Lord Sugar puts his gin palace up for sale for £12.7 million after owning it for just two years; it was originally built for the controversial tycoon Alan Bond
On Monday, the Daily Mail’s Sebastian Shakespeare revealed that Lord Sugar – of The Apprentice fame, in case you didn’t already know – is trying to sell his motor yacht, the ‘Lady A’, for £12.7 million ($16.5 million, €14 million or درهم60.6 million).
The 181-foot long gin palace accommodates 12 guests in 6 cabins and has a crew of 15. Built in Japan in 1986 for the subsequently disgraced and now dead Australian tycoon Alan Bond (1938 – 2015), the vessel passed through various other hands before being bought by Lord Sugar in 2015. Originally known as ‘Southern Cross III’, the boat was renamed ‘Indian Princess’ during supposed ownership by the brewing tycoon and ‘King of Good Times’ Vijay Mallya and ‘Emihar Chios’ whilst owned by the Greek shipping tycoon Harry N. Vafias.
Totally refitted over 10 months in 2016 by Burgess Marine and then renamed in honour of Lord Sugar’s wife since 1968, Lady Sugar (originally Ann), the ‘Lady A’ is described as a “unique market opportunity” and “one of the most distinctive yachts on the water” by brokers Edmiston.
Billionaire founder of Netscape has failed to sell his Palm Beach mansion in a year; it remains on the market for £105 million (or 754% more than he paid for it in 1999)
Four times married, a father of four and a collector of rather large gin palaces, Texan James H. Clark founded Netscape in 1994 and earnt $2 billion (the equivalent of $3 billion, £2.3 billion, €2.6 billion or درهم11 billion today) from that project when it was sold to AOL in 1998.
Clark paid just $11 million for a Palm Beach mansion named ‘Il Palmetto’ in 1999 (the equivalent of $16.2 million, £12.3 million €13.8 million or درهم59.5 million today) and spent four years renovating the 5.46-acre property. He placed it for sale for $137 million (£105 million, €117 million or درهم503 million) last August but has plainly failed to attract a buyer.
Built to the designs of the Swiss architect Maurice Fatio (1897 – 1943) as an “Italian Renaissance-style palazzo” in 1930, the house – which is also known as 1500 South Ocean Boulevard – is described by selling agents Sotheby’s International Realty as “without peer in Palm Beach.” The building was subjected to a four year renovation by Mr Clark, reportedly extends to around 44,200 square foot and aside from including 10 bedrooms, 14 full-bathrooms and 12 partial-bathrooms, also comes with a 20,000 bottle wine cellar and a second cellar for an additional 1,000 crates.
Architecturally “a series of pavilions connected by cloisters,” the main house is dominated by formal entertaining areas with 16th century carved ceilings and accessed from a private tunnel underneath the road is a 2-bedroom beach house with an infinity pool that “blends into the turquoise waters of the Atlantic Ocean.” To the other boundary, on Lake Worth, is a boathouse with motorised launches for two vessels and a 2-bedroom apartment above.
Designer Reed Krakoff slashes the price of his Hamptons mansion; Jackie Kennedy Onassis spent her childhood summers there
A Hamptons mansion named Lasata – meaning: “Place of Peace” in Native American – where Jacqueline Bouvier (later Kennedy and later Kennedy Onassis) spent her childhood summers has recently been reduced in price from £41.5 million to £36.1 million.
121 Further Lane, East Hampton, New York, NY 11937, United States of AmericaJacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929 – 1994)Reed and Delphine Krakoff – Mr Krakoff was at one time tipped as “the next Tom Ford” but reportedly “walked away” from his eponymous brand after supposed differences of vision for it with investors
Alternatively and more simply known as 121 Further Lane, the property concerned is situated in East Hampton and currently owned by the fashion designer Reed Krakoff and his wife Delphine. It extends to 8,500 square foot and includes 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and stands on a plot of 11.54 acres.
Two blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and three blocks from the Maidstone Club, Lasata was built in 1917 to the designs of Arthur Jackson and bought by Jackie Bouvier’s paternal grandfather, John Vernou Bouvier Jr. (AKA ‘The Major’), in 1935. The future President’s wife is said to have learnt to ride there and aged ten, wrote a poem about her time at the estate:
When I go down to the sandy shore
I can think of nothing I want more
Than to live by the booming blue sea
As the seagulls flutter around about me
I can run about when the tide is out
With the wind and the sea all about
And the seagulls are swirling and diving for fish
Oh-to live by the sea is my only wish
The Arts and Crafts style property was subsequently sold and most recently bought by Mr and Mrs Krakoff for £15.3 million in 2007. The pair – whose other homes have variously included residences in Paris, New York’s Upper East Side and the former New Canaan, Connecticut residence of the eccentric recluse Huguette Clark – carried out extensive renovations and are said to be selling in order to move to a more contemporary beachfront Hamptons property.
Vast “Italian style” oceanfront mansion in Orange County, CA relaunched for sale for £42.7 million; it has failed to sell at prices as high as £53 million
An 18,000 square foot barn of a residence described as “the finest oceanfront home in SoCal” has been relaunched to the market this month at a price 20% lower than when it was first listed in 2013.
Built in what is somewhat ambitiously termed an “Italian palazzo style” and featuring Spanish tile roofing, five imported European fireplaces and “terrazzo flooring evoking those in The Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades”, 2585 Riviera Drive stands on an acre plot in north Laguna Beach’s private Irvine Cove community. It is one of twelve oceanside homes in a gated, 24-hour-a-day guarded community and enjoys “spectacular views” of the Pacific and access to a private beach.
Constructed to the designs of the Warner Group over a period of eight years and completed in 2010, the house offered occupies half of a larger plot owned until 2002 by Joan Irvine Smith, a woman whose family had at one time been the main landowner in the area. It features not only 5 bedroom suites and 9 bathrooms but also a screening room with bar, a 10,000 bottle wine cellar with tasting room and a 6-car garage with hydraulic lift.
Within the grounds stands a guest house that was designed to be “a scaled back replica of Philip Johnson’s Glass House in Connecticut” and a 53-foot brass and glass waterfall made from materials salvaged from a Los Angeles bank. There are also 100-year old olive trees, a rose garden and a pool with cabana and spa.
An aerial shot of the site during constructionThe house today with the ocean beyond
“My wife and I love traveling to Northern Italy, particularly Bellagio and the lake country, where we’ve always admired the architecture… [But] I wouldn’t want [our house] to be construed as Tuscan in any way… Even though we built an Italianate palazzo, we wanted the flavor [sic] of mid-century design around us”.
“We wanted people to know they were stepping into an oceanfront property the moment they arrived”.
The Numbers – 2585 Riviera Drive, Laguna Beach
June 2002 – Land subdivided into three plots; 2585 Riviera Drive sold for sum of $10.5 million (the equivalent of £11.1 million, $14.3 million, €12.7 million or درهم52.5 million today).
July 2013 – Placed for sale for $65 million (the equivalent of £53 million, $68.2 million, €60.5 million or درهم250.6 million today).
May 2017 – Relaunched for sale for $55 million (£42.7 million, €49 million or درهم202 million).
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