A new pad for rap star Wiz Khalifa
LOS ANGELES — Hip-hop star Wiz Khalifa, the rapper and songwriter of Rolling Papers and Blacc Hollywood fame, closed on a home in Encino for $3.4 million US.
The contemporary-style house, built last year, features a nine-foot pivoting front door, a floating staircase and 24-foot-high ceilings in the common rooms. Pocketing glass doors open from the living room, which has a fireplace and a wine bar, to a covered patio space that overlooks the swimming pool.
A centre-island kitchen, a formal dining room, a home theatre and an office fill out the main floor. The upstairs master suite, one of five bedrooms and 6.25 bathrooms, has an oversize closet with a jewelry island.
Wrap-around balconies, an open-air terrace lounge and a pool house create additional living space outdoors. There’s also an outdoor kitchen.
Khalifa, whose legal name is Cameron Jibril Thomaz, has collaborated with artists such as Big Sean, Snoop Dogg and the late Mac Miller. Last year, the 31-yearold released his sixth studio album, Rolling Papers 2, which debuted at No. 2 overall on the Billboard 200.
Former home court goes on sale
Blake Griffin, the former L.A. Clippers star who was traded last year to the Detroit Pistons, is looking to make a deal of his own in Pacific Palisades. He has put his home of six years on the market for $10.995 million US.
Gated from the street, the Cape Cod-inspired house has about 9,600 square feet of living space spread across three levels.
On the main floor, the house is entered through a 24-foot-tall foyer with a curved floating staircase and a chandelier that draws the eye upward. Living areas pair dark wood floors and crisp white millwork for a clean esthetic.
Off the entry are formal living and dining rooms, a centre-island kitchen and family room with a fireplace. A separate office wears a subdued face, with dark grey wall treatments. The lower-level home theatre has a burgundy colour scheme. There’s also a game room and a gym.
A total of six bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms includes a master suite composed of a sitting room, two dressing rooms/closets and a tiled bath.
Pocketing glass doors open to the rear, where a saltwater swimming pool sits level with the patio. A basketball half-court, an outdoor kitchen and lawn fill out the nearly one-third-acre lot.
Griffin, 29, made five All-Star teams in the better part of eight seasons with the Clippers, which drafted the power forward with the first overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft. Through 45 games with the Pistons this year, he is averaging a career-high 26.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists.
Splitting from a Spanish classic
Married actors David Walton and Majandra Delfino are ready to part with their home in L.A.’s Hancock Park neighbourhood. Full of Spanish style inside and out, the 1920s estate is on the market for $3.2 million.
The pair bought the property six years ago for $1.75 million and remodelled it soon after, touching up the kitchen, bathrooms and floors.
Past an ivy-shrouded facade, the home opens through an arched doorway to a foyer with custom tile and wrought-iron rails. An imported stone fireplace anchors the living room. Other main-level spaces include a family room with built-ins, a dining room under beamed ceilings and a centre island kitchen.
Upstairs, the master suite expands to a private balcony. It’s one of four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in 3,125 square feet.
Out back, the home wraps around a landscaped garden complete with a pool and spa.
Walton, 40, has starred in the sitcoms Cracking Up, Bent and
About a Boy. He also boasts a recurring role as Sam Sweeney in New Girl.
Delfino, 37, has been acting since the 1990s, with credits including Roswell, Friends With Better Lives and State of Georgia. As a musician, she released the full-length album Tarte in 2007.
Ending his run as a landlord
Actor and comedian Tony Hale has sold a home in the historic Los Feliz neighbourhood of Los Angeles for $1.56 million. Owned by the Veep and
Arrested Development star for more than a decade, the traditional-style home was made available for lease in recent years for about $7,000 a month.
The charming two-storey, which dates to 1937, features such classic details as detailed millwork, moulding and dark hardwood floors. Built-in bench seating creates a focal point in the kitchen area, which has been updated. Bay windows bring natural light into the living and dining rooms.
The 2,226-square-foot floor plan also holds four bedrooms and three updated bathrooms.
Outside, there are upper and lower brick terraces, lawn and a large fireplace. Also on the property is a detached garage.
Hale, 48, has multiple primetime Emmy nominations for his supporting role as a vicepresidential aide on Veep, winning twice. Last year, the actor appeared in the films The 15:17
to Paris, Sadie and Love, Simon. He has a voice role in the upcoming animated film Toy Story 4.
Penthouse sale hits new heights
In a record-setting deal, hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin has paid $238 million for a massive penthouse towering over Central Park in New York City.
The sale shatters the previous U.S. price record for a residential sale, which was set in 2014 when hedge-fund manager Barry Rosenstein reportedly shelled out $137 million for a Hamptons estate.
The mammoth transaction caps a series of eye-popping purchases for Griffin.
The Citadel hedge-fund founder shelled out $122 million for a London mansion near Buckingham Palace last month. Last year, he paid $58.75 million for the top four floors of a condo building in Chicago, and he also spent $60 million on a double-unit penthouse in Miami’s Faena House in 2015.
Located at 220 Central Park South, the penthouse spans 24,000 square feet across two apartments.
The building, developed by Vornado Realty Trust and designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, is still under construction. It’s clad in Alabama Silver Shadow limestone and composed of an 18-storey villa and a 79-storey tower.
Taking in views of Central Park, it offers amenities such as private dining rooms, entertaining spaces, an athletic club and a spa.
Reports of the deal first surfaced four years ago, with the transaction finally closing now that the tower is closer to completion.
In California, there have been a number of properties listed in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but none has sold for anywhere near the price Griffin paid for the penthouse.
There are 12 California homes on the market for more than $100 million, records show, and only one is listed for more than $238 million: the Bel-Air estate of late Univision billionaire A. Jerrold Perenchio. Known as Chartwell, the 25,000-square-foot mansion sits on more than 10 acres of manicured gardens. It’s on the market for $245 million.
Another property, a massive spec mansion developed by handbag tycoon Bruce Makowsky, was originally introduced to market two years ago at $250 million, but is now listed at $150 million after another round of price cuts.
The priciest home sale in California history came in 2013, when a neoclassical-style mansion sold for $117.5 million in Woodside, in Silicon Valley.