Friday, January 11, 2008

Nic Cage Sells Off the Scene of the Crime

Today the good folks at Wall Street Journal Private Properties column (and Mister Big Time) are reporting that hair challenged house hopping actor Nic Cage has done sold his Newport Beach house for a whopping $35,000,000. Yes puppies, this is the very same house where Mister Cage recently awoke in the middle of the night to find a naked intruder trying on his leather jacket.

Property records show that Mister Cage, who owns ten or more properties around the world, purchased the Newport Beach house in July of 2005. Records to not indicate a purchase price however it's rumored and reported that the real estate obsessed actor paid somewhere between $22-25,000,000 for the waterfront property.

Located on Bayshore Drive in a private community overlooking Newport Harbor, property records indicate the house measures 4,404 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, which sounds a mite small to Your Mama when you look at the photo above. Out back there is a large dock where Mister Cage parks his pretty boat named Weston, after his teenage son.

The new owner of Cage's crib is reported to be a stunningly rich Las Vegas bizness man who made his fortune from low brow casinos, slot machines, and gas stations that feature fast food outlets. Not very klassy, but seriously lucrative.

Mister Big Time mentioned in his discussion that Mister Cage and family have decamped back to their monstrous house on Copa de Oro Road in Bel Air that they recently removed from the market where it was priced at a shiver inducing $35,000,000. But that's not what we hear from our always reliable informant Lucy Spillerguts who tells us that the Cage clan is actually holed up in a Santa Monica rental on Palisades Beach Road. Why Cage would rent a house on the beach when he owns so many? Well children, Your Mama has said it a thousand time before...who are we to sort out the strange real estate shenanigans of the rich and famous?

Photo: Pacific Coast News

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought I had cleared up the whole "leather" coat matter. Anyway, it was mine to keep (so I was told). For Nicky to have come after me with that Wusthof super-sized knife like that was inexcusable! And you wonder why I don't want a 4-poster bed? So now he's renting on the beach in SM, where he knows damn well I take my meditative walks 3-4 times a week! Where anyone can waltz, prance, or tip-toe (my choice) through the tulips and enter a house? I smell another set-up!

Anonymous said...

It doesn't appear to be a lot of house shoehorned onto that lot, buy I understand that it's oversized for the area.

The architecture is not displeasing, but I'd certainly like a look at the interior - anyone have a link to some pics?

As for the "Night of the Naked Man Affair", sound more like an "oops, darling, did I ever make a mistake," than any "intruder" to me . . . Hippie, darling, don't do THAT again!"

Anonymous said...

It's Newport Beach,ugghhh why would anyone pay 35 mil to lve there?

Anonymous said...

^

Because it's one of the few places in Cali you can park your yacht in your garden - perfect for those who love sailing *yawn* ... It could be worse, you could live in Florida with your yacht in your garden ... major 'ugghhh'

Anonymous said...

i thought you were supposed to name boats after a FEMALE!

lol

Anonymous said...

One of the best views in the harbor, centrally located on a massive lot very near the Coast Highway and not a single ramshackle beach cottage in the neighborhood. I don't think it's worth $35 million (especially with that bland architecture) but the place has a lot going for it.

Anonymous said...

$35M after peddling trash in Vegas for years and this is what that astute businessman aspires to?

It's just too much damn money for this place.

Anonymous said...

There are a few variables that might make the price acceptable for some people:

1) At 25,000 square feet, the lot is almost ten times the size of other bayfront properties (with similarly advantageous positions) that list for $6 million and up.

2) Especially if you have competition, you sometimes you have to pay a serious premium to get the exact location you want -- houses around here often stay in families for a long time, and if you miss your chance when the right property comes up you might be screwed. I can think of three choice houses, all in a row, that have been in the same families for 40, 50 and 75 years, respectively.

3) If you've got a really big boat and want to avoid a bureaucratic nightmare, you need a house that already has the right dock. That alone might be worth several million dollars to the right buyer.

I just hope Mr. Las Vegas doesn't tear the house down and replace it with something worse.

Anonymous said...

Very likely, pch, very likely; we've seen on this blog some of the hideous architecture that passes for style in Las Vegas . . .

Anonymous said...

I for one like Newport Beach a lot. It's like Disneyland: impeccably maintained and perfect in the most calculated way. I don't mind Mr Cage's house, it works with the yacht. Wouldn't pay $35 million but I would live there in a flash!

Anonymous said...

Viva, you left out the most important part about it being like Disneyland - all the plastic people!

luke220 said...

Am I the only cynic here? I don't believe that it really sold for $35 Million (Babajian and Grasso where are you?).

Gas stations, low brow casinos and slot machines? Sounds like OC to me and I don't mean Orange County. Money laundering, suitcases of cash, phony sales price?

I can't fathom as 50% price increase in the past two years in this market.

And Mama thinks $35 mill for Copa de Oro is shiver inducing?

PS I just saw Cage's San Fran house on Francisco St. Not sure if it has sold, but I'd not put up with being right over the Hyde St cable car, with its clang clang clanging from 6am to midnight every day.

Anonymous said...

No Luke, you're right on the money; at least the Bel Air house has something of a "pedigree" (albeit a dicey one - Dean Martin and Tom Jones?)

With all the real estate this guy owns, he's seriously headed down Neverland Road . . .

Anonymous said...

Somehow, if this were a money-laundering operation, I'd expect Cage's broker to avoid attention-grabbing things like telling the local paper about how he believes it breaks a record for Orange County.

But, then, you never know...

Anonymous said...

The Las Vegas businessman has a property right across the water ( on Linda Isle?) and his yacht and speedboat are named after his casino/gas station chain. Same person, I assume. Properties on the water with such generous dock space do not open up often, so the price is not too surprising.