, Jay-Z was left with a tough decision as to which champagne could replace it as a sign of opulence in rap/music culture. It appears that the artist has decided to (unofficially) endorse Armand De Brignac now, featuring it in one of his new songs as "gold bottles with the ace of spades." It seems like a good choice based on the bottle alone.

Armand De Brignac has been produced by a family owned vineyard for over two hundred years and has only just started to be imported from France. It is said to have notes of flowers, citrus, dried fruits and brioche.

[via vox / image flickr]

Rapper Jay-Z supposedly retired a few years back but now he's back and apparently his new video will get the added boost of a bit of supercar eye candy. Check out this pic found on ONTD which shows both a Ferrari and a Pagani Zonda being put to use in Jay-Z's new video. Jay-Z's not letting just anyone drive the car, it looks to be Dale Earnhardt Jr. behind the wheel of the Ferrari.

For her 25th birthday, Beyonce Knowles got a very pricey gift from boyfriend Jay-Z. He picked out a 1959 Rolls Royce convertible with an estimated value of $1 million dollars, though the full amount he paid for the car will probably be known only to him and the dealer.

Even with a steep price tag, the gift doesn't quite measure up to the $5.4 million necklace Mariah Carey got from her prince, but it's safe to say that Beyonce could have done a lot worse than this car.

If  you ever plan to hang out with Jay-Z don't order Cristal. The popular rapper has announced that he will no longer serve Cristal Champagne at his 40/40 club and will lead a boycott against the popular bubbly. The boycott is in response to comments made by Frederic Rouzaud, the managing director of Louis Roderer Cristal in The Economist. Rouzand made it clear that he is no fan of the brand's association with hip-hop, describing the namechecking of the brand in songs as "unwelcome attention." Jay-Z has issued a statement saying that Rouzand's comments are racist and that he will no longer support the brand.

[via ONTD]