Billy Joel Ready to Sing Farewell
To His Coastal New York Retreat
by Ben Casselman
From The Wall Street Journal Online
October 02, 2006
Singer Billy Joel and his wife, Katie Lee, are looking to sell their 14,000-square-foot mansion on the North Shore of Long Island for $37.5 million.
The five-time Grammy winner paid $22.5 million for the house in 2002, public records show. (The couple own the home in the name of a trust.) The 14.6-acre property is in Centre Island, part of the town of Oyster Bay, where Mr. Joel spent much of his childhood. It features a five-bedroom brick main house, a three-bedroom guest house and a three-bedroom beach house, as well a pool, tennis court, bowling alley and more than 1,500 feet of water frontage. Listing agent Bonnie Williamson of Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty says the house has undergone significant renovations, including the addition of a music room above a covered-up pool.
Mr. Joel, 57 years old, has acquired and sold a host of properties in recent years, including a Manhattan townhouse (bought for $5.9 million last year), a Manhattan apartment (bought for $3.9 million in 2004, sold for $4.25 million this year) and two houses in Miami Beach (one bought for $3.28 million in 2005 and sold a year later for $3.6 million; the other bought for $13.5 million this year), among others. Mr. Joel also sold a 12-acre property in East Hampton, N.Y., to comedian Jerry Seinfeld for a then-record $32 million in 2000. A representative for Mr. Joel confirmed the listing but declined to comment further.
The Talk From Merv: 'Sell'
Entertainer and businessman Merv Griffin is looking to sell his Carmel Valley, Calif., vineyard estate for $6.2 million.
The 57-acre property includes 11 bedrooms spread out through several buildings, including a two-bedroom caretaker's residence; the central building has an 860-square-foot living/dining room and a kitchen but no bedrooms. The mountaintop property, about 125 miles south of San Francisco, also has a pool, outdoor dance floor, rose garden and orchard. (The estate is about 1,700 feet above sea level.) Mr. Griffin says the approximately one-acre Sauvignon Blanc vineyard yields about 150 cases of wine each year, which he bottles under the label "Mont Merveilleux," giving away much of it to charity auctions. Doug Steiny of Sotheby's International Realty has the listing.
Mr. Griffin, 81 years old, says he bought the property in the 1970s. He briefly listed the property in 2000, but changed his mind and pulled it off the market; he says he is selling now because he rarely visits. The former talk-show host, singer and creator of the game shows "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy" has several business ventures, including a television-production company and a residential development project near his La Quinta, Calif., ranch and a real-estate brokerage firm.
Pumping Up Arnold's House
Two years after buying the home of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, the new owners have put it on the market at $26.9 million, more than triple the price they paid.
The governor and first lady bought the Pacific Palisades home about 20 years ago -- the price couldn't be learned -- and sold it for $7.95 million to Susan E. Loggans, a Chicago-based personal-injury lawyer. Ms. Loggans says she and her husband, professional golfer Denis Watson, renovated the house extensively, adding eight rooms and 3,000 square feet of outdoor marble terraces.
Six months after buying the house, the couple sued Mr. Schwarzenegger and Ms. Shriver in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming they failed to disclose flaws in the home, including damage to the swimming pool and mold in the movie theater. Ms. Loggans says she can't discuss the lawsuit due to a nondisclosure agreement, but it's no longer pending. The governor, meanwhile, divides his time between his primary home in Brentwood and a suite at the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento.
The seven-bedroom, 10,000-square-foot home sits on two lots totaling 2.5 acres just off Sunset Boulevard. The property includes a tennis court, pool, stream, plum orchard, duck pond and petting zoo (added by the Logganses); it abuts Will Rogers State Historic Park. The couple also added a private driveway, replacing one shared with the neighboring property, says listing agent Rodrigo Iglesias of Sotheby's International Realty.
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