JLo steps it up with Bel-Air buy
In “Jenny From the Block,”
Jennifer Lopez said she “went from a little to a lot this year.”
When it comes to real estate, it’s more like she went from a lot to even more.
The singer-actress, whose previous home in gated Hidden Hills is on the market for $12.5 million, has paid $28 million for the Bel-Air estate of actress Sela
Ward and her husband, Howard Sherman.
Ward and Sherman bought the property more than a decade ago for $3.8 million and drew inspiration from French country style in reimagining the home. Handpicked items from across the globe and materials reclaimed from vintage structures in Mississippi and Louisiana give the home a worldly ambience.
The 8-acre estate centers on a 14,000-square-foot main house that was originally designed by architect Samuel Marx and built in 1940. Two guest cottages, a 100-seat outdoor amphitheater and an infinity-edge swimming pool also lie within the grounds.
Drawing from European elegance and American comforts, the home boasts such amenities as a 30-seat home theater, a skylight-topped and stone-walled kitchen, a dedicated massage room and a pub. One guesthouse has been used as an art studio, and the other features a screened porch and rose garden.
In all, there are seven bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and 10 carved wood or stone fireplaces.
Outdoors, the park-like grounds feature a series of waterfalls that feed into koi ponds, a man-made swimming pond with a beach entry, a miniature golf course and a stone cabana. Stone terraces and verandas lead to acres of walking paths and trails.
The house came to market in September for $39.995 million, property records show.
Jade Mills of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage and Branden and Rayni Williams of Hilton & Hyland, an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, were
the listing agents; Brett Lawyer, also of Hilton & Hyland, represented Lopez in the sale.
Ward, 59, has been in the series “CSI: N.Y.” and “House M.D.” She starred in the 1990s dramatic series “Sisters” and the family/ romance series “Once and Again.”
She appears in the upcoming sci-fi film “Independence Day: Resurgence.”
Lopez, 46, currently stars in the crime drama “Shades of Blue” and was a judge on “American Idol” for the last five years. She has worked as a dancer, singer and actress, landing a breakthrough role in “Selena” (1997). “The Cell” (2000), “Monster-in-Law” (2005) and “The Boy Next Door” (2015) are among her other film credits.