Bill Murray’s Former Upstate Home Is For Sale, a Real-World Mansion Lists in the Metaverse, and More Real Estate News

From celebrity homes like Bill Murray’s and Peter Brant’s for sale to mansions in the metaverse, there is always something new happening in the world of real estate. In this roundup, AD PRO has everything you need to know.

On the Market

Bill Murray slept here

You may not have heard of Snedens Landing, but celebrities sure know this New York town, nicknamed “Hollywood on the Hudson.” It’s been home to everyone from Scarlett Johansson to Al Pacino. Now a four-bedroom home in Snedens Landing that comedian Bill Murray once lived in has been listed for $2.075 million with Richard Ellis of Ellis Sotheby’s International Realty. Murray lived in the 1868 Gothic Revival house in the late 1980s, long after it served as the parsonage for the Palisades Presbyterian Church across the street. 

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The residence underwent a million-dollar face-lift in 2016 but still retains many authentic Victorian features—including the original crown moldings and a stone fireplace with hand-painted Minton tiles depicting scenes from antiquity. The exquisite hearth had been boarded up for years, and was only discovered during renovation. Perhaps its most unique feature, though, is a bathtub once owned by Uma Thurman. Her decorator was remodeling the manse and repurposed it from the Kill Bill star’s house.  

An Old Hollywood manor hits the market in Hancock Park

David Cooley, owner of the West Hollywood gay landmark The Abbey, has listed his Hancock Park home for a touch under $7.7 million. The history of 121 S. Rossmore Avenue goes back to 1923, when silent movie star Katherine MacDonald tapped architect Henry F. Withey to construct it. Later, the Rossmore House served as a short-term residence for Vivian Vance while she shot I Love Lucy.

Cooley purchased the four-bedroom, seven-bath English home in 2001. During the course of his ownership, Cooley worked to bring the property into the 21st century, Rochelle Maize, a realtor at Nourmand & Associates, tells AD PRO, “while maintaining the integrity of the home’s original architecture and making sure key details original to the home remained intact.” 

The original hardwood floors and wrought-iron staircase railing remain, according to Maize, who is co-listing the property with Alexis Valentine Ramos of Sotheby’s International Realty. We’ll raise a glass to one update: Withey’s original garage has been converted into a guesthouse with its own speakeasy.

Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant sell Palm Beach home

Billionaire Peter Brant and his wife, model Stephanie Seymour, have put their historic Palm Beach compound on the market for $28 million. Buttonwood, as the frame vernacular house is known, dates to 1901 and was originally owned by Elisha Newton “Cap” Dimick, Palm Beach’s first mayor. Back then, the 7,175-square-foot dwelling faced Lake Worth Lagoon on the Intracoastal Waterway. To avoid demolition, it was moved by logs to its current location on Dunbar Road, where it’s joined by a four-bedroom guesthouse. Brant and Seymour bought the property in 1999 for $4.1 million. 

The house is full of period detail, including detailed woodwork and ornate finishes. The grand staircase at the entrance leads up to the home’s five bedrooms, while a downstairs library could be transformed into an additional bedroom, according to the listing with Liza Pulitzer, Alan Quartucci, and Whitney McGurk of Brown Harris Stevens.

The house is just one of several that Brant and Seymour own; others include a sprawling estate in Greenwich, Connecticut, and another Palm Beach mansion that was once home to shopping-center mogul A. Alfred Taubman.

A Mean Girls is selling his Palm Springs manor

Mean Girls actor Jonathan Bennett is putting his Palm Springs getaway up for sale. Bennett and his husband, Jaymes Vaughan, have been too busy with TV projects and their LGBTQ+ cruise company, OutBound, to take full advantage of the three-bedroom, two-bath rancher, TMZ reported.

Set on a 11,325-square-foot lot, the house, nicknamed “Mai Tai Manor,” was completed in 1977. Both colorful and playful, with a distinct ’70s party vibe, its appeared on MTV’s Real Friends of WeHo and Design Network’s Celebrity Homes Unlocked.

Bennett and Vaughan bought the property in 2020 for $625,000. After some major work—including modernizing the HVAC system and renovating the pool and patio—they’ve listed it with Joe Chung of Compass for $1.15 million.

The home is being sold furnished, complete with Breda Murphy bunk beds and pieces by Kardie. 

Lego Movie producer Dan Lin lists midcentury A-frame in Honolulu

Hollywood producer Dan Lin, whose credits include It, The Lego Movie, and Disney’s live-action Aladdin, has listed his four-bedroom A-frame in Honolulu. Situated at the base of Diamond Head, 4335 Kaikoo Place is modeled after a Samoan longhouse and reflects the Indigenous influences that shaped the work of architect George Pete Wimberly, who completed the thatched-roof house in 1956.

Offering about 2,000 square feet of interior space, it’s infused with natural elements like lava rock, coral, and bamboo. Wimberly set the tone for resort design in the Pacific, with notable works including the Waikikian, Kauai’s Coco Palms Resort, and Don the Beachcomber restaurant.

Lin and his interior designer wife, Sophia, restored much of the original design but overhauled the kitchen and primary bath. Among the additions? A six-person Denali 680 Sundance hot tub, as well as an updated large adobo wood deck that offers spectacular views of the sunset behind Diamond Head. 

The house is listed for $3.75 million with Noel Shaw of Hawaii Life.

A real-world mansion goes on sale in the metaverse

The first real-world mansion being sold with a metaverse “twin” has hit the market for $12.9 million. IRL, a 11,000-square-foot home designed by Voxel Architects is being constructed in Miami’s Pinecrest neighborhood, with seven bedrooms, nine baths, a walk-in wine cellar, and a separate guest house.

Meta Residence One will mirror the home in the Sandbox metaverse, only with more than 40 additional acres for use in residential, commercial, marketing, or gaming projects. It’s an NFT asset “that blurs the lines between the metaverse and reality,” according to general contractor Gabe Sierra, who is overseeing the project.

Michael Martinez and Kiki Rutten with ONE Sotheby’s International Realty are selling the property via an NFT auction on the Ethereum blockchain on April 19. For now, prospective buyers can tour the home virtually in what’s being billed as “the first open house in the metaverse.”

Sales Launch

Sales begin for Mandarin Oriental Residences, Fifth Avenue

As external construction on the Mandarin Oriental Residences, Fifth Avenue nears completion, units are now available at the property—the luxury hotel chain’s first standalone residence on the East Coast. Three units in the Marin Architects–designed building are now up for grabs: 6D, a $2.5-million junior suite; 10F, a $4.2-million one-bedroom; and 7A, a $5.95-million two-bedroom. All three are fully furnished and boast custom Molteni kitchens with champagne-gold Dornbracht fixtures, Miele appliances, and polished Graffito marble countertops. 

Residents of all 65 luxury condominiums will have access to Boulud Prive (a private bar-restaurant from superstar chef Daniel Boulud), a gym and lounge on the 25th floor, and a rooftop pool that looks onto Central Park. And since this is a hotel brand, all homes come with Mandarin Oriental–brand toothbrushes and Frette linens to put on your Mandarin Oriental mattress, as well as Acqua di Parma beauty products and Dyson hair dryers.

Situated on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 54th Street, the building was previously Gucci’s corporate headquarters. Developer Michael Shvo and his partners purchased the space in 2018 for $135 million, converting some 100,000 square feet of office space and adding 10 floors.

Post House brings condo perks to Brooklyn townhomes 

Compass has launched sales for the townhouses at Post House, located at 535 and 537 Pacific Street in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill neighborhood. Both properties feature five bedrooms and six-and-a-half baths across 5,600 square feet of interior space, plus decks on two floors and spacious roof terraces.

Designed by Workshop/APD and Issac & Stern Architects, the two are joined by the 11-story Post House condominium building. (The 41 condos inside are listed at 533 Pacific, but exist alongside the townhomes in a combined structure.) As a result, owners of the ground-up, new-construction townhouses get rare access to a doorman, private parking, and first-rate condo amenities.

Workshop/APD design director Brook Quach said the design was inspired by the arched windows and ornate brickwork of the previous existing building, a 1920s post office. 

“This is found throughout the townhouses, whether in the chevron wood floors that mimic an envelope, or the soft, arched entry vestibule that emulates a mailbox’s opening,” Quach said in a statement. “Beyond that, our choice of materials—like black metal, satin brass, and stacked tile—reference the Art Deco period of the 1920s.”

News

Overseas investors still big on luxury real estate in the US

According to a recent Coldwell Banker report, international buyers are still hungry for the American luxury real estate market. More than 1,200 high-net-worth consumers from 12 countries were surveyed in the study, conducted in partnership with Censuswide. Of them, 84% already owned residential real estate outside their home country, 80% said they still believed real estate in the United States was a safe investment, and a similar percentage (76%) described current market conditions as “excellent and/or good.” Respondents from Mexico, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates were the most confident about the US market.

The chief motivations to purchase property in the States were frequent work travel, a recent vacation, and interest in a film or movie based in the US. The top features respondents sought out were privacy, spectacular views, cutting-edge smart-home technology, and sustainable design.