Single-days digs: Don’t need ‘em
Pop stars Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, costars of MTV’s “Newlyweds” show, have sold their bachelor pads in a Wilshire Corridor high-rise. Each of the two units, on different floors of the 20-story tower, sold in the $900,000 range.
Simpson, 23, listed her condo at $925,000 before marrying Lachey, 30, in October 2002. Soon after the pair wed and moved into a house they bought on the Westside, Simpson took her condo off the market and leased it. She re-listed it in January at $896,000. It sold at $910,000.
The contemporary corner unit has views of Westwood, the Getty Museum and Beverly Hills. It has two bedrooms in slightly more than 1,600 square feet. It also has an open floor plan with top-of-the-line kitchen appliances, a bar opening to the dining room, a living room with a bar and a fireplace, a 275-square-foot patio and a large master suite.
Lachey, formerly of the pop band 98 Degrees, originally listed his condo at $1 million in June 2002. He later took it off the market. The unit was not listed when it was sold for close to its February 2003 asking price of $959,000.
His condo, two floors above Simpson’s, has two bedrooms in nearly 2,000 square feet. It also has an updated kitchen, two balconies and a northern city view. The tower was built in 1980.
“Newlyweds,” the biggest hit on MTV since “The Osbournes,” is a reality series documenting the couple’s first year of marriage. The series, a success attributed in large part to Simpson’s naive demeanor, was renewed for a second season. The couple, who hosted NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” in January, signed to do a variety special that will air on ABC later this season.
Jory Burton of DBL Beverly Hills had the listing on Simpson’s condo, and Daniel Brown of Prudential John Aaroe, Brentwood, represented the buyer. Chad Rogers of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, represented both sides of Lachey’s transaction. Kay Cole of Prudential California, Calabasas, also represented Lachey in his sale.
Leaving the hills, bound for the altar
Actress Brittany Murphy, who became engaged in January to talent manager Jeff Kwatinetz, has sold her Hollywood Hills home. The asking price was $939,000.
Murphy sold her home of nearly five years because she bought singer Britney Spears’ larger and newer Westside home last year for about $4 million. Murphy listed the home she just sold in September at $995,000.
The Spanish-style home, built in 1928, has two bedrooms and two bathrooms in just under 2,000 square feet. It has a large master suite with a fireplace, a walk-in closet and French doors leading to a spacious deck. The master bathroom has a steam shower and a sauna.
Murphy, 26, played her breakthrough film role as the loopy Tai in “Clueless” (1995). She has appeared in a number of films since then, including “Uptown Girls” (2003), in which she played a nanny.
She is the voice of aspiring beautician Luanne on the long-running Fox animated series “King of the Hill.”
Jory Burton and Caroline Berkman, both of DBL in Beverly Hills, represented the buyer, and Sara Berger of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, had the listing.
Bought and sold in Beverly Hills
Film producer Alan Ladd Jr. has purchased the Beverly Hills home of Tom Kreiss, home furnishings and design executive, for close to $3.6 million, and Kreiss bought a one-story, mid-century modern in the same area. Its asking price was just under $2.9 million.
The home Ladd purchased has four bedrooms and 5 1/2 bathrooms in about 5,300 square feet. The traditional-style house, built in the ‘50s but recently refurbished, is gated and has a fully equipped chef’s kitchen, a gym and a grassy backyard with a pool, spa and fireplace.
The home Kreiss bought has four bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms in nearly 3,600 square feet. The house also has walls of glass and a spacious master bedroom suite with a separate office. The property has a spa and a cabana.
Ladd also has listed his former Beverly Hills home at just under $10 million.
The walled and gated tennis estate, built in 1928 and recently updated, has seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms in slightly more than 10,000 square feet. The home, on nearly an acre, has a state-of-the-art screening room and a landscaped courtyard. The estate was purchased from agent-turned-producer Freddie Fields in 1998.
Ladd, son of late actor Alan Ladd (“Shane,” 1953), is a former studio executive who produced such movies as the Oscar-winning “Braveheart” (1995).
Kreiss is an executive vice president of the San Diego-based Kreiss Collection of home furnishings, started in 1939 by his grandfather, Murray Kreiss.
Stephen Resnick and Brent Watson of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, had the listing on the home Kreiss sold, and they represented him in buying a home listed by Kirk Frieden of Coldwell Banker, Sunset. Delphine Mann of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills, represented Ladd in buying and has the listing on his former home.
Longtime hoofer called it home
The Beverly Hills home of actress Ann Miller, who died in January at 81, has come on the market at about $3.5 million.
Miller and her family owned the Spanish-style house, built in 1930, for about 60 years. It has five bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms in nearly 5,200 square feet. The rooms have high ceilings and original tiles and moldings. There is a family room/kitchen with a butler’s pantry and a yard with room for a pool.
Miller was famous for her tap dancing. She danced alongside Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire in MGM films of the late ‘40s and early ‘50s. Among her movies was “Kiss Me Kate.” On Broadway, she starred in “Mame” in 1969 and won a Tony nomination for “Sugar Babies” in 1980. She played an eccentric apartment manager in the film “Mulholland Drive” (2001).
Sally Forster Jones of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills East, has the listing.
