Thursday, April 28, 2011

Your Mama Hears...

...that another big real estate deal has just gone down in Los Angeles that makes the $23,000,000 sale of tech entrepreneur turned art collector and philanthropist David Bohnett's sprawling mansion in the flats of Beverly Hills, CA look like child's play.

According to both Our Fairy Godmother in Bel Air and another well-placed Platinum Triangle property yenta we know–let's call her Bernice Belairresident–Your Mama has learned that financial services widow and philanthropic powerhouse Iris Cantor has, finally, at long last sold her exceedingly opulent and profusely gilded Bel Air mega-mansion for $40,000,000.

In cash.

Brenda Belairresident snitched to Your Mama that the new owner of Miz Cantor's (approximately) 35,000 square foot pile she dubbed La Belle Vie is a filthy rich financier but she was unable (or unwilling) to name the buyer. Our Fairy godmother in Bel Air suggested that the buyer may be a certain athletic mergers and acquisitions specialist from Goldman Sachs who looked at the house and another well-connected informant–let's call this one Johnny Jabbermouth–told us that he heard Indonesians connected to the powerful and controversial Suharto family toured the property "several times."

Miz Cantor, a Brooklyn-born former model, was married and divorced twice before she became a stock broker, a lucrative gig through which she met and married Bernie Cantor, the now-deceased co-founder of the influential investment services firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

Mister and Missus purchased the gated 18th-century style pile in the early 1990s for an unknown price when it was only half completed. The well-heeled and lavish living pair dropped several more pretty pennies, dimes and millions to have architect Michael C.F. Chan and New York-based designer Bebe Winkler complete and decorate the civic-center-sized 9 bedroom and 21 bathroom behemoth that's crafted from Texas limestone, priceless marble, twenty-two carat gold leaf detail, carved paneling and elaborately crafted iron and gilt bronze fittings. This is a house so correct that even Marie Antoinette would wet her bloomers over it.

Miz Cantor first attempted to unload her elegant real estate white elephant in 2000 when she listed the humongous house squeezed on to a tight lot with a $45,000,000 price tage. After 2.5 years on the market, the property was de-listed only to appear on the open market years later, in early 2009, with a much higher asking price of $53,000,000.

Although Miz Cantor stuck to her real estate guns and never lowered the published asking price for her unrepentantly decadent digs, Your Mama's bejeweled abacus shows that, in the end, the (alleged) forty million dollar purchase price was roughly and substantially 25% less than the fifty-three million she wanted.

Neither property records nor online listing information reflect a transfer of ownershp. In fact, listing information currently available online shows the status of the property as "active." and available for showings. However, according to Miz Belairresidnet, the deal is done and all the necessary docs have been signed on the appropriate dotted lines.

If case any of the children wondered or were worried, the child-free Miz Cantor is far from homeless. In late 2009 the high-society doyenne traded in a nearly 4,000 square foot penthouse on New York's swank Central Park South that she never reportedly occupied for a recently rehabbed six story townhouse on East 74th Street (just off Fifth Avenue) that she'd acquired earlier in the year for $18,125,000. She also maintains a water front spread in Westhampton, NY–known in some snobby circles as the Wronghampton–that she picked up in November of 2000 for $2,650,000 and it appears that the wealthy widow also keeps a posh place in Palm Beach, FL where prop records show her name attached to a property with Intracoastal Waterway access that was bought in May of 2002 for $8,635,000.

No doubt this over-sized transaction will no doubt send electric ripples of glee up and down the spines of all the Real Estate and home owners in Tinseltown who deal and dwell in residences priced at the tippy-top of the market. Given Miz Cantor's real estate good fortune, maybe it doesn't seem so far-fetched then that Jennifer Aniston may get close to the $42,000,000 asking price for her Bev Hills mansion or that Ellen Degeneres could find a deep-pocketed buyer willing to edge up close to the $60,000,000 at which she's (allegedly and according to multiple sources) shopping her Bev Hills compound?

We shall see, puppies, we shall see.

photo: Bing

20 comments:

Dwight said...

Oh Mama... I saw pictures of the interiors of this house... that amazing entry hall that dome.. that spiral staircase... breathtaking. Any word on Hadid Development and plans on the Franklin Ground? Mr H and his young misses need some new digs!

lil' gay boy said...

This has always struck me as one white elephant that would eventually find its big game hunter. It took over two and a half years, but this pot found its lid.

Let us not forget the phoenix-like rise from the ashes of Cantor Fitzgerald in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

We may have gotten caught with our pants down that day but we certainly didn't stumble & fall in them. As the world’s largest independent investment bank and one of the few remaining private partnerships on Wall Street, Cantor continues to generate its "filthy lucre" –––– despite the best efforts of the world's terrorist organizations to undermine them (and us).

Although a jalabiya is really quite comfy...

;-)

Anonymous said...

Truly vulgar pretension. The columns on the facade tickle my funny bone. And all this packed into a lot far too small for it like sardines in a can.
[BTW what is "priceless marble"? You mean the builders got it for free?] Anyhoo, this again makes me wish for an annual "excess value property tax" of, say, 5% per annum to help us curb the deficit. These people are the kind of rich who very much need to be soaked.

Anonymous said...

Mama I have to complete disagree with you when you say this house is "so correct that even Marie Antoinette would wet her bloomers over it." This house is not correct at all! I challenge you to find me a REAL chateau in France that is a rectangular box with a flat roof. That's really what this house is, a box with decoration on it, no thought put in at all. Look at it! Box. Not saying there's anything wrong with that but if they're going to spend all this money to build a house like that, they might as well do it accurately, no? Ok I'm done now, love you Mama!

Rosco Mare said...

The estate that was demolished for the construction of this place on St. Cloud was once the home of MGM's Louis B Mayer, then comedian Jerry Lewis. Before the Cantor's purchased the construction site, the unfinished house with exposed timber sat for a very long time, unprotected from the elements.

Anonymous said...

Mama,

Keanu Reeves owns a modern styled home in LA near where the publicist, Cohen, was murdered. Could you do a write up on the architecture?

Anonymous said...

This house is 35k sq.ft. and sold for $40m

If my mind is correct... Aniston's place is like 10k... same with Ellen's (althought her's has much more land). I don't think the sale of this home gives either of them much to hope for. Anistons place is $20m on a good day... Ellen over paid when she bought and then cobbled other properties into the mix... think she's screwed this time.

Anonymous said...

IRIS CANTOR IS ONE GREAT LADY AND AN AMAZING, PRO-ACTIVE PHILANTHROPIST AND PATRON OF THE ARTS. SHE HAS IMPECCABLE TASTE, IS A LOYAL AND LOVING FRIEND, AND DESERVES MORE RESPECT THAN THIS ILLITERATE AND SARCASTIC REPORTER HAS INDICATED. SHAME, SHAME.

Anonymous said...

SHAME, SHAME??

Sarcastic? Yes. Illiterate? Clearly not.

What disrespect was shown here 2:07? There was nothing I read that said anything negative about Iris Cantor at all.

In fact she's called "well heeled and lavish living," a "powerhouse philanthropist," and a "high society doyenne." That's about as negative as she's portrayed here and she is all of those things, none of which are inherently bad.

Anonymous said...

Watched the home being built back in the 90's while walking the pooch. Love the inside and entry. Worth every damn dollar. Gives Candy and Saperstein hope I suppose.

Anonymous said...

2:07 I'd think more of Iris if she had gotten rid of her excessive 40 million dollar home some time ago and used the funds for more philanthropy. Just what is the balance between her "philanthropy" and her spending on herself? Have you any idea? Does even a "philanthropist" need a 40 million dollar home and all the upkeep and servants involved to be "comfortable.?"

Anonymous said...

Been to this home a number of times. Simply amazing. That entrance is the thing legends are made of. Out of this world incredible.

The house behind this one, on St. Pierre is a home I rented short-term for a while. It also was used for the filming of American Idol at some point.

Anonymous said...

4:11

Please, just shut. your. trap.

YOU don't get to decide how much is "enough" for anyone but yourself.

If I so choose to spend $40MM or more of my own dollars I would do so as well and I would spend the additional MILLIONS each year to employee the required staff. You hear that? Employ people. People seem to forget all of the people it takes to build a home like this and all of the people who benefit from it being built and maintained.

I wish more people with the means would build massive homes. Many people live off of construction and their children too must eat.

Anonymous said...

5:24 But if the rich paid the taxes they should pay the government could build and repair and hire people too. It is silly to think only rich people create employment although the rich would like you to believe that. Society as a whole has an interest in how income is distributed and how it is used. It isn't just up to the income recipients. I recommend your reading the recent article in Vanity Fair by Stiglitz, the Nobel economist, on the question of rich and poor in America. You might learn something.
That you don't feel comfortable with your justification of greed, I gather from your "shut up, just shut up" comment.

Anonymous said...

What style is this? Second Empire or perhaps Louis XV or XVI? Hm...? Too bad Michael C.F. Chan hasn't done an additional two or three mansions in Bel Air.

Anonymous said...

labellevietour.com has been shut down, so I think it's true.

It's the best house of LA.
The interiors looks real french chateau.
I hope the new owner will not destroy this beauty by remake the decoration.

Anonymous said...

@ lil gay boy: many of the world's terrorist organizations are on Wall St., but I digress.

As for the house, so Bel Air.

Lady J

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous said...

5:24 But if the rich paid the taxes they should pay the government could build and repair and hire people too. It is silly to think only rich people create employment although the rich would like you to believe that. Society as a whole has an interest in how income is distributed and how it is used. It isn't just up to the income recipients. I recommend your reading the recent article in Vanity Fair by Stiglitz, the Nobel economist, on the question of rich and poor in America. You might learn something.
That you don't feel comfortable with your justification of greed, I gather from your "shut up, just shut up" comment.

April 29, 2011 8:53 PM

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


You have lost your mind.You would trust the government to "employ & repair" efficiently !?! Why...because they've done such an excellent & streamlined jobs thus far with your tax dollars? Let's not even start on the mess that is your state budget.Typical Californian.Not saying we can do without government.Just saying that their role in re-distributing wealth to the betterment of all is spotty at best.And what was that crack about "income recipient" !?!
The VAST MAJORITY of wealth in this country is EARNED by people who TAKE RISKS.They start companies...or they fund companies.Sometimes they buy big ticket toys.Toys that must be built & maintained by someone.Jets,yachts & ugly boxes like this don't build themselves.Your desire to re-distribute wealth is laughable.Apology accepted.

Anonymous said...

I have clipped this house's
'back yard pool looking over the white house' picture
on my viewing board next to the fridge,
so as not to forget to buy this mansion
in case I found some money somewhere.. tee hee..

my heart broke a tiny bit when I found out from Moma dear that the house is sold..
but then...
I know who bought La Belle Vie, apparantly a good friend of mine..
I am so glad its him who bought it..

now I get to see the interior of La Belle Vie..

the house exists.. greed or no greed.. overbundance or not.. I think it should be appreciated..

regards

~~*~~

Garcia said...

@ lil gay boy: many of the world's terrorist organizations are on Wall St., but I digress. As for the house, so Bel Air. Lady J