Hip Hop Mogul Hopes to Make
A Jump from New Jersey Home

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons is trying to sell his 10-bedroom New Jersey mansion for more than $20 million.

The sprawling, 35,000-square-foot house includes a great room with 35-foot ceilings, a dining room with gold-leaf ceiling, a gym and a "Versace room," which features a Gianni Versace-designed bed and a 16-foot-high fireplace in the shape of a lion's mouth. The house, built in 1996 by apparel executive Arnold Simon, includes a movie theater built by Mr. Simon and modeled after the Loews Pitkin, an old Brooklyn, N.Y., picture palace, complete with popcorn and candy counters, a brightly lit marquee and a wax figure selling tickets. The four-acre property, with indoor and outdoor pools, a waterfall and a koi pond, is about 25 miles north of Manhattan in Saddle River, a Bergen County suburb that was home to Richard Nixon in his later years.

Mr. Simmons and his wife, fashion designer and former model Kimora Lee Simmons, bought the estate in 2001 from Mr. Simon, whose apparel company at the time held the license to Mr. Simmons's Baby Phat clothing line. Mr. Simmons, the founder of Def Jam Records, isn't listing the property publicly and hasn't set a precise asking price. Broker Lisa Maysonet of Prudential Douglas Elliman said the couple want "$20 million-plus" for the property. The couple declined to comment, though a representative said they plan to buy a house closer to, but not in, New York City.

Separately, Mr. Simmons has reached a deal to sell his 7,000-square-foot penthouse in lower Manhattan, said Ms. Maysonet, who represents that listing as well. The apartment -- on Liberty Street, adjacent to Ground Zero -- has been in contract once before, in 2001, when Mr. Simmons agreed to sell it to rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs for a reported $5 million. That deal fell through, however, after the building was damaged on Sept. 11. The apartment went back on the market a year ago at $12 million, but the asking price has fallen multiple times since then, most recently to $6.9 million. Ms. Maysonet wouldn't disclose the sale price or prospective buyer.

Claiborne Seeks Ranch Sale

Retired fashion designer and executive Liz Claiborne is looking to sell for $8.5 million a Montana ranch that she owns with her husband, Art Ortenberg.

The 720-acre ranch, in the Swan River Valley about 75 miles north of Missoula, includes the private Lake Tranquillity and about 640 undeveloped acres that are protected by a conservation easement. The other 80 acres feature a main house, two-bedroom guest house, indoor riding arena, caretakers' house and other buildings.

The two-bedroom main house includes an office, an indoor swimming pool and a solarium. Cascading decks lead to a floating dock on the lake; there's also an outdoor pool.

According to listing agent Bill McDavid of Hall and Hall, Mr. Ortenberg, 80, and Ms. Claiborne, 77, visited the house 20 years ago when it was run as a bed and breakfast and soon bought it (they added the surrounding land in a swap with the National Forest Service in 1989). The couple ran Liz Claiborne Inc. until their retirement in 1989. They're selling in order to spend more time on their other Montana ranch, near Helena, their attorney says.

Wall Streeter on the Lake

A former Goldman Sachs president and co-chief operating officer, John Thornton, has bought three adjacent properties in Lakeville, Conn., according to public records.

The parcels -- 6.5 acres together -- all sold on Aug. 1, for a combined $4.8 million and were bought through limited-liability concerns, with Mr. Thornton listed as principal. He wasn't available for comment. The properties -- all on Wononskopomuc Lake, near Connecticut's northwest corner -- include a two-acre parcel with a three-bedroom barn; a 2.5-acre parcel with a four-bedroom house; and a two-acre parcel with a three-bedroom main house and a guest house. They were all owned by the estates or children of longtime owners. Mr. Thornton's new properties are close to the Hotchkiss School, the prep school from which he graduated in 1972; he now heads the board of trustees. Mr. Thornton, who retired from Goldman in 2003, serves as a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing and as chairman of the Brookings Institution.

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