Best Countries To Invest In 2020

As 2020 unfolds, every business mind is boggled by one question โ€œWhere to Invest?โ€. As an investor, you should care a lot about economical and political stability when choosing where to invest your money in.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has caused great worry for many investors. And they are right to be The Congressional Research Service claims that the pandemic could trim down global economic growth by 2%. Evenย JP Morgan predictedย that there is a 60% chance that a recession will occur in 2020. And thus, the answer to โ€œWhere to invest?โ€ has never been more uncertain.

The truth is thatย not every country will be affected if a global recessionย occurs. Some countries are very fortified to withstand an economic crash. They have a lot of internal growth drivers with minimal affiliation with global markets. They will be the least affected. The best countries to invest in 2020 are these fortified countries.

According to the World Bank Group, four unique factors motivate an individual or a business entity to invest in a country. These are the countryโ€™s natural resources, markets, efficiency, and strategic assets (like its technologies and brands).

Using this four categorical determinants, we have compiled The 2020 Best Countries to Invest In ranking based on a broad list of ten equally weighted attributes: corruption index, tax environment, economical stability, entrepreneurial freedom, innovativeness, skilled labor force and technological expertise, infrastructure, investor protection, red tape, and quality of life.

Hereโ€™s the ranking of the 10 best countries to invest in 2020.

 

1.ย  Croatia

Croatia is currently No.1 on the list of the best countries to invest in. The countryโ€™s growth is amazing because just last year, it was ranked 25 positions lower. The European countryโ€™s stable economy, coupled with her entrepreneurial and innovative population, has made foreign investors very optimistic about her progressive business environment. In the first quarter of 2019, Croatia had a whooping foreign direct investment of more than $389 million!

2.ย  Thailand

Thailand occupies the second position on the 2020 Best Countries to Invest In ranking. The country has capitalized greatly on the trade tension between the US and China. Many investors have gotten fed up with the whole drama. They have now turned their attention towards Thailand. You should too. In the first nine months of 2019, the country received a 69% increase in the total value of Foreign Direct Investment applications, as compared to 2018. 65% of these applications were led by the automotive, electronics and electrical, and digital sectors. The growth of the Thai market and her momentum indicators have remained steady and strong. Forbes listed the country as the 8th best-emerging market of 2020.

3.ย  The United Kingdom

The U.K. is economically stable and has a skilled labor force and technological expertise. According to the U.N., it is the sixth country that attracts the most inflow of foreign direct investment. In the first seven months of 2019, the U.S. and Asian tech firms invested $3.7 billion in tech companies in the country, thus surpassing the $2.9 billion invested in the previous year. Despite Brexit, the U.K remains the fifth largest economy in the world and has an industrialized and competitive market.

4.ย  Indonesia

With about 650 listed equities and a market cap exceeding $500 billion, Indonesia boasts of one of the largest Asian stock markets. Her 260 million inhabitants promise is a very strong consumer market. The Indonesian consumer market is largely undiscovered, hence its huge potentials. This country should be your number one option if you are into manufacturing or consumer products. The robust economy and heavy investment in transportation and infrastructure make this Southeastern Asian country worthy of your investment. The only downside is that non-citizens are limited to only leasehold properties.

5.ย  India

According to the U.N, India was one of the top 10 countries with the highest inflow of foreign direct investment. India has been in the top 5 of the best countries to invest in since 2019. The Asian giant has invested so much in research and development and, and she is among the top countries having a comparatively skilled workforce.

6.ย  Italy

Italy is one of the top countries attracting investors in 2020. It has been on the list since 2002. This level of economical stability, its robust manufacturing sector, and the countryโ€™s stable political environment make it a good choice to invest in.

7.ย  Australia

Australia boasts of more than 25 years of continued economic growth. It is the 9th country with the most FDI attraction in 2020. Intact, she has been in the top 10 for ten years now. The country remains a very stable investment destination.

8.ย  Vietnam

Like Thailand, Vietnam has capitalized on the trade tension between China and the United States. Since the past years, the Chinese southern neighbor has gradually risen to become a formidable manufacturing hub. This growth became even more evident when multinational corporations like Samsung began relocating are from China into Vietnam.

 

We think you should consider this too. The availability of numerous seaports, coupled with the cheap cost of production and tariff breaks, makes Vietnam very business-friendly. Vietnamโ€™s economy is very stable. The country has never had a single recession Iโ€™m the last 20 years! But, like Thailand,ย non-foreigners can only own property in Vietnamย on a leasehold agreement. If you want to learn more aboutย real estate for investors, move to Asia has different guides to advise you through.

 

via@London Post

19/05/2020No comments,
Tour T.J. and Lauren Oshieโ€™s Polished Virginia Manse

The charmed residence that T.J. Oshieโ€”forward for hockeyโ€™s Capitals in Washington, D.C.โ€”has scored with spouse Lauren Oshie was destined to be photographed: The gorgeous duo has close to 500,000 Instagram followers between them. The home that the Oshies share with their three children (and two dogs) features fashionable choices that promise to influence, such as bronze fixtures and lush plants in cream-colored rooms. To realize this, the Oshies hired Marie Flanigan Interiorsโ€™ Marie Flanigan. T.J. says: โ€œLauren would always show me Marieโ€™s Instagram and the things that she loved. Iโ€™m not extremely interested in home design and things like that, but she really did a fantastic job. It was a dream come true for Lauren to be able to design her home.โ€

The five-bedroom manse in McLean, Virginia, is traditional and French-influenced. The gardens contribute to the sense of romance, featuring climbing roses and hedges. In the back, multisectioned seatingโ€”perfect for entertaining T.J.โ€™s NHL team and their familiesโ€”has been created from teakwood chairs from RH. The Oshies have considered a putting green, but T.J. says, โ€œItโ€™s an ongoing debate, a work in progress.โ€

Inside, furnishings honor the homeโ€™s bones but with a careful eye to feeling fresh and modern. โ€œThe house is provincial, sort of French countryside,โ€ says Flanigan. โ€œBut on the inside, we wanted to keep a modern aestheticโ€”almost organic modern.โ€ (Laurenโ€™s design references included the 1 Hotels brand.) The decorative scheme is largely monochrome, and texture has been introduced largely through the fabrics, which range from leathers to linens. โ€œDoing an all-white interior is harder than one might think, because you need to add that depth and texture and layering,โ€ notes Flanigan. โ€œVelvet can show a saturated tone like no other fabric.โ€ The collection of Oushak rugs throughout the house, all sourced in Houston, ground the rooms. So, too, do the linen curtains from Pindler.

From the beginning of the process, Lauren relied on Instagram for design inspiration. That was where she discovered Flaniganโ€”and it was where she sourced the brand that designed the cabinets in the kitchen (Oโ€™Brien Harris, based in Chicago). โ€œAs you know, Instagram is such a great tool for interior design. I find a lot of my inspiration through Instagram,โ€ Lauren says. โ€œI knew that I wanted everything to be very neutral and light, and I love adding texture and layering texture to add interest rather than adding a lot of color.โ€

So, is there room for T.J.โ€™s sports memorabilia in this polished home? The Oshies have chosen to house these items in the basement den, which is decorated with framed jerseys and a recliner from RH. โ€œI really wanted a reclining chair, which was something that my grandparents always had,โ€ says T.J. โ€œI think Lauren did a great job of selecting one.โ€ Reflecting on the overall project, Kelsey Grantโ€”Marie Flanigan Interiorsโ€™ creative director, who managed this collaborationโ€”says: โ€œAbove all, [the Oshies] wanted to create a relaxing environment that would be enjoyed comfortably with their friends, families, and teammates.โ€ย Goal!

 

via@ArchitecturalDidest

16/05/2020No comments
With Dubai Expo Postponed, Home Buyers to Benefit from Another Year of Price Declines

Home values, where overbuilding has caused a yearslong price slump, were already down 30% from their last peak in 2014

The pandemic and the resulting postponement of Dubaiโ€™s long-awaited World Expo, which was supposed to commence in October, ensures the cityโ€™s yearslong price slump will persist for at least another year.

โ€œLast year, we said values would go down 7% to 10%โ€ in 2020, said Haidar Tuaima, head of real estate research at appraisal firm ValuStrat. โ€œNow 7% is very much on the optimistic side.โ€

The organization that oversees the worldโ€™s fair, the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions, announced last week that its members passed an executive proposal to move Expo 2020 Dubai back a year. It will now run from Oct. 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.

The decision comes amid the global Covid-19 pandemic, which has made large gatherings dangerous breeding grounds, devastated the travel and tourism industries and shuttered retail businessesโ€”upon all of which the world expo depends.

Dubai has been planning for the mega event since it was chosen as the host city in 2014, beefing up infrastructure with an elaborate exhibition site, plus a multitude of new residential developments; more shopping centers and an expansion of its public transit system. Analysts expected it could bring in roughly 25 million visitors to the city, a boon for the local economy, including the real estate market.

Itโ€™s really too early to predict the extent of the economic fallout from the current crisis. Dubai went into total lockdown from mid-March through most of April, allowing residents to leave their homes only with an official permit, even to buy groceries.

Average sales prices in the cityโ€™s luxury communities are already down 20% to 30% from their last peak in 2014. But with the pandemic and now the postponement of Dubaiโ€™s heralded expo, market analysts broadly agree that home values, at the very least, will flatline in the coming year. Others, like Mr. Tuaima, say average sales price could fall by as much as 11% to 12% by the end of 2020.

Either way, the coming months present an opportunity for buyers with a long-term viewโ€”expats whoโ€™ve made a home there, local Emiratis, frequent visitors or investors seeking rental income; they stand to benefit from another year of discounts before Dubai Expo 2021 and diminishing supply potentially spur home values to rise again.

โ€œWe can very much say weโ€™re at the bottom, or very close to it,โ€ Mr. Tuaima said. After all, if even 2% to 3% of the millions of expo visitors in 2021 decide to open a business, move to the city or otherwise buy property, โ€œthat would be a huge amount of people and would play a huge role in absorbing supply.

 

via@MensionGlobal

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16/05/2020No comments,
Kylie Jenner Buys Vacant 5-Acre Lot in Hidden Hills
Miley Cyrus previously owned the property between 2015 and 2018

via@Architectural Digest

06/05/2020No comments
Stefano Ricci at Home in Tuscany

In the world of fashion, it can be difficult to find a quiet moment. For Italian luxury menswear designer Stefano Ricci, his sprawling estate in the Tuscan hills of Mugello provides a welcome escape.

At Poggio ai Segugi, built on land once owned by the Medici family, Ricci finds the inspiration for many of his designs. His bespoke suits and shirts have been worn by the likes of Nelson Mandela, opera singer Andrea Bocelli, and Hollywood star Tom Cruise.

โ€œIn my line of workโ€”luxury menswearโ€”itโ€™s the details that make the difference,โ€ Ricci says. โ€œThe skilled craftsmanship, the absolute quality, the workmanship only expert hands can achieve, yielding little masterpieces no machine can ever produce.โ€

Nature features significantly in his workโ€”the 1,650 acres of virtually unspoiled countryside surrounding his estate is teeming with wild animals, including different breeds of deer, Tuscan wild boars, and falcons. Ricci says itโ€™s like a paradise where he can unwind and concentrate on new projects.

That explains why Ricciโ€™s eponymous brandโ€™s eagle logo can be found on everything from handmade silk shirts, which start at US$1,400, to crocodile belts at US$2,800. Ricciโ€™s two-piece suits start at US$6,000.

Ricci, who turns 70 this year, painstakingly renovated the house over four years and spent weeks searching for local building materials. โ€œIโ€™m proud to have had several pietra serena quarries reopened; itโ€™s the same stone the Medici family used to build palaces and squares in Florence,โ€ Ricci says.

The estate has become a family retreat where he spends time with his grandchildren, Stefano, 7, and Aurora, 4. Although the hideaway provides much needed solitude, it is still less than an hour away from the sartorial splendor that Florence offers.

โ€œI wanted a place that would allow me to cut myself off from the world whilst remaining less than an hourโ€™s drive from the company,โ€ Ricci says.

The houseโ€™s eight bedroom suites are adorned with cloths woven by Florentine artisans at Lโ€™Antico Setificio Fiorentino, one of the oldest silk workshops in Europe, whose looms date to the 18th century. A warpingโ€”or weavingโ€”machine designed by Leonardo da Vinci creates threads used to make silk fabrics, tassels, and trimmings.

The workshop, which Ricci bought from the Emilio Pucci family in 2010, still produces Renaissance-style fabrics, including the Damaschi collection, composed of single-color damask fabrics with stylized or floral designs created in a shiny and low-luster finish. This fabric was first made in Florence on mechanical looms from before the early 1800s and is sold for between โ‚ฌ280 and โ‚ฌ1,300 per meter. In 2016, Ricci presented Pope Francis with a silk damask chasubleโ€”the outermost liturgical vestment worn by clergyโ€”that was woven at the mill.

Ricciโ€™s own property, with its starkly modern and opulent decor, couldnโ€™t be more different in style from the old-world romance of the workshop. At the center of the main house is the Great Hall, featuring a 7.5-meter crystal table and china from his porcelain homeware collection, all of which are made in Italy.

The estateโ€™s cavernous basement houses 15 classic and vintage cars. He has a soft spot for Aston Martinsโ€”especially in British racing green, calling the classic car โ€œan expression of things that are handmade, of style and elegance.โ€ Ricci has five prized Aston Martins and a Lancia in the garage, protected behind glass. One stands out as his personal favorite: a 1933 Aston Martin Le Mans.

Ricci prefers to hit the track in his 1953 Lancia Aurelia Series III. The Ricci family has previously sponsored historic events, such as the Mille Miglia race in Italy, founded in 1927, a motorsport endurance race with 400 classic cars competing across 1,000 miles from Brescia to Rome and back. His wife, Claudia, has also participated, in a Jaguar XK140.

Ricci is also the organizer of the 10-year-old Stefano Ricci Heritage Trophy concours, held in Florence.

Despite their increasing in value, he hasnโ€™t sold any of the cars in his collection. Except for one: Ricci started his business by selling theย Porscheย 914/6 that his father gave him when he was 21.

That companyโ€”launched from his kitchen tableโ€”has evolved into a business empire with more than 68 boutiques around the world, from London to Milan and Shanghai to Cambodia.

Many Ricci suits are made from limited-edition fabrics and the company provides customers with a master tailor who regularly flies around the world for fittings. โ€œNowadays, contemporary designers often come out of the finest schools and define styles without actually knowing how to sew,โ€ Ricci says.

The business generated โ‚ฌ148 million in sales in 2018, up from โ‚ฌ144 million in 2017. Ricci was one of the first luxury brands to move into China in 1993. There are 14 boutiques in the country, including a 22,000-square-foot mansion in Shanghai with a private club available for high-spending clients.

This year will also see Ricci open more boutiques in Seoul and Taipei. But when he wants to retreat from the noise of his growing empire, he can always return to his home in the Tuscan hills, where the โ€œsilence is only broken by the sounds of nature.โ€

 

via@Barrons

Photograph by Paolo Prendin

30/04/2020No comments
Kanye West Is Now Officially a Billionaire

When last we checked in with Kanye West, the mercurial hip-hop superstar-turned-footwear magnate, I was tiptoeing through a parking lot crop circle composed of hundreds of pairs of his Yeezy sneakers. โ€œIโ€™m not a numbers guy,โ€ he explained ten months ago. โ€œTo ask me to somehow translate this to numbers is to ask your grandmother exactly what the recipe of the cake was.โ€

Thereโ€™s only one number that West cares about. A billion, as in dollars. And he caresย a lot.

When we featured West on theย coverย ofย Forbesย last summer, delving into his incredible success with Yeezy, he seemed pleased at first. His world-famous wife, Kim Kardashian West, evenย tweetedย her congratulations, to the positive affirmations of 32,300 of their closest Twitter friends.ย But without sufficient documentation on his unusual stake, versus just his word and industry guesstimates, we didnโ€™t call him a billionaire. And that grated on him.ย As the year wore on, he protestedย publicly. (โ€œI showed them a $890 million receipt, and they still didnโ€™t say โ€˜billionaire,โ€™โ€ he told an industry panel, about something that no one atย Forbesย remembers.) In private, he was more biting. (A โ€œdisrespectful article,โ€ he texted this week, that was โ€œpurposely snubbing me.โ€)

When our annualย billionaires listย appeared earlier this month, again with West absentโ€”still no documentation, and now a pandemic to bootโ€”West again reacted with hurt and venom. โ€œYou know what youโ€™re doing,โ€ he texted. โ€œYouโ€™re toying with me and Iโ€™m not finna lye [sic] down and take it anymore in Jesus name.โ€ At one point, he texted thatย Forbesย was โ€œpart of a group of mediaโ€ that was trying to suppress his self-made narrative because of his race.ย That sister-in-law Kylie Jenner did make the list also clearly stuck in his craw.

Then, yesterday, a breakthrough: West directed his team to provide what we feel is an authentic numeric look into Kanye, Inc.

Three things became clear from this exercise. First, it reinforces why we put him on the cover in the first placeโ€”West, in just a few years, has created a brand thatโ€™s challenging Nikeโ€™s Air Jordan for sneaker world supremacy. Itโ€™s one of the great retail stories of the century.

Second, it reinforced that West, who claims both in words and in this paperwork that heโ€™s worth more than $3 billion, is as overlyย boastfulย as his political idol, President Donald Trump. Not a numbers guy? We agree.

Finallyโ€”and perhaps most critically to Westโ€”it does confirm, based on our estimates, that his stake in Yeezy indeed makes him a billionaire. A bit over $1 billion, actually.

In the process, we can now share more details about Yeezy than ever before revealedโ€”as well as some insight into what drives this extremely creative, extremely enigmatic ten-digit artist.

Yeezy is a complicated asset. West owns 100% of it. But itโ€™s functionally tiedโ€”at least for five-plus years based on the documents we sawโ€”to Adidas, which produces, markets and distributes the shoes. Thereโ€™s also a separate apparel division that we donโ€™t believe makes money. Last year, our sources projected the shoes would finish 2019 with revenue north of $1.5 billion (Adidas would not comment then, or now). Per recent conversations and internal documents, we believe the final revenue number ended up closer to $1.3 billion.

Our sources told us last year that Westโ€™s agreement calls for him to receive a royalty around 15% of Yeezy revenue from Adidas. Upon closer inspection, it appears some expenses are carved out of that slice, bringing his actual cut closer to 11%. At that rate, he would have received royalties of over $140 million from Yeezy sales last year.

Westโ€™s aggressive $3 billion self-appraisal is clearly based on the idea that the business is infinitely portable. Itโ€™s not. Taking Yeezy away from Adidas seems almost prohibitively cumbersome, if not contractually impossible. A safer way to value it: as a royalty stream, like music publishing or film residuals. Multiples, based data fromย servicesย like Royalty Exchange and reports of large private transactions, can range from as low as three for something faddish like Cardi Bโ€™s โ€œBodak Yellowโ€ to 17 for an evergreen asset like the Eddie Murphy filmย Trading Places.

A handful of experts surveyed felt Westโ€™s interest would fetch a multiple somewhere in the middle of that range, were it ever made available to outside investors. The convenience of the Adidas setup trumps publishing catalogs, where owners must actively collect payments from a complex web of sourcesโ€”or outsource that labor to someone else in exchange for an administration fee. โ€œHis place in the capital stack is a preferred place to be,โ€ says Royalty Exchange chief Matt Smith, who pegged the multiple at between 10 and 12.

Conservativelyโ€”as we typically are with such figuresโ€”a 10x multiple, applied to Westโ€™s Yeezy cut of $140 million, makes his stake worth about $1.4 billion. But itโ€™s a private, highly illiquid $1.4 billion; our rule-of-thumb for private assets like that is to lop off at least 10%.ย Thatโ€™s $1.26 billion.

via@Forbes

27/04/2020No comments,
Leading Yachts of the World Accelerates Global Expansion with New Office and Key Hires in Monaco

Leading Yachts of the World (LYW), the ground-breaking travel technology brand, has accelerated its global expansion strategy with the opening of a new office in Monaco.

 

The Mediterranean principality, which is famed for its glittering harbor and high-end clientele, becomes the companyโ€™s sixth global location, along with Singapore, Bangkok, Phuket, Hong Kong, and Palma de Mallorca. The new office will enable LYW to disrupt the yachting, travel and hospitality industries in Europe. With its fully automated digital ecosystem, supported by proprietary technology from AVA Software, LYW will connect yacht charter companies with premium travel suppliers, luxury hospitality players and high net worth individuals across the region.

The launch of the Monaco office coincides with the appointment of senior executives to oversee the European market. Roberto Bottini has become Director of European Sales, while Marco Meneghini, LYWโ€™s co-founding partner and Group Financial Director, will drive the companyโ€™s growth in this important market.

A luxury travel expert with more than 30 years of experience, Roberto Bottini spent several years with Hilton before working for five-star hotels in Cannes and Paris. He intuitively understands the Monaco market, having spent more than a decade in senior managerial roles at some of the countryโ€™s most prestigious properties, including Hotel Metropole, Monegasque Palace, and Fairmont Hotel. He also spent a decade managing an exclusive boutique hotel on the Cรดte dโ€™Azur, where he honed his ability to meet and exceed the expectations of premium guests.

Marco Meneghini has spent a lifetime immersed in Monacoโ€™s yachting culture. He oversaw the restructuring of Nautorโ€™s Swan global subsidiaries during its acquisition by Leonardo Ferragamo and helped to create the first app for its charter business. Marco has developed successful sales and marketing strategies for several stakeholders and used his financial acumen to set up investment platforms and consultancy projects for individuals, companies, and start-ups. Living and working in Monaco, Marco has an extensive personal and professional network in the yachting and real estate sectors.

โ€œMonaco is the yachting industryโ€™s most high-profile market. Its iconic attractions and well-heeled clientele create outstanding opportunities for the travel and hospitality industries. We are delighted to welcome Roberto to LYW; his proven ability to generate new business and drive results will play a vital role in the growth of our operations. Combined with Marcoโ€™s extensive network and knowhow, we expect to achieve a rapid ramp-up in Europe,โ€ said Anthony Brisacq, CEO, Leading Yachts of the World and AVA Software.

Following the companyโ€™s debut in the Asia Pacific, the LYW platform is now being rolled out in multiple European destinations including Monaco, the French Riviera, Corsica and Sardinia, the Balearic Islands, Greece, and Croatia, with more international destinations set to follow.

 

via@Global Travel Media

18/04/2020No comments,
Costa del Solโ€™s Marbella to entice holidaymakers back with price drops of around 30% when Spainโ€™s lockdown ends

Marbellaโ€™s luxury hotels are considering price drops of around 30 percent to entice holidaymakers back when Spainโ€™s lockdown ends.

IN a bid to ensure that the Costa del Sol remains a competitive and attractive destination, Marbellaโ€™s hotel association Marbella All Stars is considering adjusting its prices and service offering to reactivate tourism once the State of Alarm ends.

Several luxury hotels, high-end restaurateurs and gastronomers, participated in a virtual conference meeting yesterday to discuss the future of tourism in Marbella. Hoteliers and tourism companies concluded that return to normal is going to be slow, and will require caution as the restrictions are slowly lifted.

As well as a price drop, they agreed that vital changes would be needed to ensure that both health and safety measures were being met,ย particularly at hotels offering food and buffet services. The association said it was also considering partnerships with food delivery services in the short term, and planning to experiment with locally grown quality produce and food. It added that there would be a strong focus on โ€œenvironmentally friendlyโ€ initiatives to reactivate the tourism sector in Marbella.

via@Euro Weekly

16/04/2020No comments,
Princeโ€™s Purple Palace Hits the Market for $30 Million

You can buy it for $30 million, or rent it for $80,000 a month.

Built in 1953 by Hal Braxton Hayes, the property was purchased by NBA player Carlos Boozer in 2004 who went on to rent it to the legendary musician. Prince then ended up converting the property into his own purple palace. The pop icon turned the pro basketball playerโ€™s gym into a disco, changed a bedroom into a hair salon, painted purple stripes across the faรงade, installed purple carpet and even replaced the gold lions that adorned the front gates with his โ€œArtist Formerly Known Asโ€ symbol.

He also held numerous live concerts and parties at the property, which, with its expansive patios and panoramic city-to-ocean views, was uniquely suited to entertaining. Prince assured Boozer that when the lease was up, the mansion would look like heโ€™d never been there, and he evenย wired the athlete $500,000ย to ease his mind.

True to his word, the artistโ€™s outlandish furnishings were removed, and, today, the mansion exudes understated elegance. The main residence boasts 10 bedrooms and 13 baths, along with all manner of grand amenities, including a ballroom, wine room, rooftop tennis court, gym and indoor sports court, a four-car garage,ย  a pool with a swim-up bar and waterslide and a secretive grotto.

Not to be completely upstaged, the second 3,300-square-foot residence located at 1255 Sierra Alta Way boasts a fully appointed, high-end kitchen, bar and billiards room, den, spa, a two-car garage and, of course, its own pool.

Ready to call the palace your own? The estate can be purchased for $30 million viaย The Oppenheim Group. If thatโ€™s a little too steep, you can do as Prince did and rent the main residence for $80,000 a month. Just donโ€™t get any grand ideas about painting the walls.

via@Robb Report

14/04/2020No comments
Tony Haleโ€™s L.A. Home Is a โ€œCozy, Sit-by-the-Fireโ€ Refuge

When itโ€™s finally safe to release ourselves from social distancing and entertain with friends again, Tony and Martel Hale would like to have you over. In fact, the Emmy winners (she for makeup, and he forย Veep) designed their three-bedroom Los Angeles home, where they live with their daughter, Loy, to be just the type of welcoming respite where their loved ones can walk in, kick off their shoes, watch an episode ofย RuPaulโ€™s Drag Race,ย and maybe even stay the night. (Thereโ€™s a guest house with a Murphy bed for that.)

And should you be the lucky recipient of a dinner party invitation at the Halesโ€™, the Southern pair (sheโ€™s from Anniston, Alabama; he grew up in Tallahassee, Florida) probably serve up cheese straws and a one-pan rosemary-lemon chicken, aย Southern Livingย recipe thatโ€™s their go-to. โ€œWe love to have people visit,โ€ Tony says. โ€œWhen someone walks into the house, we want them to feel joy. Thereโ€™s a cozy, sit-by-the-fire, have-a-glass-of-wine vibe to the house.โ€ Who among us couldnโ€™t use a little of that right now?

When the couple moved into the Studio City ranch house five years ago, they called upon friend andย Martin & Brockettย interior designer Jason Martin, who had worked on their first house in Griffith Park, to give it a homey feel. โ€œI wanted it pretty, and I wanted it Southern; a bit modern, and a bit traditional,โ€ says Martel in her Alabama drawl. And a relaxed feel was key: โ€œI remember saying I donโ€™t want to sacrifice comfort for something just being cool or looking good,โ€ Tony says.

So Martin filled the space and its guest house with tufted furniture, cozy monochromatic shades, and the kind of showers youโ€™d want to spend all day in. The coupleโ€™s master bedroom is a prime example of their comfort-based philosophy: You could literally roll from the bed onto a tufted sofa, then right onto cozy overstuffed ottomans, never once encountering a hard surface.

The coupleโ€™s homey atmosphere is also thanks to plenty of personal touches, like theย Saturday Night Liveย costume sketches lining a wall in the kitchenโ€”Martel salvaged them from the trash when she was on the makeup team there in the late โ€™90s to early โ€™00s. Their kitchen table was a wedding present from Martelโ€™s mother. In the living room, the couple hung photographs by a production coordinator fromย Arrested Development.ย Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tonyโ€™sย Veepย costar, told them about the artist whose work they now display in their powder room. But most importantly, the pair and their daughter use every room of the house. โ€œThereโ€™s a puzzle on our dining room table as we speak,โ€ Martel says.

As Martin can attest (he and his husband have been hanging out with the Hales on an almost-weekly basis for the last 16 years) their unpretentious love of home and hosting isnโ€™t just a line. Even during my interview with the duo and in subsequent emails, Tony and Martel invited me to come over the next time Iโ€™m in L.A., a request Iโ€™m holding them to when this is all over. โ€œThatโ€™s whatโ€™s so exciting about having a home with a design aspect to it,โ€ Tony says. โ€œItโ€™s a real gift to anybody who comes into the house. Itโ€™s a service to them. I just want you to have just a real, restful time here.โ€

 

via@Architectual Digestย 

13/04/2020No comments
7 TV Shows to Binge for Design Inspiration

Thereโ€™s never a wrong time to turn to quality television as home design inspiration. But now that weโ€™re all self-isolating and social distancing within our walls because of theย COVID-19 pandemic, plunging through your streaming queue and gazing at a showโ€™s visual style โ€” that seamlessly complements its story and characters โ€” is a flat-out essential activity. Beyond the benefit of providing some good old-fashioned escapism, the right series with the right set-design eye candy can spark your own creativity and innovation. And in this current golden age of television, a plethora of swoon-worthy options are just a sanitized finger-click away. Check out these all-time greats, whose aesthetics span from the polished world of 1950s New York City to contemporary white-trim California cool. Welcome home.

American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace

Think opulence, and lots of it. The acclaimed 2018 limited series about the late, great Italian fashion designer (played by Edgar Ramirez) was filmed on location at his mansion on Miamiโ€™s Ocean Drive, offering viewers a behind-the-gilded-gates look at his over-the-top architectural philosophy. (To wit: His 10-suite estate features two rooms covered in seashells and a 54-foot-long pool comprised of more than one million mosaic tilesโ€”thousands of which are 24-karat gold!) Because much of the original furniture was sold (the spot is now a boutique hotel), the art department commissioned Italian upholsterers to recreate the original Versace-designed fabric and accentuated his penchant for black and gold. (Netflix)

The Americans

Not only did this cold-war spy thriller about married Russian sleeper agents (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell) in the 1980s keep us hooked with ultra-suspenseful plots from 2013 to 2018, its decade-of-excess period made for totally awesome retro production design. (Ditto for its costumes, but thatโ€™s another story.) As the decade unfolds in the show, set designer Diane Lederman shifted the dรฉcor of the pairโ€™s suburban home in Washington, D.C., from warm colors (notice the soft-gold washer-dryer and kitchen table) of the ’70s to cooler ’80s tones. She and her team purchased vintage furnishings and gadgets via thrift stores, Etsy, and eBay.ย (Amazon Prime)

Big Little Lies

Author Liane Moriarity set her juicyย Big Little Liesย novel in her native Australia. But for its small-screen adaptation, which first premiered in 2017, producers chose the airy beachfront world of Monterey, California. Each stunning residence in the show had a personality befitting its owner, from Type A Renata (Laura Dern)โ€™s grand abode with its minimalist furnishings (courtesy of Ligne Roset) to tormented Celeste (Nicole Kidman)โ€™s home of stone and glass overlooking the tranquil sea. (Set decorator Amy Wells picked up the dining room chandelier from Jonathan Adler and chairs from Objects rentals.) As for the house of queen bee Madeline (Reese Witherspoon)? Her lived-in Cape Codโ€“style beach home is like something straight from the Martha Stewart design book.ย (HBO)

 

Mad Men

Fantastical attention was paid to the production design of this iconic drama, which ran from 2007 to 2015, and served as a time capsule for 1960s New York City. (Creator Matthew Weiner once even switched out apples in a kitchen-set scene because they looked too plump.) For the first half of the series, ad man Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and his family live in a colonial-style Westchester house decorated in East Coast Danish midcentury style. When he moves out and relocates to Manhattan, his sleek high-rise Upper East Side apartment features a sunken living room with shag carpet, and walnut cabinetry with a built-in television set. Emmy-winning set decorator Claudette Didul said she took inspiration from two 1960s-era books by author Betty Pepis, as well as the 1965 bookย Decoration U.S.A.ย Itโ€™s still available on Amazon.ย (Netflix)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

No joke: Housewife turned comedian Miriam โ€œMidgeโ€ Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan)โ€™s dreamy pre-war 1950s apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan still looks timeless. The Dorothy Draper chests! The Chinoiserie folding screens! The candy-apple-red-and-white kitchen! Production designer Bill Groom, who researched via books,ย Lifeย magazines, and catalogues, has said he copied the latter from a Doris Day movie and sourced the home furnishings from antique dealers. Meanwhile, Midgeโ€™s nemesis Sophie Lennon (Jane Lynch) lives in a townhouse dressed in a mix of American and European antiques from Newel.ย (Amazon Prime)

The Politician

In modern-day Santa Barbara, ambitious high school student Payton Hobart (Ben Platt) is seeking elected officeโ€”and he wheels and deals from a bedroom that would make a POTUS drool with envy. Indeed, production designer Jamie McCall toldย Architectural Digestย that she referenced President John F. Kennedyโ€™s stately quarters when creating Paytonโ€™s lair (see: a canopy bed with a tufted silk headboard, antique cane bench, and several first-bound editions of classic books). The rest of the Hobart mansion is a study in ornate decor, from a chinoiserie-tinged sitting room to a well-manicured California lawn. Set decorator Amber Haley sourced the interiors on Chairish and 1stdibs, and picked up an assortment of ashtrays from eBay.ย (Netflix)

Succession

If youโ€™re Logan Roy (Brian Cox) and youโ€™re trying to run a global media conglomerate while your children wrestle for control, you might as well plot in the most luxurious confines as possible. That palatial 20,000-square-foot estate in the Hamptons used to belong to Henry Ford II, and is valued at a mere $175 million. Production designer Stephen Carter toldย Architectural Digestย that he and his team placed a desk from Newel Antiques and kept the homeownerโ€™s rug in the office. For Loganโ€™s Fifth Avenue apartment (filmed at Queensโ€™ Silvercup Studios), set decorator George DeTitta shopped at high-end sources such as Newel Props (an offshoot of Newel antiques) along with 1stdibs, John Street Antiques, and The Antique and Artisan Gallery in Stamford, Connecticut, as well as antique shops in Westport, Connecticut.ย (HBO)

via@Architectural Digest

13/04/2020No comments
Inside Casey Wilsonโ€™s Charming Farmhouse-Inspired L.A. Home

When Casey Wilson and her husband, David Caspe, started their search for a family home, she knew exactly what her dream house was: The problem was that she didnโ€™t know if it actually existed in Los Angeles. โ€œMaybe this is kind of cheesy, but Iโ€™ve always loved the movieย Father of the Bride,ย and I had this idea in my head of the white house with the dark trim,โ€ theย Black Mondayย actress says. The coupleโ€™s favorite neighborhood, Los Feliz, however, was filled with a preponderance of Mediterranean and modern homes, and not many in that traditional East Coast vein. Luckily, their friend Doug Levine, an interior designer and architect, had been keeping a close eye on the real estate market in the area and alerted the couple as soon as a listing for a private almost farmhouse-like home became available.

Although they lost out with their first bid, the approximately 4,000-square-foot house hit the market again a few months later, and the couple quickly snatched it up. But as picture-perfect as its exterior was, they knew a major renovation of the 1938 home was in order. Its current state was dark and claustrophobic: exactly what Wilson, a lover of warm and comfortable spaces, didnโ€™t want. To realize her and Caspeโ€™s vision for a welcoming home that was perfect for entertainingโ€”โ€œOur favorite thing in life is sharing a meal or drink with friends,โ€ she saysโ€”they enlisted not only Levine to work on the interior architecture but also firm Nickey Kehoe to create the interior design. It was an unusual arrangement for Levine, who normally focuses on interior design himself, but working with Nickey proved the men were perfect foils. โ€œAt the beginning, we didnโ€™t want to step on each otherโ€™s toes,โ€ Levine says. โ€œBut it was actually so easy. Itโ€™s really fun watching someone else with talent take what youโ€™ve done and add their layer on to it.โ€

Levineโ€™s goal was to open up each floorโ€™s layout: On the first floor, which is where the family does their entertaining, he added in a proper foyer by expanding out into the houseโ€™s substantial front veranda. When it was completed, โ€œit looked like it was always there,โ€ Levine says. Upstairs, in the more private areas, he blew out the ceilings in the bedrooms to cathedral-like proportions and added in larger windows to take advantage of the propertyโ€™s lush green landscape. The basement, which was the former ownerโ€™s secondary closet, is now a sleek dark bar space with room for up to 100 people. โ€œWeโ€™ve done Thanksgiving and Christmas parties there; everybodyโ€™s loving it,โ€ Wilson says.

For the interior design, Wilson relayed to Nickey that she loved pattern and color. โ€œWe wanted the whole house to feel warm when you came in,โ€ she says. โ€œLike it was a hug and welcoming to everyone.โ€ Caspe found he did have to be the voice of reason when it came to some of Wilsonโ€™s design wishes, though. โ€œHe said, โ€˜If you had your ideal way, we would just strap two mattresses to you and you would just lie down wherever you were,โ€ she laughs. โ€œโ€™At a certain point, we have to have a chair; it canโ€™t also be a couch and a bed.โ€™ โ€ Nickey toed the line by imbuing the home with bright color, multiple patterns, and prints, all of which read as inviting. โ€œWe wanted to create a space they are super-comfortable in and that feels casual enough in the less formal areas of the house but then formal enough that entertaining still feels like itโ€™s an elevated experience,โ€ says Nickey.

 

The family also embraced wallpaper, which can be found everywhere from the powder room (a floral Sandberg) to the guest bedroom (a subtle salmon-colored print by Lee Jofa). The most arresting, however, is the outdoor-scene Iksel wallpaper in the forest-green dining room, which lends a refined, traditional air to the room. โ€œItโ€™s unbelievable,โ€ Wilson says of the print. Although Wilson initially protested Nickeyโ€™s use of green in the home, he was finally able to convince her of the colorโ€™s utility in everywhere from the striking dining room to the cheery mint-green in the kitchen. โ€œThere are so many beautiful vistas in the exterior; everywhere you look outside, itโ€™s green. So we incorporated the outdoors inside. It just felt like such a natural thing,โ€ Nickey says. โ€œTodd got meย goodย with green and now I love it,โ€ Wilson says. โ€œI always said, โ€˜You know, I hated it, and now I hate it so much, I love it.โ€™ โ€

 

via@Architectual Digestย 

01/04/2020No comments
Step Inside Dita Von Teese’s One-of-a-Kind L.A. Home
The multihyphenate star was careful to preserve much of her Tudor Revival residence’s original character while imbuing it with plenty of her own personality

Itโ€™s been five years since the worldโ€™s most famous burlesque star, style icon Dita Von Teese, purchased her Los Angeles home, and yet she still thinks of it as a work in progress. โ€œI donโ€™t like to finish everything,โ€ she says. โ€œI like having projects.โ€

TBDs withstanding, the star has definitely managed to transform the 3,200-square-foot four-bedroom Tudor Revivalโ€“style home to match her inimitable punk pinup aesthetic. โ€œAll the walls were painted white,โ€ she says of moving in. โ€œAnd I have a phobia of white walls in houses. I am a maximalist. My first order of business was going through room by room and adding color and excitement to the room.โ€

An antiques and taxidermy obsessive, Von Teese holds the pastโ€”its sensibility and attention to detailโ€”in reverence. She was adamantly opposed to bulldozing through with a conventional modern-things-up design approach. โ€œI like feeling like I am living in this house in a very similar way to the way somebody did in the ’20s or ’30s,โ€ says Von Teese. โ€œIt made a big difference to me when I was buying the house that someone lived here for so long and raised their children here. The owner even got married here.โ€

 

โ€œI bought this house [in part] because the kitchen wasnโ€™t overly renovated. I like to keep things as historical as possible.โ€ Still, the kitchen wasโ€ฆbrown, and so she immediately started to make her mark there: โ€œBrown is my least favorite colorย in the entire world.โ€

 

via@Architectural Digest

 

24/03/2020No comments
Ryan Murphy Safeguards Hans Hofmann’s

With the help of designer David Cafiero, the Hollywood hitmaker lovingly preserved the studio in the Cape Cod fishing village

Four years ago, TV maestro Ryan Murphy ushered his husband, photographer David Miller, into the Provinceยญtown studio where Abstract Expressionist Hans Hofmann once painted and taught. Thanks to the efforts of later owners, its best features had survivedโ€”a mammoth window, a humongous hearth, and above it, a dizzying perch that let Hofmannโ€™s acolytes peer down at art in the making. As Murphy and Miller flipped through archival photos of Hofmann arranging still lifes or the limbs of human models, they shared an impulse: Protect this space.

โ€œThe room is its own work of art,โ€ notes Murphy, who, like Hofmann, has done much to boost Provincetownโ€™s creative culture. Seven years ago, he and Miller married here in the dunes, later purchasing a waterfront houseโ€”near where the Pilgrims first landedโ€”for them and their two sons to breathe in salt air. (The good vibes have clearly done Murphy well; last year he signed a $300 million contract with Netflix, then the largest Hollywood deal of its kind.) Hofmann, on the other hand, arrived at the Cape Cod fishing village in 1935, taking up residency at Provincetownโ€™s legendary painting school, the Hawthorne barn, before buying his own studio from fellow artist Frederick Waugh in 1945. For the next two decades, Hofmann used the complex to feed fresh talents some avant-garde concepts. If youโ€™ve ever taken a painting class, then Hofmann has kinda, sorta taught you. Pushing shapes to the foreground through color, pulling the viewerโ€™s eye deeper into the canvas, any mention of โ€œplasticityโ€ at allโ€”those lessons bear the Teutonic accent of his guiding voice.

Upon taking stewardship of the studio, with the goal of adapting it as a guesthouse for entertaining, Murphy and Miller handed the keys to Manhattan-based designer David Cafiero, also a pillar of P-Town. He listened for whatever notes could still be struck in the chapel-like space, marveling at the nautical planks that Waugh had fused into walls and nooks. Something of a salvage artist himselfโ€”the designer had just restored the Hawthorne barnโ€”Cafiero found wood boards and ship timbers that could be fashioned into a more spare and spacious kitchen. โ€œThe happiest discovery was under the linoleum, where we found floor planks that match those in the main room,โ€ says Cafiero, who also replaced prefab kitchen cabinetry with whitewashed shiplap. At the coupleโ€™s insistence, all appliances live below the counter, making room for a shelf dotted with finds from Murphyโ€™s antiques-shop roundsโ€”just not too many. โ€œItโ€™s a big space,โ€ says Murphy, โ€œbut we wanted to empty it, not fill it.โ€

Throughout the studio, the couple thought small, situating treasures at eye level. In the main room, a bronze statue of Narcissus points toward a German-porcelain Pan. A life-size bust of Joan of Arc sits next to a delicate cast of Barbra Streisandโ€™s head (made for a puppet show at the 1964 Worldโ€™s Fair). And two black-and-white Herb Ritts portraits converse from across the room: one a mud-crusted profile of Madonna-ex Tony Ward, the other a smiling Elizabeth Taylor, fully made-up but shorn and scarred after brain surgery. The latter was a gift from Julia Roberts, star of Murphyโ€™s 2014 adaptation ofย The Normal Heart. She, like La Liz, Miss Streisand, and Bette Davis, who stayed at the studio in the 1980s, is the inspiration for a chapter in the memoir that Murphy has been writing in the perch above the hearth. The bookโ€™s working title, naturally, isย Ladies.

 

13/03/2020No comments
An Ultra-Luxe Private Island in Miami

Just off the shore from South Beach, Fisher Island offers total seclusion to roughly 800 families

Fisher Island is only 7 minutes by ferry from Miami, but the 216-acre island is worlds away from South Beach. Perhaps that is because its history is so unique. In 1905, to provide better seaport access, Miami cut through the barrier island that today is known as Miami Beach. This created an island that business tycoon Carl Fisher purchased in 1919 but traded to William K. Vanderbilt II in 1925 in exchange for Vanderbiltโ€™s 265-foot yacht. After Vanderbilt died in 1944, the islandโ€”on which Vanderbilt had commissioned famed architect Maurice Fatio to build him a Mediterranean-style compoundโ€”changed hands until development began in the 1980s. Today, about 800 families from more than 40 different countries inhabit this uber-private oasis, where life revolves around the Fisher Island Club, which opened in 1987 on the site of the Vanderbilt Mansion. Residentsโ€”a mix of highflying CEOs and entrepreneursโ€”drive around in golf carts, send their children to the Fisher Island Day School (which offers Mandarin classes) and use amenities such as the communityโ€™s own medical clinic and safety department.

 

Event of the year

The Yacht Rendezvous, which benefits the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County, is one of the worldโ€™s biggest annual superyacht social gatherings. Each fall, guests spend three days participating in events such as yacht open houses and a silent auction. More than $30 million has been raised in its 32 years.

Advice for the buyer

Know what scenery you want: Residences facing the Atlantic Ocean have expansive vistas during the day but no view at night; city-facing units donโ€™t look out at the ocean but they do enjoy a city skyline and a Biscayne Bay view.

Membership to have

Belonging to the Fisher Island Club isnโ€™t a requirement for residents, but if you arenโ€™t a member, you wonโ€™t have access to the clubโ€™s facilities, including a beach club with a private beach.

Notable stops

The Fisher Island Hotel and Resort

This 15 room boutique hotel is made up of courtyard villas, 1930s-era cottages and guesthouse suites that near the Vanderbilt Mansion.

The Fisher Island Aviary

William K. Vanderbilt II loved tropical birds, and this 800-square-foot sanctuary is an ode to his passion. It houses more than 15 exotic winged animals, ranging from cockatoos and cockatiels to macaws and Amazons.

The Vanderbilt Theater

The adaptable event space is a hub of activity, hosting everything from concerts to lectures to movie nights.

Victor Arsidi Observatory

On its own tiny island across a wooden bridge, this sky-viewing hideaway was built in 1990. The white stucco building has a custom silver Ash Dome and professional telescope equipment, including a 4-inch refractor scope and a 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain.

 

Listings

$5.7 million

At 3,690 square feet with South Beach views, this residence in a concierge building with 29 units. The master suiteโ€™s bathroom has two vanities and a separate tub and shower; the closet has built-ins. There are marble floors, Miele kitchen appliances, and Baccarat lighting. Outside, there is a terrace. The unit comes with two parking spaces, one golf cart, a golf cart space, and a large private storage unit. Agent: Elena Bluntzer, One Sothebyโ€™s International Realty.

 

More Listings Here

via@mansionglobal

 

10/01/2020No comments,
The DBX is the Family-Friendly Aston Martin

Aston Martin chose to debut its first SUV, the DBX, last November in both Los Angeles and Beijing. Launching in China makes total sense, because the Chinese now have the biggest auto market in the world, and theyโ€™re in love with both high-end luxury cars and SUVs.

Introducing the car, Aston Martin Lagonda President and Group CEO Andy Palmer pointed out, โ€œDBX is a car that will give many people their first experience of Aston Martin ownership.โ€ Thatโ€™s true for the 107-year-old British marque, and also for other supercar companies venturing (out of necessity) into SUV landโ€”Maserati and Lamborghini included.

โ€œWith the introduction of the DBX weโ€™ve radically extended the versatility of the Aston Martin brand,โ€ says Aston public relations head Nathan Hoyt. โ€œWe expect the DBX to significantly broaden the number of potential buyers, bringing in people who couldnโ€™t fit a two-door, rear-wheel-drive grand tourer into their lifestyle or the environment they live in. Our first SUV can work as a true, seven-day-a-week option for buyers.โ€

The DBX will be built at a new Aston Martin plant in St. Athan, Wales, which will also be home to the electric cars that are in the brandโ€™s future. The DBX will reach U.S. customers later this year, priced at US$192,986 (including a US$3,089 destination charge).

โ€œWe anticipate the U.S. to be the biggest market for DBX,โ€ Hoyt says. โ€œOther key volume markets will be China and Europe.โ€ Stateside, the companyโ€™s strongest markets are on the west and east coasts, plus parts of the south and southwest.

The SUV form has inherent styling limitations, but that said, the DBX definitely carries on the family tradition, especially in that classic grille that dates back to the DB 2/4 of 1953. It became iconic with the DB5, a.k.a. James Bondโ€™s car. The side profile is nice, too, giving the impression of the companyโ€™s trademark fastback coupes, though rear-seat passenger headroom could suffer. The rear end, which a lot of people in lesser machinery will be seeing, isnโ€™t its finest hour.

The DBX, with a body of bonded aluminum, is impressive on paper. The twin-turbo four-liter V8 is shared with the DB11 and Vantage models, and produces 542 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque, channeled through a nine-speed automatic and an all-wheel drive system. Fuel economy numbers for the U.S. havenโ€™t been released yet.

The DBX can reach 181 miles per hour and, despite its 4,940-pound bulk, zero to 60 comes up in just 4.3 seconds. The five-passenger SUV is the most practical Aston Martin ever, with 54 cubic feet of storage with the second row of seats down, and 22.3 cubic feet with them up.

The DBX is, of course, opulent inside. Thereโ€™s a nod to Tesla with a full-length glass panoramic sunroof, and itโ€™s coupled with frameless door glass to produce a light and airy cabin. The Scottish firm Bridge of Weir, which supplied Aston cars beginning in the late 1960s, plus Saab, DeLorean, and the Lincoln Continental Mark II, does the full-grain leather seats.

Storage space is usually at a premium in supercars, so Aston was determined to make the DBX different. It has a long covered center console (optionally wood framed) for valuables and also deep door pockets. There are two screens, 10.25 and 12.3 inches. The 800-watt Harman/Samsung sound system boasts 14 speakers.

Early birds get more than a worm in this case. The first 500 customers will benefit from the โ€œ1913 Package,โ€ including sill plaques and fender badges, plus a personal inspection and endorsement from Andy Palmer himself. That kind of exclusivity pays off at resale time.

Also keeping value up is loading up on the option lists, and Aston has a full range of accessory packages. The US$33,700 Event Pack includes a fold-down bench built into the rear bumper, a modular picnic hamper and (as in Rolls Royces) umbrella storage. The US$31,375 Field Sport Pack includes an aluminum gun cabinet and a โ€œshooting stick.โ€

More down to earth and probably more popular is the US$1,825 Essentials Pack, which includes a center console organizer, heated front cup and (for the kids) tablet holders in the second row. The US$3,400 Pet Pack features a partition for keeping the dog in the back, a rear bumper protector to save the paint job, a dog accessory pack, and a battery-powered portable dog washer.

And donโ€™t forget the Snow Pack, which adds a ski rack, tire chains, and boot warmers. If you keep checking boxes, youโ€™ll end up with a bespoke car cover, child seats, locking wheel bolts, a surfboard holder, a bike rack, and a six-piece luggage set.

In 2015, Aston announced that it raised US$307 million in an equity issue, designed to fund โ€œits expansion into crossovers,โ€ according to Reuters. The DBX is one result of that gamble on new models. Also coming from Astonโ€”and another big departureโ€”is the Rapide E, the companyโ€™s first electric car. Total production will be 155, a number that doubles as the carโ€™s top speed.

The Rapide E, with 602 horsepower from its twin, rear-mounted electric motors, rockets to 60 miles per hour in less than four seconds. Range from a big battery pack will be more than 200 miles. โ€œThe car is still under development,โ€ Hoyt explains, so no release date yet. Thereโ€™s also no final price, but Hoyt says to expect it to be in excess of the US$239,000 youโ€™d pay for the Rapide AMR.

via@Barrons

10/01/2020No comments
Ellen Pompeo Sells Her Custom-Built Modern Farmhouse in the Hamptons for Nearly $3M

After the arrival of her third child, Ellen Pompeo realized the family had outgrown their summer retreat in Sag Harbor, NY. She listed the Hamptons hideaway for $3.8 million. Two years later, the stylish farmhouse was sold for $2,995,000.

The actress bought the place in 2011 for $925,000, property records show. After tearing down the existing cabin, she built this exquisite 2,400-square-foot home in 2013. It’s rustic on the outside and refined and modern inside.

This incredible three-story, five-bedroom, four-bathroom home with a pool sits tucked away on more than 8 acres.

Highlights of the interior spaces include a double-height ceiling in the living room, cozy fireplaces, and a roomy country-style kitchen.

So what attracted the new buyers to this property? Their representative, Martha Gundersen of Douglas Elliman, says they simply fell in love.

“The buyer loved the privacy and uniqueness of the house,” Gundersen explains. “They wanted something beautiful and turnkey. They had initially been looking for something close to the ocean, but this property was too special to pass up.”

Pompeo recently signed on for two more seasons of “Grey’s Anatomy,” which was unsurprisingly renewed for a Season 17 by ABC, making her the star of one of the longest-running shows in TV history.

Pompeo and husband Chris Ivery have bought and sold an impressive portfolio of real estate, including an oceanfront retreat in Malibu, CA, a mansion in L.A.’s Los Feliz neighborhood, and a Spanish-style villa in L.A.’s Hollywood Hills, which was sold in June 2018 for $2,765,000, according to property records.

 

via@realtor.com

10/01/2020No comments
Packers QB Aaron Rodgers and Race Car Phenom Danica Patrick Zoom Into a Malibu Mansion

It appears that Green Bay Packers quarterbackย Aaron Rodgers and retired race car driverย Danica Patrick were victorious in their bid for a celebrity-pedigreed beachside spread in Malibu, CA, according to Variety. The power couple paid $28 million in cold, hard cash for a 3,592-square-foot home with the famed Pacific Coast Highway on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. Real estate records show the home was sold in November.

They purchased the property from British pop star Robbie Williams and his wife, Ayda Field, after renting it from the couple over the summer.

Williams snapped up the property in 2018 for $20.25 million, netting a nearly $7 million profit in a little more than a year. Rodgers and Patrick must have really loved that summer rental.

Of course, there’s quite a bit to love. It has only three bedrooms and three baths, but every square inch is stylish and pristine. It’s set on a bluff overlooking the ocean, so high tides are not an issue, and the beach below can be accessed by either a staircase or the property’s own, quaint funicular. There’s no need to schlep their own towels, lounge chairs, snacks, and drinks down to the sand.

The sporty couple can enjoy a victory lap in a sparkling pool with a spa while grilling burgers and dogs on the built-in barbecue. The compound also features extensive decks overlooking the sand and surf.

Massive glass doors open to the decks, enabling indoor-outdoor living space. One of the decks features built-in seating, creating a conversation area with spectacular views.

Interiors are mostly white, with some cement and wood flooring providing low maintenance and high style. Floor-to-ceiling disappearing doors throughout the house give many rooms, including bedrooms and baths, access to more balconies and decks. Generous, modern casement windows allow in even more light.

The main house features an open floor plan with a lounge and game room on the basement level.

The property includes a neatly appointed two-bedroom guesthouse and a three-car garage, which may or may not accommodate all of Patrick’s speedy vehicles.

While $28 million may seem like a massive amount even for such a posh property, rest assured that this athletic A-list couple can well afford it. Rodgers, a 36-year-old California native, has a Super Bowl ring to his credit and is considered one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Proof of that came in 2018 when he signed a record-setting, four-year, $134 million contract extension with the Packers.

Meanwhile Patrick, 37, the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing, officially retired in 2018. She has had advertising partnerships with companies such as Secret, Nationwide Insurance, Tissot, Chevrolet, Coca-Cola, Hot Wheels, GoDaddy.com, and Lyft, and has appeared in numerous films and TV shows. And last August, she launched a weekly podcast called “Pretty Intense.”

10/01/2020No comments
Michelle Pfeiffer Sells Her Silicon Valley Compound for $22M

Actress Michelle Pfeifferย and her TV producer husband, David E. Kelley (โ€œBig Little Lies,โ€ โ€œAlly McBeal,โ€ โ€œThe Practice”), finally unloaded their spacious estate in Woodside, CA, according to Variety. The property was sold for $22 millionโ€”about $7.5 million less than their original asking price, property records show.

The luxury compound was initially listed in spring 2018 for $29.5 million. It is located about 30 miles south of San Francisco in one of the wealthiest communities in the U.S., which has included residents such as Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and finance guru Charles Schwab.

Despite the discounted final price, the off-market sale is still one of the biggest transactions in the San Francisco area for 2019. The $22 million transaction was apparently all cash from a “mysterious buyer,” according to Variety.

Set on 8 acres at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, the Mediterranean-style main house measures 6,000 square feet and has four bedrooms and 4.5 baths. The main level includes a great room with seating areas, an elevated media and library area, and three sets of French doors to the main terrace.

The estate has at least five satellite structures, including three detached guest or staff apartments (each with its own bathroom and kitchenette), a guesthouse with office, and a separate gym.

The grounds feature a gated pool and spa, tennis court, main terrace with fireplace, and a cedar hot tub. The property includes an apple orchard, three fenced and covered vegetable beds, natural grasses, meadows, and a formal lawn. Thereโ€™s also a historic octagonal barn with 10 stalls, as well as a fenced paddock for horses.

Pfeiffer continues to have a resurgent career at the age of 61. The actress recently starred in “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” “Avengers: Endgame,” and “Murder on the Orient Express.”

via@realtor.com

10/01/2020No comments
Dr. Phil Lists Bonkers Beverly Hills Mansion for $5.75M

Self-help guru and TV personalityย Phillip McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil,ย is selling the Beverly Hills, CA, mansion for $5,750,000 where his rocker son, Jordanย McGraw, had been living with his bandmates. And it’s quite an eyeful! Part playhouse, part Tim Burton homage, the outrageous, high-dollar design and questionable taste have sparked some big-time controversy on the web.

Ever since the Los Angeles Times first published the photos from the listing, social media has had a field day poking fun at the unconventionalโ€”dare we say, crazy?โ€”interiors that only a 20-something with unlimited funds could have dreamed up.

In summer 2016, a then-28-year-old Jordan offered The Daily Mail a tour of the estate. “The idea is kind of Tim Burton threw up on a canvas, and it turned into a house,” he explained.

Regurgitation isn’t usually a design aspiration for a nearly $6 million Beverly Hills mansion, but, hey, Dr. Phil’s kid clearly had a vision for interior decoration that’s unique. He dreamed up the wild wonderland with the help of L.A. design firm Mogul, according to the Mail.

As you enter the property, which the listing calls “eclectic,” there’s a snake fountain, a reference to “A Nightmare Before Christmas,” giving guests just a hint of the acid trip to come. In the foyer, there’s the bedazzled bar at the bottom of the entry, which is meant to look like the rabbit hole in “Alice in Wonderland.” And the showstopper? It’s the jaw-dropping, glassed-in wall of guns adorning the dining room.

Some of the photos, including one of the wall of guns, have been removed from the listing after receiving tons of social media criticism. The home’s listing agent, Billy Dolan of Hilton and Hyland, didn’t return a call and email for comment.

Black velvet wallpaper aside, the five-bedroom, 6,170-square-foot estate sits on a gated half-acre just minutes from the Beverly Hills Hotel, and has plenty to offer potential buyers willing to take on a remodel.

For his part, after leaving his stamp on the decor, Jordan has left the property behind to tour with the Jonas Brothers.

10/01/2020No comments
Regis Philbin’s Connecticut mansion for sale

TV personality Regis Philbin and his wife, Joy, have put their secluded English Manor-inspired Greenwich home up for sale.

News of the listing was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, who notedย the price was 36 percent lessย than what the couple originally paid for it about a decade ago.

The six-bedroom residence, located on N. Stanwich

Road, isย listed for nearly $4.6 millionย by Sotheby’s International Realty.

Built in 1997, the sprawling residence measures approximately 13,661 square feet and is set across 2.59 acres of land.

The home, offers a number of exciting features, including seven fireplaces, a mahogany library, and “pub room” with a full bar, as well as a billiard room, home theater, sauna, gym and a “spacious wine cellar.”

Other features include a chef’s kitchen with marble counters and a double-height family room with a stone fireplace.

Outside, potential buyers will find a luxurious pool and spa, with an adjacent fountain and tennis court. There are also garden walkways, garages for five cars and a one-bedroom guest house with a kitchen, full bathroom and loft.

 

via@propgoluxury

13/12/2019No comments
Billionaire Jeff Greene Relists His “Palazzo di Amore” For $129 Million

When real estate mogul Jeff Greene listed hisย Beverly Hills mansionย ย in November 2014ย for $195 million, it was the most expensive home for sale in the US.

After nearly three years, it seems Greene is tired of hanging on to the property and is trying once again to offload it, according to Forbes. This time,ย the listing price is $129 million.

“This house has been a terrible deal for me,” he said. “Weโ€™re into this thing for probably $80 million or $90 million at least. Weโ€™ll be lucky if we get our money back after years of carrying costs.”

Calledย Palazzo di Amore, Greene’s home was built for parties. It has an entertainment complex and ballroom, a private-label vineyard, and parking garages for more than two dozen cars.

According to a statement, the house was “eight years of hard work,” and Greene is selling it because the East Coast is now his base of operations.

 

Greene made a fortune when the real estate bubble burst in Greece and is worth about $3.4 billion,ย according to Forbes.

 

via@propgoluxury

13/12/2019No comments
Top 10 Most Expensive London Homes

They include a very special detached seven bedroom family house in Kensington, an exclusive five bedroom apartment overlooking Kensington Palace Gardens and a stunning newly built luxury home of grand proportions totalling 14,358 sq ft.

Phillimore Gardens, Kensington, London

For Sale, 38,560,411 USD

A very special detached seven bedroom family house with off-street parking and a lovely south-west facing garden backing onto Holland Park. This impressive and wide house occupies approximately 6,520 sq ft and is very well arranged over five floors.

One Kensington Gardens, Kensington Road, London

For Sale, 33,419,023 USD

An exclusive five bedroom apartment overlooking Kensington Palace Gardens. An exceptional development, designed by Sir David Chipperfield, of 97 apartments situated opposite Kensington Palace and Gardens with world class amenities.

Greybrook House

For Sale, 32,080,073 USD

The penthouse at Greybrook House is the epitome of luxury nestled in the heart of Mayfair. The apartment has been designed to a phenomenally high standard and spans approximately 4599 square feet across two floors.

Elysian House

For Sale, 25,022,457 USD

A stunning newly built luxury home of grand proportions totalling 14,358 sq ft. This must-see masterpiece is set on Ingram Avenue, a highly sought-after leafy road in Hampstead Garden Suburb which is defined by absolute privacy by backing directly onto Turners Wood Bird Sanctuary. The property is within walking distance to Kenwood House as well as Hampstead Heath.

St Edmund’s Terrace, St John’s Wood, NW8

For Sale, 20,531,247 USD

A stunning four bedroom Penthouse apartment (350.3 sq. m / 3770 sq. m ) positioned within this luxury development and accessed via one of two private passenger lifts, The property benefits from an amazing wrap-around balcony offering breath-taking views across Primrose Hill, Regent’s Park and the London city skyline.

via@propgoluxury

13/12/2019No comments,
Floating Cities: The Next Big Real Estate Boom

“I’m a real estate developer and this is a developer’s dream,โ€ spokeย Lela Goren,ย a NYC-based developer and investor during aย UN Habitat eventย as she looked over a scale model ofย Oceanix Cityโ€”a floating city concept that could be deployed around the world. In this era where the value of and need for coastal property throughout Asia is so high that dozens of countries are creating hundreds of square kilometers ofย artificial land for urban development, her words resonated throughout the room. Not only may floating cities be a salve to help to mitigate theย impacts of rising sea levels, but also a way for governments and developers to create vast swaths of much-coveted space for highly profitable coastal development by building out into the sea in a more environmentally sustainable way than land reclamation.

โ€œMost cities are located nearby water and this number will also increase in the next decades,โ€ said Kees-Jan Bandt, the CEO ofย Bandt Management & Consultancy. โ€œThis was already the case a hundred years ago: water is life and always has been a center of economic activities.โ€

For this reason, coastal cities have been drawing people towards them at an ever-increasing rate. Nearly three million peopleย move from the countryside into cities each week, with the bulk of this migration heading to coastal cities, which now contain over half of the worldโ€™s population and are, quite literally, bursting at the seams. This is a situation that is expected to only grow more dire, as UN Habitat predicts that by 2035 90% of all mega-citiesโ€”metropolises with over 10 million peopleโ€”will be on the coast.

Over the past decades, coastal cities across Asia have been responding to the need for more land by simply making it themselves. Land reclamationโ€”dumping or corralling sand in aquatic areas to create new landโ€”has grown to bonanza-like proportions, as Asian cities build arrays of high-value housing, luxury shopping malls, entertainment facilities, transportation infrastructure, and evenย entirely new citiesย where there was only open water not long ago. From 2006 to 2010, China was tacking on an additionalย 700 square kilometers of new land each year. Malaysia is engaged in mass reclamation work for the 700,000-personย Forest Cityย project as well as a slew ofย luxury developments in Penangย and Melaka. Sri Lankaโ€™s capital of Colombo reclaimed enough land to build anย entirely new financial districtย thatโ€™s meant to rival Singapore. South Korea built the Songdo โ€œsmart cityโ€ entirely on land expropriated from a bay. Dubai has turnedย reclamation into an art. While upwards of 20% of Tokyo and nearly 25% of Singapore is on land that nature didnโ€™t make.

โ€œIn some Asian countries it is sometimes easier, quicker, and, on the long-term, cheaper to reclaim land from the sea than develop on existing land because of land ownership,โ€ Bandt explained.

 

Could floating cities be the answer?

 

via@forbes

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03/12/2019No comments