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From Kevin Smith’s abode hitting the market to new developments in Austin, there is always something happening in the world of real estate. In this roundup, AD PRO has everything you need to know.
On the Market
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The house Kevin Smith bought from Ben Affleck is up for grabs
A Hollywood Hills manor that Kevin Smith purchased from his buddy Ben Affleck is on the market for a spot under $6 million. Smith first saw the 8,200-square-foot Spanish-style manor in Outpost Estates while visiting Affleck for a Fourth of July barbecue. “Ben was getting frustrated with the home, as it is on a main road and there were always paparazzi outside,” Smith told Mansion Global. The Oscar winner sold the estate to his Chasing Amy director for $1.62 million, the same price he paid for it back in 1998.
Highlights of the five-bedroom residence include a living room with a stately fireplace and wet bar, a chef’s kitchen with bold limewash backsplash, gorgeous wood cabinetry and sculpturesque pendant lights, and a library with a rolling ladder and podcasting studio. Larger than most New York City apartments, the second-floor primary bedroom has its own secret “bat cave” hidden behind a spinning bookcase. There’s also a gorgeous rooftop pool and spa that overlooks Runyon Canyon.
Now that their daughter, actress Harley Quinn Smith, is on her own, Smith and his wife, former journalist Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, say they are looking to downsize.
Real estate duo Brock and Lori Harris have the listing.
Beyoncé slept here: Martha’s Vineyard estate that welcomed stars on the market
A 22-acre Martha’s Vineyard estate where Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Mariah Carey have all laid their heads is on the market for $13.75 million. The sprawling Edgartown complex has been a popular celebrity rental, incorporating a seven-bedroom main home designed by Robert A.M. Stern, as well as a four-bedroom guest house, an authentic Amish barn, a manmade pond, and a 60-foot swimming pool.
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Built in 1994, the brightly lit house includes a great room with 20-foot cathedral ceilings and multiple fireplaces, an octagonal dining room surrounded by windows, and a primary suite that takes up the entire second floor, with a fireplace, sitting area, and balcony.
As part of the Boldwater Association, the estate also affords its owners access to tennis courts, a boat landing, and a private beach.
Michael Carucci, EVP of Gibson Sotheby's International Realty, shares the listing with Tom Wallace of Wallace & Co.
Hugh Jackman’s Down Under mansion for sale
Just as Aussie movie star Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness are ending their marriage, their former Sydney home is breaking up with its current owners.
The actor and Furness rented the majestic five-bedroom, six-bath manor in suburban Woollahra from local real estate icon James Dack in 2008, according to The Wentworth Courier, while Jackman was filming X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Dack, who purchased the property back in 2011 for about $7 million, is asking for $25 million now, according to the outlet. For that, the buyer will get a European villa-inspired residence spread across two floors, with a study with custom built-ins, a gourmet marble kitchen with appliances from Wolf and Miele, and a spacious main bedroom with two dressing rooms and en suite bathroom. Other amenities include a saltwater pool, tennis courts, manicured gardens and a double garage, according to the listing with Alex Lyons of Raine and Horne.
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The A. Quincy Jones-designed “Upside-Down House” available for $8.5 million
A midcentury-modern Los Angeles home designed by noted architects A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons has just been listed for $8.5 million. Completed in 1960, the six-bedroom Brentwood residence was commissioned by Sarah Jane Lapin, a pioneering female contractor and developer who got into the industry in the late 1940s and put her stamp on numerous homes and apartments throughout Brentwood. The house on Benmore Terrace, though, was for Sarah and her family.
"We called [it] the upside-down house, since the majority of the house was up the glass-enclosed stairs,” her daughter Nancy once said. Halfway up that floating staircase is a sliding door to a 25-foot waterfall and redesigned swimming pool, while the living room and formal dining room sit at the top. Elsewhere, the primary suite offers a fireside sitting area, a balcony, and a bath with dual vanities and separate shower and soaking tub. Throughout the more than 5,100 square feet of living space you’ll find natural materials, designer lighting, and a soft cream-hued color palette.
Jack and Leslie Kavanaugh, parents of The Social Network producer Ryan Kavanaugh, bought the house in 1997. Last year they sold it to Jesse Rudolph and Joelle Kutner of LA design and development firm Ome Dezin for a reported $4.9 million. Ome Dezin is known for bringing functionality and beauty back to historic homes. “Our goal is to never reimagine the home so much that it is unrecognizable to its creator or the community,” Kutner tells AD PRO.
The pair’s favorite room in the house is the den off of the living room. The Kavanaughs used it as a bedroom, but Kutner says she and Rudolph saw the need for a “cozy retreat” to contrast the other more formal living spaces.
“The den feels serene and inviting and every window has an incredible vista,” she adds. “The window looking to the backyard perfectly frames the waterfall, which creates such a special ambience.”
Sam and Claire O’Connor of O'Connor Estates hold the listing.
Richard Neutra-designed home in Oregon lists for $3.55 million
One of just two homes in Oregon designed by Richard Neutra is now available for $3.55 million. The Austrian-born architect completed the five-bedroom home on Portland’s South Comus Street in 1941 at the behest of famed horticulturist Jan De Graaff and his wife, Peggy, granddaughter of Macy’s Department Store founder Isidor Straus. The de Graaffs had come to Portland to cultivate lilies and wanted to showcase their impressive collection of art and furnishings.
Neutra worked with local architect Van Evera Bailey to deliver a property with all the trimmings of the International Style, including an exterior that “emphasizes long horizontal bands of windows and similar expanses of vertical tongue-and-groove siding,” according to the listing held byTracy Hasson of Cascade Hasson Sotheby’s International Realty. Neutra had wanted a stucco exterior, The Oregonian reported, but Bailey successfully pushed for cedar siding—both to complement the landscape and better weather the rainy climate.
By 2003, when the current owners bought the house, the house had been remodeled to the point of unrecognizability. They worked closely with architect Ryan Walsh and Neutra’s son, Dion, to restore many original elements, including African Mahogany built-ins and Neutra-style drawer and cabinet pulls. Those long bands of windows were also restored, offering expansive views of the city, river, and mountains.
Other highlights include four fireplaces, including one in the primary bedroom, and a bonus room over the three-car garage that originally served as a kindergarten.
Atelier Bow-Wow’s mountain retreat has an “umbrella” roof
Nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, amid 60 acres of lush forest, is Mountain House, the first US home from acclaimed Japanese architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow. Husband-and-wife team Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima conceived of the weekend retreat over a period of nine years, working out a design that incorporates Japanese design while still holding true to the site’s origin as a 19th-century gold mine. (Historic wagon trails still crisscross the property.)
“[Their vision] encompasses a design philosophy that honors the environment, manifesting in a structure that treads lightly on the land and resources while maximizing its connection to a breathtaking landscape,” reads the listing with Eric Lavey of Sotheby’s International Realty Beverly Hills Brokerage. There’s a strong emphasis on sustainability in the design, which incorporates rough-sawn timber, salvaged doors and tubs, seamless concrete flooring, and walls made of recycled paper-based homasote boards. Even the beds rest on legs made from galvanized steel water pipes. But the most notable facet of the 1,240-square-foot residence, now on the market for $3.3 million, is the roof: Its wooden slats rise like an umbrella to shield a wallless terrace from the elements. The effect creates an ideal space for meditation or entertaining, and further blurs the border between interior and outdoor space.
Sales Launch
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Sixth&Blanco comes to market in Austin
Texas developer Riverside has commenced sales at Sixth&Blanco, a 10-unit condominium building in Austin that’s part of a full city-block mixed-use development that will also offer 50,000 square feet of retail, gallery space, and restaurants, as well as a 60-room luxury hotel. The development marks the first residential project from superstar restaurateur Larry McGuire (Perla’s, Lamberts Downtown Barbecue) and the first Texas outing from Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron (London’s Tate Modern, Hamburg’s Elbe Philharmonic Hall).
“The building is, in essence, a horizontally stacked structure which steps back and decreases in density as it grows taller to maximize daylight and make room for landscaped gardens, courtyards, and porches on all levels,” Herzog and de Meuron’s Simon Demeuse said in a release. He added the project “is not a singular uniform gesture but rather a sum of its many individual parts.”
Located in Austin’s Clarksville neighborhood, it will incorporate restored bungalows and commercial storefronts dating to the 1920s, as well as a new five-story mass timber building with the 10 private homes on the top two levels. Nine are two-story homes, accessible via circular staircases, with one single-floor residence. Ranging from three to four bedrooms, the homes will make use of natural materials indigenous to the Southwest and will all have their own terrace and cocktail pool.
Pricing starts at a cool $10 million. Construction is slated to start in the first quarter of 2024, with residences expected to be delivered in 2026.
New Developments
Waldorf Astoria lands on Pompano Beach
Hilton, Related Group, and Merrimac Ventures have announced Waldorf Astoria Residences Pompano Beach, the brand’s first standalone residential property and its debut in Broward County. Only 92 units will be available in the Nichols Architects–designed building, ranging from two to five bedrooms, with prices ranging from $2.5 million to $5.9 million, excluding penthouse units. Each residence will offer custom Italian cabinetry, oversized balconies, and floor-to-ceiling windows with abundant ocean and intracoastal views. The developers have also planned for 15,000 square feet of amenities, including an oceanfront pool deck, beachfront cafe, and a private marina with nearly two dozen boat slips.
“From the design and architecture to the resident services, we’ve pulled out all the stops to ensure this property fully embodies the Waldorf Astoria brand,” said Nick Perez, president of Related’s condominium development group, in a statement. “There is no compromise in our approach and we are so excited to see how the market reacts to this incredible development.”
Waldorf Astoria has certainly been flexing its muscle in Southern Florida: The full-floor penthouse at the Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami recently listed for a whopping $50 million, which could make it one of the priciest homes in the region. The 13,000-plus-foot aerie features a layout from interior design firm BAMO, with six bedrooms, nine baths, a private gym, a theater, and a wine room. Its enclosed balconies will offer 360-degree views of downtown, Miami Beach, and the Atlantic Ocean.
Expected to be South Florida’s tallest skyscraper when it's completed in 2027, the 1,049-foot tower will include 360 residences and 205 hotel rooms, scattered across what Uruguayan-Canadian architect Carlos Ott and Miami’s Sieger Suarez designed to resemble unevenly stacked glass blocks.
Milestone
One Wall Street unveils a landmark plaque
On September 27, Macklowe Properties and the New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation unveiled a historic plaque at One Wall Street, commemorating the building's architectural significance and toasting its rebirth as a mixed-use development with 566 condominiums and a 100,000-square-foot amenities space. “The transformation restored the historic limestone façade and sensitively created new interiors highly compatible with the original style of the building,” foundation chair Tom Krizmanic said at the event. “Placing a landmark plaque is the culmination of years of intensive work on this important preservation project for New York City.” Other speakers included developer Harry Macklowe and Sarah Carroll, Chair of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
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The plaque praises the 1931 building, the former headquarters of the Irving Trust Company Bank, as “one of New York City’s finest Art Deco skyscrapers” and one of most significant works by architect Ralph Walker. Following the ceremony, a reception was held in the One Club private residential restaurant, now open on the building’s 39th floor.
One Wall Street was originally designated a New York City landmark in 2001. Six years later, it was added to the Wall Street Historic District.
The building’s retail offerings include a Whole Foods and Life Time Fitness, with French department store Printemps opening its first US location on the ground floor next spring.
