Friday Mish-Mash: Sean Combs Lists Jersey Mansion

type='html'>Music and entertainment mogul Sean Combs–or P. Fiddle or Daddy Diddle or Puffy Poppa or whatever damn name he calls himself nowdays–heaved his big ol' mansion in supah-swank Alpine, NJ on the market with an asking price of $13,500,000.

Mister Daddy Puff purchased the 3.25 acre estate in the celebrity friendly 'hood in July 2004 for, according to prop records, $6,000,000. Listing information for the approximately 17,000 square foot red brick center hall Colonial shows it contains 26 rooms total with 7 bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms.

Celebrity-style amenities include a swimming pool with waterfall, spa, tennis court, fitness room, movie theater, garaging for at least 6 cars, and an indoor squash court.

New Jersey gets a bad rap–can you say Real Housewives of New Jersey and Jersey Shore?–but the tiny enclave of Alpine consistently ranks among the top most expensive zip codes in the country. Some of the other past and present residents of Alpine include The Jonas Brothers, comedians Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock, and lady rapper/plastic surgery aficionado 'Lil Kim.

aerial photo: Bing

Friday Mish-Mash: Are the Seinfelds Moving on Over to the East Side?

type='html'>Few modern day celebs are more identified with New York City's Upper West Side than comedian Jerry Seinfeld. On his long-running, financially fruitful and eponymous 1990s sit-com Seinfeld, his "character" Jerry Seinfeld lived in a fairly ordinary one-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side.

In real life, Mister Seinfeld also lives in on the Upper West Side, albeit in a far larger apartment in one of the neighborhood's most desirable and delicious apartment buildings. Mister Seinfeld, his wife Jessica and their three youngins currently occupy a high-floor duplex apartment at the hulking, tri-towered Beresford building on the corner of Central Park West and West 81st Street. The Seinfeld's pad formerly belonged to virtuoso violinist Isaac Stern. He also owns a townhouse-type property around the corner from his apartment where he houses (part of) his fleet of Porsches.

Other high-profile residents residents of the mighty Beresford include editrix extraordinaire Helen Gurley Brown who lives in a fab 4-floor penthouse in one of the towers, the dee-voon Diana Ross, mustachioed investigative journalist John Stossel and volatile tennis champ John McEnroe who also lives in a 4-floor tower penthouse. Sublime actress Glenn Close sold her two-terrace pad at the Beresford in August 2010 for $10,200,000.

The Seinfelds–despite their Upper West Side quintessence–appear to have come down with the Itchy Real Estate Foot Syndrome that has created a need for them to peep large and lavish townhomes on the–scandal!–Upper East Side. That's right, kids, it looks like the Seinfelds just might want to jump ship move on over to the Upper East Side.
The comedian and the cook book writer reportedly had a look see at music industry titan Lyor Cohen's spectacular townhouse on East 94th Street, listed last year for $28,000,000 and now priced at $26,000,000.

Listing information states the 25-foot wide house (floor plan above) has a fully restored Cass Gilbert-designed limestone façade, private single-car garage with direct entry, 6 fireplaces and an elevator that services all six floors plus the basement.

There are, by our count, 5 bedroom suites each with private facilities plus a sixth suite–labeled as 'gym' on the floor plan–with private bath and sauna. Three additional powder poopers are conveniently located throughout the lower levels; one off the circular gallery on the ground floor, another off the stair landing on the parlor level and a final one hidden in a bank of closets in the third floor family room.

We'd like to take special note of the ground level eat-in kitchen that opens to a rear garden and includes a walk-in pantry. A dumb waiter opposite the pantry lifts din-din to a butler's pantry one floor above that adjoins the oval formal dining room. That, children, is how it's done right proper by a smart architect.

The sixth floor, given over entirely to the master suite, is generously scaled but features a layout that will surely offend some folks' fine sensibilities and sense of decorum. A semi-public hall–the stair and elevator landing–links the various areas. At one end a door opens into a hall flanked by a pair of large walk-in closets leads to a large bedroom with fireplace. At the other end a small study with built-in cabinetry opens to a private terrace perfect for a pre-coital doobie or a post-coital cigarette. In between the two rooms the bathroom is split into two parts: On one side of the hall a pooper and sink and other the other a long counter with two sinks and a party-sized walk-in shower space. That means, puppies, a pre-shower pee requires a naked dart across the hall to the terlit and another naked dart back to the shower. Not everyone who can afford a 20-plus million dollar townhouse will care to dart around their bedroom like that.
The New York property gossips also snitched this week that the couple toured a six-floor townhouse with elegant limestone façade on East 73rd Street currently listed with a $23,000,000 price tag. The fully renovated five bedroom and 5 full and 2 half bathroom house (floor plan above) has 5 fireplaces, elevator, a full-height basement level outfitted with laundry room and gym, a small garden off the ground floor kitchen for barbecues, a terrace off a fifth floor bedroom and a planted roof terrace. The house is equipped with state-of-the art everything including a water purification system and central stereo system.

We know which one we'd choose. What about the children? Which one make a better house for Mister Seinfeld's family of five?

When not in New York City, the Seinfelds own a 12-acre ocean front estate on fancy-pants Further Lane in East Hampton, NY that he bought from Billy Joel in 2000 for about $32,000,000. The Seinfeld estate includes a sprawling shingled mansion with broad ocean-side terraces, a lap-length swimming pool with adjacent cabana, a private path the water's edge, a football field-sized front lawn and, instead of a de rigueur tennis court, the Seinfelds famously installed a baseball diamond at the front of the property near the entrance gates. A detached residence near the baseball diamond–presumably for staff and/or guests–has it's own swimming pool.

floor plans: Sotheby's International Realty

Friday Quickies: Klum and Seal Sell

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SELLERS: Heidi Klum and Seal
BUYER: Frank Guistra
LOCATION: Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: $7,000,000
SIZE: 6,794 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 9.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: It didn't take lucky lucky lucky Heidi Klum and Seal very long to unload their Beverly Hills, CA mansion, though they did sell it at a significant loss.

Property records show the supermodel/entertainment mogul and the soulful singer bought the privately situated 6,794 square foot house on 2.49 acres in late 2005 for $7,600,000. They listed the 6 bedroom and 10 bathroom mansion–described in listing information as a Loire Valley Chateau–in mid-May 2011 with an asking price of $6,900,000. Within two weeks, the house was in escrow and three weeks after that the deal was done for $7,000,000. Yes, puppies, that's a hundred grand more than the asking price but it's also a substantial $600,000 less they they paid for the posh property not counting carrying costs, renovations and/or the fat real estate fees.

The buyer, according to the property records Your Mama peeped, is Canadian investment banker, mining magnate, entertainment executive and left-leaning philanthropist Frank Giustra. Although he's sold much of his stake in the company, Mister Giustra is perhaps best known to Tinseltown types as the founder of the independent film production and distribution company Lions Gate Entertainment. He's also a well-known crony of former U.S. president Bill Clinton. They are, in fact, thick as thieves: Mister Giustra has on several occasions lent his private plane and accompanied President Clinton on various international trips, some of which proved extraordinarily lucrative to the Canadian.

Mister Giustra's home base is in West Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada) where he owns a deluxe waterfront estate on the Burrard Inlet.

As for Miz Klum and Mister Seal, they've decamped for an 8.5(ish) acre estate with a 12,300 square foot Mediterranean mansion in the Brentwood Country Estates, the same small and swank gated enclave tucked into the hills above Brentwood where some of the other home owners include supermodel Gisele Bündchen and pro pigskinner Tom Brady, philandering former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Band-Aid heiress Libet Johnson (who we hear through the real estate grapevine leases out her house), and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber bin Muhammad Al Thani, the current prime minister of Qatar. Property records show they paid $14,200,000 for their new digs back in December 2010.

listing photos: Coldwell Banker Previews International / Beverly Hills South

Friday Quickies: Regis Philbin Lists Connecticut Crib

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SELLER: Regis Philbin
LOCATION: Greenwich, CT
PRICE: $3,800,000
SIZE: 5,919 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 5 full and 3 half bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Just between us chickens, Your Mama would rather walk bare-footed over jagged glass than discuss the real estate activities of retiring morning chat show host Regis Philbin. We know he's an accomplished and beloved showbiz icon, a real jocular ol' feller with four Daytime Emmy awards plus another 30 nominations. None the less, we find him to be like, well, chewing on tinfoil when you have a mouthful of metal fillings. How-evuh, we can't tell you the number of requests we've received the last couple days regarding the mansard-roofed mansion in Greenwich, CT he and the Missus recently plopped on the market with an asking price of $3,800,000.

So, in the interest of keeping the kids happy...

Property records reveal that Mister and Missus Philbin acquired the 6.02 acre estate at the tail end of Meeting House Road in May 1992 for $2,500,000. The house, a vaguely Second Empire style thing, measures 5,919 square feet and includes 5 fireplaces according to property records. The stately but somewhat squat looking residence contains a total of 4 bedrooms and 5 full and 3 half bathrooms including a second floor master with fireplace and his and her facilities.

The front door, recessed into the brick façade opens to a foyer with Parquet de Versailles style wood floors has a curving staircase with elliptical gallery. Interior spaces include a lemon chiffon-colored formal living room with marble fireplace mantel, formal dining room and a library/office. There are two family rooms, both with fireplaces. One has a built-in wet bar and the other a built-in entertainment center that holds a large flat screen tee-vee.

The eat-in kitchen has tile counter tops, older but high grade appliances, center island with snack bar and (empty) pot rack, chestnut colored raised panel cabinetry with some glass fronted uppers and French doors the open to the covered patio with blue stone pavers and a lot of wicker furniture with floral cushions.

The expansive grounds include a circular drive, a side motor court, broad lawns and thick stands of mature shade trees. A large gazebo and deck stands between the swimming pool and tree-ringed tennis court.

Mister Philbin and his Missus Joy first attempted to unload their Meeting House Road residence in 2008 when it was listed with a $5,900,000 price tag. This was just before the real estate markets tanked, which may or may not have had something to do with the Philbin's taking the property off the market. In May 2011 the French-Colonial style crib was re-listed at $4,195,000, a number that has since been sliced to $3,800,000.

Mister and Missus Philbin own a second Greenwich estate with less land but a larger house. The couple also maintain a residence in Manhattan, a high-floor three-unit combo-condo with 4,027 square feet at the Park Millennium building on the Upper West Side where other high profile peeps in residence include shock jock Howard Stern and Oscar-nominated actor Liam Neeson who recently added to his multiple holdings in the building.

listing photos: Sotheby's International Realty
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