It’s worth toasting -- a sold sign
Although Malibu Colony may have been where everybody knew his name, “Cheers” star Ted Danson is moving on, having sold his Cape Cod-style house for an undisclosed price, according to area real estate agents. It most recently had been listed at $16.75 million.
Danson and his wife, actress Mary Steenburgen, have had the house on the market for more than a year. It was originally listed at $18.5 million.
The 3,550-square-foot home was remodeled and totally renovated in 2002. It has hickory floors, ocean views and 8-foot sliding French doors that open onto the oceanfront patio and deck area.
An oceanfront tearoom features a ceiling-mounted projection screen that is part of a large entertainment system, according to listing information. The dining room overlooks the Pacific -- a view framed by the hand-painted fireplace insets and antique aqua glass and crystal chandelier.
The kitchen has a farmhouse sink and tin ceilings, along with the pre- requisite Viking range and dishwasher, Sub-Zero refrigerator and freezer.
The master suite is the piece de resistance, with a fireplace and many built-ins, a large sun deck, a walk-in closet and a luxurious bath. Each additional bedroom suite features custom moldings, sisal floor coverings and Waterworks fixtures and tile.
There is a first-floor guest suite with a private entrance.
And of course it’s all in the colony, which is guard-gated.
Danson played bartender Sam on the NBC hit sitcom “Cheers” from 1982 to 1993, winning Emmys for best actor in 1990 and 1993. He periodically plays himself on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
Steenburgen, an Academy Award winner for her role in the 1980 film “Melvin and Howard,” married Danson in 1995. She appears in “Step Brothers,” with Will Ferrell, due out this summer.
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Dropping names and home prices
So much for celebrity cachet. Even Hollywood types with homes for sale are feeling the market’s slowdown and lowering their asking prices.
Some recent price drops:
* Real-estate-savvy Frankie Muniz, the Emmy-nominated star of the hit TV series “Malcolm in the Middle,” (2000-2006) has relisted his five-bedroom, four-bathroom Hollywood Hills home for $3,695,000, down from $3,875,000 last fall. Muniz, 22, purchased it in January 2006 for about $3.5 million.
The 4,000-square-foot, two-story house, built in 1941 and completely remodeled in 2005, has hardwood floors, three fireplaces and an entertainment patio area with an outdoor fireplace and a pool.
Muniz has been dabbling in Los Angeles real estate for a few years now. When he was just 19, he owned two houses on the Westside -- one with a nifty fingerprint-recognition front door. (Too much time playing Agent Cody Banks?)
Max Shapiro of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, has the listing on Muniz’s Hollywood Hills home.
* Angela Bassett and her husband, Courtney B. Vance, reduced the asking price on their Hancock Park mansion from $5,999,000 to $4.6 million.
The five-bedroom, seven-bathroom house has 4,828 square feet, plus the couple added a detached 1,384-square-foot, two-story building that has an office, gym and guest quarters. The home also includes a hair salon. (What? Yours doesn’t?)
Bassett, mom to twins, was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Tina Turner in the 1993 film “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” Laurence Fishburne played Ike. She starred opposite him again in “Akeelah and the Bee” (2006) and also starred in “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” (1998).
Vance is best known for his five-year run on the NBC series “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (2001-2006).
The listing agent is June Ahn, Coldwell Banker Hancock Park South office.
* A Beverly Hills house that actress Sharon Stone bought for just under $11 million in April 2006 and then promptly relisted at $12.5 million -- to no takers -- is now back on the market at $10 million.
Stone never moved in, and the 1991 gated estate, with seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms, was completely refurbished in 2004. The actress lives in another mansion not far from this one. So why’d she buy this house? Impulse, pure and simple, said the listing agent back in 2006.
And now, not unlike that Lycra minidress you bought because it just looked so dang adorable on the Size 2 mannequin, she probably wishes there were a more liberal return policy when it comes to Beverly Hills mansions.
Of course, not everyone is lowering their prices. Take Hollywood producer Mike Medavoy, co-founder of Phoenix Pictures and the man who brought you “The Thin Red Line” (1998) and “The People vs. Larry Flynt” (1996). He recently relisted his Beverly Park home and stuck with the $23.5-million price tag.
The Hamptons-style 11,000-square-foot house sits on nearly 2 acres. There are five bedrooms and nine bathrooms, a two-story entryway and a projection room.
The estate has all the bells and whistles you can imagine befitting a Hollywood king. All it lacks is a buyer.
It is co-listed by Joyce Rey and Jade Mills, both of Coldwell Banker Previews International, Beverly Hills.
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Magnate needs a buyer magnet
When a quiet man with a 10-digit net worth speaks, I like to listen.
Norm Waitt Jr., co-founder of Gateway computers, is selling his Montecito mansion -- Belle Epoque -- in a sealed-bid auction.
The house, his ex-wife’s pet project, had been listed for more than a year. He even dropped the price from $24.8 million to an eventual $19.7 million, based on his agent’s advice that “below $20 million” would attract a buyer. It didn’t.
“Selling it in an auction sounded interesting to me,” Waitt said. “It’s a different marketing approach.” Sheldon Good & Co. is handling the sale, which, according to Senior Vice President David Latvaaho, will cast a wide net and likely attract foreign buyers as well as the usual suspects. Bids must be submitted by 3 p.m. on June 25, and Waitt can accept, reject or negotiate with any and all bidders.
Belle Epoque -- French for “beautiful era” -- is a French Country estate in a sea of Montecito Mediterraneans. It has 12,000 square feet overlooking the Pacific on almost 3 acres. There are five bedrooms, eight full and three half bathrooms, five fireplaces and reclaimed wide-plank oak floors. There are formal gardens, large lawns, a wildflower meadow, plus a pool and spa.
Waitt, divorced in 2006, says he is selling because it’s more house than he needs. “I’m single,” said the 54-year-old, “and this is more of a family house.” Plus he already owns another house in Montecito.
Waitt left Gateway in 1991 and was an executive producer of the film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (2002).
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