Friday, July 27, 2007

Is Johnny Depp Going Downtown?

The online gossip juggernaut TMZ is reporting that dirty boy Johnny Depp has paid $2,000,000 for a penthouse apartment at the newly converted Eastern Columbia Lofts in Downtown Los Angeles (lobby pictured above). Hmmm. Do we smell a publicity stunt?

The E.C. Lofts were developed by the Kor Group, which is headed by budding real estate and hotel magnate Brad Korzen who happens to be married to famed interior designer Kelly Wearstler, who recently incurred the wrath of the Los Angeles zoning boards for running her offices out of a residential property. Oops.

What's inneresting about this Johnny Depp thing is that he already owns a massive, exuberantly landscaped 2.54 acre estate in West Hollywood that includes a 7,430 square foot, 8 bedroom, 10 bathroom house. So why would he need a penthouse downtown?

Your Mama would like to thank Mister Smiley for sending us the TMZ linkage.

UPDATE: Looks like he did in fact buy a penthouse unit for $2,100,000.

Sources: TMZ, Curbed LA

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Might you be willing to give the street name of Johnny's current pad in West Hollywood?

Anonymous said...

Mama,
You are on fire today!
So much good stuff,
Thank you, You made my friday bearable

Anonymous said...

Ooo, I like this place, the wide open spaces, and finishes. I'd love to see his West Hollywood home sometime too.

Anonymous said...

glad to be of service mama


you know i have the eagle eye for important-people-real-estate!

:)

Anonymous said...

and btw readers, i was looking at the exact time i tipped off mama about this story.. and my trusty blackberry sent her the link at 2:32pm.

very emulous mama!

:)

Anonymous said...

He lives in Paris anyway so I doubt he's in L.A that much ... Anon 1 - His place is just off Sunset, I think it's N Sweetzer [hop, skip & jump from paris'] but if you're planning to become a stalker then it's not advisable, u'll be in a cell next to nicky richie ; p

Anonymous said...

From what I have heard, EC is having some serious maintenance problems. Like the penthouses being without air conditioning in the height of summer. Are we absolutely sure this is not a publicity stunt?

Anonymous said...

Anon, I think you and Mama have it pegged. Publicity stunt makes sense. Anything else, not so much.

Anonymous said...

I believe Johnny's West Hollywood pad is at 1486 N. Sweetzer or at least at one time it was.

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Anonymous said...

An agent showed us this unit saying Depp had just gone into escrow. I thought it was a publicity stunt at the time but who knows. The unit he said Depp bought is a corner penthouse that you can see the terrace of from the rooftop area. There are two penthouses right across from the fitness center, Depp's (rumoured) is the 2nd one further away from the fitness center.

Anonymous said...

My guess is that Johnny bought a pad up in the sky because he is sick to death of people stalking, staring, driving by, taking pictures, etc of his current Norman Style home on 1486 N. Sweetzer. Some probably have tried to smuggle in, pass the gates, landscaping, and guards. I imagine even all those things just aren't enough security for him at this point in his career. I'm wondering if he might be selling his Sweetzer house. One article said the money came from the Sweetzer trust. Not sure exactly how that works... why a home would have a trust that you can use to buy another home. If someone can explain it to me, I'd sure appreciate it.

June B. Anderson said...

Does anyone have any pictures of his house on N. Sweetzer in W. Hollywood...like from the driveway side? I've seen one from the front.

Anonymous said...

we were just there today. YES his home is 1486 N sweetzer in LA

the gate and entrance was amazing
we drove up to the gate into the driveway

the road is super narrow and its a dead end but we headed up anyhow/off of sunset strip

there was a guy in a golf cart eating chips/salsa, rather friendly. we knew it was depp's house so we "played along" and he tried telling us someone "in computers" lived there. hahaha yeah right!

man i wish we could have ran into him....but he's always in france. oh well....

Anonymous said...

He lives in the Sweetzer house majority of the time as he drives his kids to school everyday. He also has rented two properties on Marmont Lane that back up to his Sweetzer property. You can view his backyard from the Marmont property. 8344 and 8350

Anonymous said...

This is another hollywood myth trying to sell tour tickets to the uninformed. 1486 N. Sweetzer has not been Depp's address or in his possession for over a decade. If one chooses to look at the property records this can easily be assessed.