Archive for March 30th, 2008

The new b5media business channel blog, The Daily Blender, has some evidence that we are possibly entering a recession. Jennifer Heigel writes that Portland, Oregon restaurants are seeing a decline in patronage.

Baby boomers nearing retirement might be “practicing” not going out as much. And we who have lived through several recessions know that prices are not going down. This decline in business with upscale restaurants, like the decline in sales seen at Starbucks recently, is an indication that people are holding on to their discretionary income, waiting to see what will happen to the economy.

“Recession” is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If people think prices are going up and the economy is going down, then they behave in a certain way, causing prices to go up and the economy to decline. Hang on to your hats (and your coffee cups); it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

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From the NY Post’s Gimme Shelter:
–Donald Trump is asking a truly stunning amount of rent for one of his unsold Park Avenue penthouses: $200,000 per month for a three-bedroom condominium, shown above, that’s listed at $45 million. The listing is here.
–We first heard rumors of this back in December but now it seems that it is official that the listing for Oscar-winning producer Marty Richards’ apartment went to contract. It’s selling for somewhere just below its $22.7 million asking price. The buyer is said to be fashion-show mogul Elyse Kroll. Her 23-room townhouse is on the market for $29.75 million. The listing is here.
–Hopedene, a fabulous mansion on Newport, Rhode Island’s famous Cliff Walk has hit the market. It’s our estate of the day later today.

From the NY Observer’s Manhattan Transfers:
–Steven Croman who has been named to The Village Voice’s 10 Worst Landlords List, has picked up a townhouse at 7 East 75th Street,paying $14.5 million to a family that had owned the home for decades. (The home’s facade was used as home on the Television show The Nanny). Croman says he has no plans to make it into a single family home or to raise rent for existing tenants.
–Writer and Oprah scapegoat James Frey has picked up a $985,000 one-bedroom apartment which is next door to his three-bedroom apartment at 505 Greenwich Street.
–One of New York city’s most coveted homes, Brooke Astor’s 778 Park Avenue duplex might soon be on the market. Agents from five of the city’s top brokerages met in the 778 Park duplex’s library to audition for the listing which could be as much as $46 million.

From The Wall Street Journal’s Private Properties:
–Bear Sterns Chief Executive Alan D. Schwartz has taken his Purchase, New York house off the market and is renting it instead. The home was listed for $4.5 million. Bear Chairman and former CEO James Cayne closed last month on a $27.4 million buy of two adjacent apartments at the Plaza in New York.
–Allman Brothers Band drummer Claude “Butch” Trucks has cut the asking price on his Palm Beach, Fla., house again this month to $3.995 million, down 17% from the original $4.8 million. The listing is here.
–In Manhattan, a few new high-profile condo buildings with uncommon designs are selling at high prices for downtown neighborhoods. At 100 11th Ave., an irregular, glass-faceted tower designed by France’s Jean Nouvel, 70% of the building’s 72 original units have sold since sales began in April. Eight of the nine units at Shigeru Ban’s “Metal Shutter Houses” development have sold at full asking price of up to $10.25 million. Herzog & de Meuron’s 28-unit green-glass 40 Bond building still has one original unit for sale after two years on the market, in addition to several resale listings.

From Berg Properties Large Time Listings:
–via WSJ Private Properties, retired quarterback Drew Bledsoe is selling his home in Westlake, Texas. He already lives in Bend, Oregon. The listing is here.
–Sitcom actress Jaime Pressly has paid $2,250,000 for a new five-bedroom home in Sherman Oaks.
–British TV presenter and Simon Cowell girlfriend Terri Seymour, has paid $4.6 million for a home in the Bird Streets area of the Hollywood Hills. Photos of the beautiful contemporary home are here.
–A modern home in the Hollywood Hills that once was owned by actress Milla Jovovich has been listed for $2,399,000. The virtual tour is here.
–Michael J. Fox has paid $6,300,000 for a new six-bedroom house in Quogue, N.Y.
–Charlotte Bobcats shooting guard Jason Richardson has listed his five-bedroom home in Oakland, CA for $3,100,000. The listing is here.
–O magazine editor-at-large and Oprah BFF Gayle King has shut on the purchase of a $7,100,000 condo in Manhattan.
–Rumor has it that Jessica Simpson might have purchased a huge home in Nashville, Tennessee but so far she has denied this.
–Danny Masterson has sold his four-bedroom, Spanish-style home in the Beachwood Canyon area of Los Angeles for $1.2 million.
via TMZ Tom Arnold has listed his five-bedroom, 4,211-square-foot home in Tarzana for $2,275,000. The virtual tour is here.

From the Real Estalker:
–The $81.5 million Sidney Kimmel home in Palm Beach may have already gone to contract for a number over $75 million.
–Actor Enrique Murciano has listed his home in Los Angeles for $1.795 million. The listing is here.
–via NY Daily News, Mary J. Blige has paid $12.3 million for a home in Saddle River, NJ that was originally listed at $17 million.

From the LA Times: Hot Property:
–Another look at the home that DJ Paul Oakenfold has put on the market for $10 million. It was our estate of the day in February.
–Hotelier Jason Pomeranc has bought a former Hollywood Hills home of actress Sandra Dee and singer Bobby Darin for about $3 million.
–Frank Sinatra’s Palm Desert hideaway,Villa Maggio, has hit the market for $4.995 million. The compound sleeps up to 22 people and there’s a helicopter pad, movie theater and outdoor dance floor. The listing is here.
–Actress Dedee Pfeiffer, sister of Michelle Pfeiffer, has listed her home in Mandeville Canyon for $1.195 million. It looks like the three-bedroom home with hot and cold Japanese-style dipping pools has already gone to contract. The listing is here.
–Actor Gregory Harrison has listed his southern Oregon home at $5.9 million. We covered this home as an estate of the day back in January but were unaware of its celebrity provenance

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Last January, we heard about the plans for a $155 million home planned for the Yellowstone Club, the exclusive millionaires’ playground in Montana. The AP reports that Tim Blixseth, the founder of the Yellowstone Club has sold the parcel of land where he’d planned to build the home. Huge Sky resident Loren Bough purchased the 160-acre parcel.

Earlier this month, The Desert Sun did a comprehensive story on Blixseth’s fight to keep his wealth. He and his wife Edra Blixseth have been involved in a bitter divorce. He’s also been fighting a multimillion-dollar settlement with former cycling star Greg LeMond. When Tim and Edra first split in December 2006 after a 25 year relationship, they were lauded for dividing their property and assets without fights and lawyers. But since then, they’ve been involved in a protracted battle for their shared assets.

Also Tour de France champion Greg LeMond, his parents-in-law David and Sacia Morris, and Jorge Jasson, a family friend have claimed i ncourt that Blixseth tried to purchase their shares at the Yellowstone Club for a total of $13 million, which they say was a fraction of their value. The celebrations reached a $38 million settlement in the case. Blixseth paid the first installment on the suit but missed a payment in January and interest is now accruing.

Blixseth is trying to sell the 13,400-acre gated community. In January he was working with CrossHarbor Capital Partners LLC, the Boston-based private- equity firm founded by Yellowstone member Sam Byrne to sell assets of the club for $455.7 million.

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With the popularity of Facebook, bebo and MySpace, companies are trying to find ways to leverage social networking. However, it can be expensive to build out a strong platform.

Well, things are getting easier; that is, Ringside Networks has launched an open source server to build social networks (it’s in the beta mode).

True, there are other systems on the market. However, in the case with Ringside, it allows for seamless integration with other sites, such as Facebook. In other words, it will help companies migrate users to their own platform.

What’s more, Ringside grants companies to keep their own branding and the look-and-feel of their own websites.

Oh, and some of the co-founders of Ringside — Bob Bickel, Rich Friedman and Mark Lugert — were instrumental in the development of JBoss, which turned out to be one of the most successful open source projects in tech history.

To get some perspective on this, I talked to David DePaolo, who operates WorkCompCentral.com. He has known about Ringside for some time. His take: “It makes sense that someone would begin this up as they have with other technologies, and just in time. As technology progresses, we find that it is not all about the technology and patents, it’s the application of that technology to a specific market.”

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

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