Tuesday, February 19, 2008

It's Demo Day for Ellen D.

All the children know that Your Mama fetishistically follows the peripatetic movements and real estate transactions of talk show princess Ellen Degeneres and her ladee lover Portia Di Rossi like hirsute he-men follow professional baseball. We just can't get enough of these two real estate mavens and their near constant buying, selling, renovating and redecorating.

Most of the world knows by now that in December of 2007 Miz D. and Missus dR. coughed up a considerable $29,000,000+ to purchase the newly built Bev Hills mansion of real estate queens Max Mutchnick (co-creator of Will and Grace) and his entertainment attorney man-friend, the unfortunately named Erik Hyman.

Shortly thereafter, the Sapphic sisters purchased the property next door and current records reveal that the ladees paid celebrity real estate agent Jade Mills a whopping $8,500,000 for the 4,580 square foot house with spectacular views over Beverly Hills. Natch, the rumors soon started to fly as to what the gurls planned to do with the house next door.

Now we know. They tore the bitch down.

What remains to be seen is what Miz D. and Missus dR. are going to do with all that extra land. Perhaps a tennis court, something their current house lacks? Maybe a nice park with a gazeebo for star gazing romantic moments? Or maybe she'll build one of those entertainment pavilions she's so fond of and had in previous residences? Or maybe, just maybe they're put in a small stable where Missus Di Rossi can board some of her beloved equine friends?

55 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was exhilarating!

Anonymous said...

Well, from reading your blog its obvious the Beverly Hills/Brentwood real estate market is not suffering.

Too bad all the rest of California isn;t in such good shape.

Anonymous said...

Am I the only one who thinks it's sad to tear down a house like that? I get emotional about things like that; I see them as homes where people create memories, etc. Call me a sap.

so_chic_darling said...

Yes you're a sap the demo video was great.More power to Ellen and her entertainment pavilion!

Anonymous said...

Yes, i agree ... you're a sap. It's not like it was some important architectural & I'm sure Jade Mills kinda knew of Ellens plans before the sale closed.

Anonymous said...

Memories,who gives a shit?I've got 8.5 million clams in the bank,I'll buy some more!

Anonymous said...

Okay then, forget the memories, but does it at least seem wasteful? I guess it doesn't matter because more power to those who can afford to whatever they want. I do feel badly for someone whose dream would be to own that $8.5 home, only to see it destroyed without a thought. Trust me, I'm not against development or doing whatever it is you want with your own property. I see both sides of it.

Anonymous said...

Jade did not live in this house...she leased it for big money to people like Jerry Seinfeld and rich Middle Eastern party boys.

Trust me, she's grinning from ear to ear while she deposits the $8.5M she got for that dumpy house that was most assuredly not worth $8.5M to anyone but Ellen Degeneres.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to drive that tractor thing right through my ex huband's house.

Anonymous said...

Ellen gutted the interior and donated it to Habitat for Humanity.

Someday she'll leave that property - much better than she found it.

Anonymous said...

"OK then, forget the memories"
Yeah that's what I always do and it works for me!

Anonymous said...

is she going to buy the third house on that street too?

Anonymous said...

I bet they would if it came on the market at a decent price. I don't see her paying top dollar as it is below line of sight and on the curve down from the garage and new gated portion of the street. The Jade Mills house was much closer.

Anonymous said...

what the hoo-ha!? she's like the giant in mickey and the giant. *sMaSh!* that house was adorable. i guess that's the way the construction ball bounces! ;P

Anonymous said...

That house was demolished because it had structural problems. All contents were donated to charity. I think the land is to remain vacant.

Anonymous said...

memories are something that all the previous owners are always gunna have. why should it matter if ellen torn it down? the previous owners left the house.

Anonymous said...

i think somebody's jealllousssss lol

Anonymous said...

man, aunt flow is making the rounds.

if i owned that 3rd house, i would be a total pain in the ass to make her buy it at an inflated price, think cousin eddie in the chevy chase vacation movies. i'd make her feel good about paying me 15 mil. it would be a win/win.
then it would be me & sp in a 2k sq ft. love shack in the bu.

Anonymous said...

so_chic_darling, who is anon 5.52?

Anonymous said...

I think I know. Will pass on speculation. Pray I'm wrong.

Anonymous said...

Well goodbye former income property of mega realtor Jade Mills! I betcha Ellen will either make a new guest house or a tennis court or some sort of rose garden. Whatever she does it will be fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Caveman, I have been up there and I can truly see no reason for her to buy the 3rd house. It isn't an eyesore, no one in that house can remotely see into her property (unlike the Jade Mills house which sat up at the same elevation). She doesn't even see the 3rd house except for the mere seconds it takes to pass it after she leaves her gated compound. It is also a much smaller house than the Mills house.

Anonymous said...

Let me rephrase that, I see no reason for her to *overpay* to get the 3rd house.

Sure it would be wonderful to have the long drive but where does one stop? Does she start buying and taking out the four houses on Coldwater Canyon whose backyards butt up to Cabrillo?

And actually, do those Coldwater Canyon homeowners have a right to access Cabrillo to get to the back of their properties? That would prevent her from closing the whole street. If so, she'd only be gaining 30-50 of drive by buying the 3rd house on Cabrillo.

Anonymous said...

So Chic, Have the children all told you we love you today? Good reply.

I remember that anon from last Ellen thread. Someone has a real tough time with Ellen being sucessful (and having a hot GF)!

Anonymous said...

I think we all probably meant anon 6:11?

Anonymous said...

haha it's ok. i thought so, cuz i'm anon 5.52 lol :P

Anonymous said...

Great houses, bags of money, a fleet of Porsches, Portia de Rossi for a girlfriend...I think I want to be Ellen.

Anonymous said...

7:54
Do I hear the "we" starting back up? Stop it.

Anonymous said...

Is there any reason to believe that Ellen will stay in this house longer than her others, or is this probably one to move on from in the near future?

Anonymous said...

Ellen said that it had structural problems. THAT is why it got torn down. They gave away the furniture and everything in the house to Habitat for Humanity.

So Ellen didn't just tear it down for the sake of it. She had a reason, and did something good in the process. Good for her. I love Ellen! :D

Anonymous said...

I bet it's a long-range agenda and she's far from her ultimate goal. That's not to speculate she might need to kick back and camp out here for a while. What do I know.

Anonymous said...

Ellen said it had structural problems, so that must be true, yeah right. But who cares, it looked like a dump anyway, like most houses in L.A. it was just a 3D film set.... look how it fell apart!

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:23,

At least two of us (So_Chic & myself) mistakenly referred to the 6:11 anon as the 5:52. That is a "we". Stop being so sensitive.

Anonymous said...

So what if she donated the stuff to Habitat for Humanity. Habitat is a scam anyhow. They are picky as to what they want and not only that, but they sell the stuff that YOU donated!

Anonymous said...

I feel that what makes a "home" is what you fill it with. I've sold homes and been devastated, but once everything is packed, left the building and en route its next destination, wandering around an empty house is simply that - a house. Yeah, it can be eerie to hear the ghosts of the family that filled it, but it's a shell.

I think Ellen had every right to tear that house down. If I were famous, I'd do anything I could to ensure my privacy. If that meant buying property to create a compound, so be it. I don't envy celebrities. On the red carpet, be as star crazy as you want. When they are grocery shopping in their sweats or picking their noses on the lanai, leave them the fuck alone.

Anon 12:06, of course HFH are picky about what they want. Good people wanting to do good things still might mistakenly give away a bed bug filled mattress. It's called due diligence on the part of HFH to make sure they share good love, not infested love. The point is that it is an organization based on goodwill. At the end of the day, not so bad, really, is it?

I think Ellen rocks, for the record. I kinda want to be her, too, PCH. I just want to see what the inside of her house looks like. , grr...

Alessandra said...

I admire Ellen. If I had her money, I'd do the exact same thing she did with the same properties.

Anonymous said...

anon 10.34, im gunna believe HER word over YOURS anyday cuz it was HER house. i think she'd know more than u if it had structural problems.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to see that Ellen gutted the interior and donated it to H4H. But I wonder if there would have been any way to save the house by moving it to another location.

To me, as an old school New Englander, it doesn't matter that it's not architecturally "important" or that it cost a great deal of money, what is important is that a home, a place for shelter, was permanently destroyed and is no longer available.

Now, before y'all start jumping on your high horses, please just think about this:
1) Terrific that she donated the gutted interiors..kudos to Ellen
2) I wonder if there were some way to disassemble the building so the pieces could be reused in another structure
3) And, yes, as the owner of the property, she's free to do as she so chooses

It's just wasteful to me. Look around your city, LA is a great example, and see how many smaller houses have been bulldozed to build trophy houses which don't add to a neighborhood but actually detract from it.

Add to that the use of raw materials, some of which some can never be replaced, the pollutants produced to produce the raw materials,deliver them onsite along with erecting the new structure and carting away the demolition materials to the dump or landfill. Just a waste. But, again to her credit, Ellen did her best to do good which is a credit to her.

I've finished my second cup of coffee and the soapbox I've been standing on just developed a BIG hairline crack so I should step down, shush up, repair my box (!) and get on with my day. Enjoy yours

Peace
Joel

luke220 said...

Let's not give Ellen too much credit for donating interior to H4H. I'm sure that she will take a very large tax deduction for her generosity.

It is certainly her right to do whatever she chooses with the property. It certainly had some structural problems once that bulldozer hit it.

My question is in the value of the new property. She has a great track record of improving and flipping for profit, but she's already into this one for over $40 million and the market is pretty thin once you go north of that. I wouldn't spend over $50 million to be on a deadend off Coldwater Canyon, even if it included the street.

I'd take my $50 mill up to Beverly Park.

Anonymous said...

I like this trend for combining neighboring lots into a single, larger property. It's not about replacing a modest house with a massive, vulgar palace -- which is depressing -- but with a garden or a tennis court or a guesthouse. Everyone benefits from the reduced density -- I'd be stoked if I lived in the 'hood.

But I agree with Luke -- it's a lot of money to sink into Coldwater Canyon, however close to Beverly Drive it might be.

Anonymous said...

I don't think the bulldozed house could be called "modest" (wasn't it 8500 s.f.?) And due to the way it was built into the hillside (single story to the west, multiple story on the east), it would have been difficult if not impossible to move. So sounds to me like the best option was to strip anything of value out before knocking it down.

Anonymous said...

Modest being a relative term. The teardown was 4,500 square feet, and the type of unassuming 1960s modern that's typically replaced by some baroque eyesore festooned with porticos and columns and gewgaws.

Check out 1001 N. Beverly Drive -- which used to look like its immediate mid-century neighbors -- for a primo example of what can happen, and why I consider the Cabrillo Drive house modest.

Anonymous said...

The video didn't show anyone being carted off in hand-cuffs for defying a stop work order. And I wish she didn't need to explain her actions, but she has.

Why is this property's owner under hot lights by some?

According to this recent article, Ellen has raises $10 Million for Katrina Relief, including $800,000 for Brad Pitt's Make it Right initiative. That's something to focus on. GO ELLEN!

I'm giving her a standing ovation.

Anonymous said...

Sandpiper...I don't think anyone is putting Ellen "under hot lights". I was just pointing out, from my perspective, alternatives that I hope were explored before the decision to tear down the house was made. It is her property. It is her money. It's hers to do as she pleases. It's the waste that bothers me is all.

Peace
Joel

Anonymous said...

Hey Joel,

No, I wasn't flailing on you :). Sometimes it's hard to know the tone of who's writing (me & sorry). I totally get what you say but can't get jazzed over seeing this place leveled in the greater scheme. If she had blown up an ancient ruin in the middle east--that would be another story.

I did learn the City of BH does study requests before issuing permits, but they don't have as stringent mechinisms in place as other municipalities for preservation. If the Gershwin/Clooney Roxbury home could be wiped out in the midst of public outcry, the bar is relatively low on preservation in BH. Not that I personally think this one was a pedigree worth saving--all things considered--IMHO.

Peace to you too!

luke220 said...

I'm all for reality based tv, but it turns me off that she features knocking down her new house for all of her tv viewers too see-- as if to thumb her nose and remind them all know how rich she is.

Sort of Martha Stewart'ish- giving the little people a glimpse into her fabulous life.

Call me old fashioned, the excesses of her personal life she should keep to herself. A lot of the construction is probably being written off as expenses for the tv production company.

luke220 said...

Sandpiper, with all due respect, Ellen has put herself under the hot lights by featuring the demolition on her show.

Anonymous said...

On her show she said that the house had structural damage and she chose to remove the residence instead of put money into fixing it.

I assume it was a filler piece while the strike gets settled and her writers are back to work. It was quite funny, actually. She made a joke about her mother coming out all dusty as she'd been squatting there since she bought the Mutchnick/Hyman residence.

I don't think there is any question about her wealth. She doesn't strike me as a snubber. In fact, she seems about as real as it gets in Hollywood. Chicken Fried Stupid buys house after house and can't even find them behind the wheel of her own car. Ellen makes shrewd investments and wise real estate decisions in my book.

Luke, it's pretty naive to say she taunts the "little people" with the excess of her life. The tabs and paparazzi do a pretty good job of keeping the "little people" informed, and "we" keep lapping it up like dogs. Sad state of affairs when we know more about Britney Spears than world affairs or the presidential race, but there you go.

Anonymous said...

luke220, I have to agree with you. If all this is for privacy, then why is she choosing to air it? Great point about writing off the demolition. I admire her philanthropic work and think that is fantastic, however, does she not realize how wasteful or arrogant it might seem to most people to demo an $8 million (regardless of what it's actually worth). The property taxes alone are beyond what most can pay more a mortgage. Again, it's her property and she can certainly do what she wants with it, but flaunting one's wealth isn't cool. And, I do like Ellen so don't everyone think I'm an Ellen basher. I'm just not a big fan of this. I do think it's awfully coincidental that the house that she wanted to demo just happened to be structurally unsound.

Anonymous said...

I do think there were some structural issues with the house and the way it sat on the property and all that. Maybe not so problematic they couldn't have been addressed otherwise.

However, I think Ellen is free to spend what she wants on real estate and build or tear down as she sees fit.

I don't think Ellen MEANS to be elitist or anything by televising the demolition, but I do see how people get a little upset about it. When there are millions who work their asses off and still can't afford to buy a modest home, it's not always easy to see someone who can pay $8.5M and tear one down because it's extraneous.

And also, remember, Ellen lives in HER world, not the world on the middle class. She's enormously rich and it seems normal, for her, to pay $8.5M to tear down a house. If you've ever been around very rich people, you know that they live in a sort of bubble when it comes to their "needs."

But people, let's not be naive enough to think that Ellen ever intended to keep the house standing whether it was structurally sound or not. It was torn down because she wanted to tear it down and have more open space, or build a pavilion or whatever she's going to do on that lot. She bought the property to enhance her sense of security and privacy, the house itself simply came with the land.

Anonymous said...

kick me, very well said. I totally agree with your complete comment.

Anonymous said...

These comments are funnier than the actual demolition, which is a tough act to follow.

Yo Bentley, right on!

Anonymous said...

11:02-
Thanks for regurgitating all that was previously said. By the way, anything original to add?

You sound familiar.
Y-A-W-N.

Anonymous said...

anon 10:07 - why be rude?

Anonymous said...

ellen's missing a sensitivity chip