Celebrity Digs HQ Will Be Back Next Year!

Yikes, the holiday season is upon us!  Celebrity Digs HQ is taking a break from our posts for the rest of the year.  We'll be back on Monday, January 4, 2010.  Happy Holidays!

Malcom Glazer's Palm Beach Mansion sold to Billionaire Jeff Green

Palm Beach's biggest recorded deal of the 2009 just happens to be the recent sale of Tampa Bay Bucs owner Malcolm Glazer's oceanfront La Bellucia home, a 12,000-square-foot spread on 3.8 acres, for a cool $24 million. The buyer? Los Angeles real estate investor and billionaire Jeff Greene. The sale was first reported by the Palm Beach Daily News. Here's the story.

La Bellucia is a landmarked oceanfront Addison Mizner-designed house at 1200 S. Ocean Blvd with nine bedrooms, nine-and-a-half-bathrooms. According to the newspaper, it had a price tag of $27.5 million and was on the market for less than 30 days. Willey J. Kingsley, a physician and capitalist in Rome, N.Y., built the home in 1924 and named it Beautiful Lucy after his wife, Lucy.

Glazer’s company, First Allied Jacksonville Corp., bought it in July 2000 for $14 million. The Glazers originally sought permission to demolish the main house and then, later, to bring the entire property back to its former grandeur, local realtors say. But they later decided against the renovations and chose to remain in their current home nearby, also on Palm Beach’s Billionaire’s Row.

Jeff Green Greene, became a billionaire by betting, correctly, in 2006 against the subprime mortgage market.

Oprah's "Christmas at the White House" Special to Air Sunday

Oprah Winfrey recently taped an interview with President Barack Obama and his family for her "Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Primetime Special."  She also tours the White House, giving us all the opportunity to see the changes made to it since the Obamas moved in.  The special will air on ABC this Sunday, December 13.

As you may recall, First Lady Michelle Obama hired famed interior designer Michael S. Smith (above) earlier this year to help decorate the White House.  He's one of our all-time favorite designers and a perfect choice for the White House (below). 

Can't what to see what Michael's done! 

White House photo source:  Karen Leonard Photography.

Christina Aguilera's Beverly Hills Home

This month's issue of one of favorite magazines, In Style, features singer Christina Aguilera's Mediterranean style mansion.  This home formerly belonged to the Ozzy Osbourne family, of music and reality TV fame.  The house was completely redesigned for Christina's family by one of our fabulous @CelebrityDigsHQ Twitter friends, interior designer Jaime Rummerfield (@JRummerfield).  Fortunately, one of our favorite bloggers, Julia at Hooked on Houses, posted lots of photos showing Christina's newly-designed home, including several "before" shots from when it belonged to the Osbournes.  Go check out Julia's post!

Speaking of Ballers: NBA Player Lamar Odom and Khoe Kardashian Buy Home

Trulia just reported that NBA baller Lamar Odom and his new bride Khloe Kardashian just bought a mediterranean style home in Tarzana, California.  It was listed for $3,995,000.  Guess he didn't need to sell his other house first to come up with the down payment.

Anyway, this 7BR/8.5BA home has more than 8,300 square feet and comes with a gated entrance, gym, and movie room.  So if this is indeed a fake marriage as rumored, at least they have plenty of room to stake out separate areas of the house.  We grabbed a couple of shots of the house before the listing disappears.  Here's the kitchen:

Looks like the master bedroom (below) has nice views:

Ditto for the master bath, which reminds us a bit of the one in Dorothy Dandridge's former home (though we liked hers much better):

This is a nice house, but they need to get someone in there quick to paint those interiors.  To see what we mean, go check out the virtual tour here.  Don't forget to come back and tell us what you think!

Former NFL Player Michael Strahan's NYC Loft Condo for Sale

In light of the Tiger Woods scandal, CNN just posted an article about how difficult it is to be a baller's wife, noting the common concerns about infidelity.  Not believing this to be true of all ballers, we went in search of nice-guy baller digs.  We ran across this Tribeca loft (above) that's currently up for sale.  It belongs to Michael Strahan, former defensive end for the New York Giants and current football analyst for FOX.

Michael is known for his philanthropic efforts.  Interestingly, the only controversy we know of associated with Michael is the reverse of what's happening with Tiger.  Michael is engaged to Eddie Murphy's ex-wife Nicole Murphy, who was rumored to have cheated on Michael.  Michael allegedly implanted a hidden GPS on her car to track her whereabouts. 

As for the loft, we like it!  It was recently reported in the Wall Street Journal that he was asking $1.875 million, but now the price is down to $1.85 million.

It's a large space at 1911 square feet, with two bedrooms and two baths.  It's located in a pre-war building with a gym and roof deck.  The unit has sand-blasted walls exposing the brick (top photo), a sizable kitchen (above), and hardwood floors.  Everything is painted white, so you're working with a blank slate.  Here's the master bedroom:

Even though we understand he rarely uses this place, it was obviously staged for resale.  How do we know?  The furniture is too delicate (Can he even fit in that Barcelona chair in the living area?).  More importantly, there's no giant flat screen TV to watch football!

If Brad and Angelina Split, Who Gets the House in New Orleans?

If you're sick of the Tiger Woods story, there's another story brewing . . . about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.  Somebody just wrote a book about them, suggesting they may be headed to splitsville.  We certainly hope it's not true.  We've always liked this couple, particularly Brad's efforts to help rebuild New Orleans, Angelina's humanitarian work, and their combined charitable donations.

Remember that Domestic Bliss spread (top photo) they did for W magazine?  Or how they tried to kill each other in the Mr. and Mrs. Smith movie?  Was that art foreshadowing life?

Oh well!  They won't be the first Hollywood couple to split up.  But wait a minute!  Brad and Angelina don't live in Hollywood!  They live in New Orleans!  Specifically, they live in this historic mansion located in the French Quarter:

The front entrance (above) is deceptively low key.  But the rear courtyard below, typical of grand New Orleans homes, reveals the true charm . . .

 . . .  and size of this home, which includes a separate guesthouse in the back:

And the interior of this home is as charming as the exterior.  These photos are a couple of years old and show what the home looked like just before Brad and Angelina purchased it in 2007.

As expected, the rooms look a little choppy and narrow.  Like this master bedroom:

But we love the tall ceilings, chandelier, and fireplace above.  Likewise for the dining room below.  Did you notice the transom windows over the doorways?

We're sure the decor has changed substantially.  But the kitchen below looks like it was previously renovated:

We really like this kitchen and hope Brad and Angelina didn't change it! 

Come to think of it, we wonder what they did to make it and the rest of the home suitable for their six children! 

Tell us, do you think this looks like a good home in which to raise children?

Former NBA Star Latrell Sprewell Heading for Foreclosure

We first learned that ex-NBA player Latrell Sprewell was possibly facing foreclosure yesterday on Bossip. Looks like it's true.  Luxist reports that his home in Purchase, New York, is scheduled for a sheriff's sale in January 2010.  Nearly a decade ago, Latrell bought the 7BR home(the same one where he was accused of attacking his girlfriend a few years ago) for $2.3M.  It sits on 3.3 acres and comes with a gym, pool, spa, basketball court, and a recording studio.  The home is currently listed for $3.8M.

Visit Luxist to see photos of the inside.  We'll stay behind and bite our tongues about the interior decor!