He shoots, he scores, he lists
Two-time NBA All-Star Elton Brand’s Hollywood Hills home is a long way from the projects where he grew up in Peekskill, N.Y.
How far has the 27-year-old Clipper forward come? He just listed his 6,000-square-foot home with floating stairways, walls of glass and 20-foot ceilings at close to $5 million.
The three-level city-view home has three bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms, including an oversized master-bedroom suite. The house has Brazilian walnut floors, a floor-to-ceiling mahogany fireplace, a walk-in wine cellar and a loft.
The walled and gated home also has a landscaped yard, a swimming pool and two garages that can accommodate up to five cars.
Brand, who has owned his home for two years, was raised by his single mother, Daisy, in a sprawling, low-income housing project known as Dunbar Heights. The complex had two basketball courts that provided Brand with a place to hone his skills.
Brand is 6 feet 8 but has been known to block more shots than most 7-footers. He has been the Clippers’ leading scorer for the last two seasons. This year, he received the NBA’s sportsmanship award. And he was recently named to the U.S. men’s basketball team, to compete in the 2006 world championships in Japan and the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Brand signed a six-year, $82-million contract with the Clippers in 2003.
Jordan Cohen, at Re/Max Olson & Associates, Westlake Village, has the Hollywood Hills listing.
Miss Congeniality comes in second
Sandra Bullock turned out to be a surprise bidder last weekend at the auction of a triplex in Sunset Beach.
But the actress, who has been investing in Southern California residential income property for several years, stopped bidding at just under $3.2 million, and the triplex sold to somebody else for $3.45 million.
There were 50 to 60 bidders at the auction, but it came down to Bullock, 41, and the winning bidder. Make that a friend of Bullock’s and the winning bidder.
Bullock stood off to the side and gave her friend cues, auctioneers said. The friend was not Jesse James, Bullock’s 37-year-old spouse. James has a pied-a-terre in Long Beach.
The triplex, on a 30-by-90-foot lot, has two two-bedroom oceanfront units and a one-bedroom unit in the rear over the garage. Auctioneers expect the new owner to raze the triplex and build a single-family home in its place.
Premier Estates Auction Co., based in Manhattan Beach, conducted the auction. The company only handles residential real estate of a million dollars or more.
And, so, nature takes its course
Melissa Joan Hart, who starred in the TV series “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” and husband Mark Wilkerson, singer-guitarist for rock band Course of Nature, have settled into the Sherman Oaks house they bought for $2.8 million.
Hart, 30, and Wilkerson, 29, were living in the newly built home, giving it finishing touches, when she gave birth to their son earlier this year.
A project of Okland Construction, the Spanish-style home, behind gates, has dark, distressed wood floors, a master-bedroom suite with a spa bath, a theater room, a pool and an outdoor spa.
Altogether, there are five bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms in 5,100 square feet.
Moe Abourched of Re/Max on the Boulevard, Sherman Oaks, was the listing agent, and Matt Epstein of the same company represented the buyer.
Horse zoning, and an Oscar pedigree
Howard Berger, who won an Oscar this year for his makeup work on “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” and his wife, Sandi, have listed their Chatsworth home at $965,000.
They have owned the equestrian-zoned home, with a barn and horse stalls, since 1998. The five-bedroom, 2,700-square-foot house was built in 1975. The home also has 2 3/4 bathrooms, a fireplace, a family room, a master-bedroom suite with a walk-in closet and a spa tub, and a patio, a pool, a spa and mountain views in the backyard.
Matt Horn of Re/Max Olson & Associates, Northridge, has the listing.
Going splits on Napa Valley ranch
Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter Bo Goldman and his wife, jewelry designer Mab Ashforth, have put the bulk of their longtime ranch in the Napa Valley on the market for $5.3 million.
The couple plan to keep 100 acres of their 280-acre “country retreat,” as he calls it. They have owned the property for nearly 30 years. The part they are selling has a three-bedroom, two-bathroom main house described as rustic; a newly built, three-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bathroom guest house; a barn; wells; a paved road; and miles of walking and riding trails. The ranch also has a 360-degree view of the valley, dotted with oaks and wildflowers.
Goldman and Ashforth, who are in their 70s, are scaling down and plan to move to Maine to be closer to family, according to their son, Justin Ashforth.
Goldman earned an adapted-screenplay Oscar for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975). He won his second Oscar -- for best original screenplay -- for “Melvin and Howard” (1980). He also wrote the screenplay for “Scent of a Woman” (1992).
Tom Dixon of Up Valley Real Estate in St. Helena, Calif., has the listing.
To see previous columns on celebrity realty transactions, go to latimes.com/hotproperty.
