No Longer Moonstruck With Beach

Cher has quietly put her Malibu home on the market at $25 million.

The actress-singer bought the land seven or eight years ago and just finished building the house, where she has been living while completing the work.

“It took 70 workmen two years to build the house, but I could see her touch--the artist’s touch,” said one of a few real estate licensees invited to tour the house. “Every tile was put in right, and the grout was perfect.”

Cher is said to have hand-picked all the tile in the house, and she oversaw the installation of such special features as a hammered-copper ceiling in the dining room. “She used the highest quality fixtures and

The house has seven bedrooms, a wig room and a media room in just under 14,000 square feet. Local codes now limit house size to slightly more than 11,000 square feet. The master suite has two big walk-in closets.

Cher’s house, which has unobstructed coastline views, is on 2.5 acres with a guest house, an infinity pool that appears to spill into the ocean and a tennis court, under which there is parking for six cars.

Observers describe the house style as a cross between a villa and a monastery. One said it looks like a medieval castle made of stone and iron but with many windows. “I was prepared not to like the house because I thought it would be dark,” he said, “but I love the light that is in there.”

Access to the house is from Pacific Coast Highway, but there is little or no street noise because the house “was so well built,” he added.

Cher reportedly wants to downsize or move on to another project. She sold her former Malibu home in 1999 for about $3.75 million.

The Oscar-winning actress (“Moonstruck,” 1987) received a Grammy for best dance recording for “Believe” (2000). Cher, 55, is expected to sing with Britney Spears at Spears’ televised Las Vegas concert to air Nov. 16 on HBO.

Cher’s Malibu home is not officially listed, but Nancy Sill of Prudential John Aaroe, Beverly Hills, and Ellen Francisco of Coldwell Banker Previews, Malibu, are showing the house, other Realtors said.

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The Malibu home of the late Mark Hughes, founder of Herbalife, has been sold for slightly more than $30 million, according to real estate sources not participating in the deal.

Escrow closed last week on the property, which includes an 18,000-square-foot main house on about 7.5 acres plus an adjacent 2.5-acre site where Hughes had planned to build a guest house with a gym.

The beachfront home, with about 300 feet of shoreline, had been listed at $31 million. The adjacent site, with another 100 feet of shoreline, was expected to be available separately.

The sale is the highest in Malibu. The buyer, an L.A. investor, plans extensive remodeling.

Designed by architect Robert Offenhauser, the Mediterranean-style house was built in 1993 for Verna Harrah, widow of the late casino magnate William F. Harrah. She sold the home to Hughes in December 1999. He bought the adjacent site shortly before he died at 44 in May of last year.

The home, with a gentle slope to the beach, has a seven-room master suite, two-bedroom guest apartment, two-bedroom staff wing, two other bedrooms, a screening room, a caretaker’s house, an elevator, a pool and a tennis court.

Among properties still owned by Hughes’ estate are Grayhall, a Beverly Hills mansion built in 1909, and a 157-acre Beverly Hills knoll that Hughes purchased in 1997 from Merv Griffin.

Hughes had planned to build a 45,000-square-foot house on the knoll. Each property is listed at $29 million.

Jeff Hyland and Rick Hilton of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, shared the Malibu listing with Jerry Jolton of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills South; they also have the listings on Grayhall and the 157-acre knoll, records show.

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Kobe Bryant and his wife, Vanessa, decided last week not to buy the Orange County home that they had in escrow at $13.5 million.

Citing business issues and privacy concerns, the L.A. Laker and his bride walked away from the high-profile house, which has 10 bedroom suites in 16,000 square feet. The 9.5-acre property also has a half-scale replica of a pirate ship and a lake stocked with fish.

The sale would have been one of the highest in the county.

“The price was high, and it would be a long ride every day to El Segundo, where the Lakers train,” a Westside Realtor said, “but maybe they could have a home in Orange County for the off-season and as a place for her to go when he is out of town.”

Bryant, 22, has had a home in Pacific Palisades, which he bought in 1999 for $2.5 million, but his 19-year-old wife, whom he married in April, is from Orange County and has family there.

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Emmy nominee Patrick Dempsey, who appears with Kevin Kline and Ed Harris in the upcoming movie “The Palace Thief,” and his wife, makeup artist Jillian Fink, have put their Sunset Strip house on the market at just under $1.2 million.

They are “moving on to something different,” said listing agent Carolyn Beshara of DBL Realtors, Sunset Strip office.

The house, above Chateau Marmont, has a pool and city views. It also has two bedrooms plus a den or office in slightly more than 1,200 square feet.

Built in 1950, the contemporary-style house was completely refurbished by the couple. The home also has a two-car garage and extra parking.

The actor, 35, recently has appeared on the TV series “Once and Again” and “Will & Grace.” He was nominated in July for an Emmy for his guest-starring role as a schizophrenic on “Once and Again.” He also played Charlie Chaplin’s son Cass in the May CBS movie “Blonde,” about Marilyn Monroe.

Fink, who has been a makeup artist to stars such as Drew Barrymore, developed her own makeup line, Delux Beauty.

“The Palace Thief” began shooting in April and wrapped this summer. The 53rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be telecast Sept. 16 on CBS.

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The newest L.A. Laker, 6-foot-9 power forward Samaki Walker, has leased a furnished, oceanfront condo in a gated Santa Monica community for about $4,000 a month, with an option to buy.

The two-bedroom, 1,500-square-foot unit has a white-water ocean view and amenities such as a pool and spa.

Walker was inspired to lease by some things he saw as soon as he entered the condo: a framed sketch of a book with the title “Zen” and some end tables made from drums.

The new Laker construed these sightings as good omens since Laker Coach Phil Jackson describes himself as a Zen Christian, and he beats a drum while chanting on game days.

Walker, 25, is a five-year NBA veteran who played his first three years with the Dallas Mavericks and the last two seasons with the San Antonio Spurs.

Walker signed a two-year contract with the Lakers for just under $3 million. He replaces Horace Grant, who departed for Orlando.

Walker just moved here but is already involved in charity work for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the Singita Animal Sanctuary, which will hold a fund-raiser Aug. 22 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with the screening of “American Outlaws,” starring Timothy Dalton and Kathy Bates. The screening also will benefit the MASH Animal Sanctuary.

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Gray Frederickson, co-producer of the just-released “Apocalypse Now Redux” and Oscar-winning co-producer of “The Godfather Part II,” has sold his Beverly Hills home in the high $700,000 range.

The Oklahoma native has been splitting his time between Beverly Hills and Oklahoma City, where he lives with his wife, Karen, and their two children.

He had owned his Beverly Hills home for 30 years and held some great Hollywood parties there during the ‘70s, sources said. Lately, though, he hasn’t spent much time here, so he decided to sell the house.

The three-bedroom, 2,400-square-foot house with a pool was built in the ‘50s. The buyer, a Beverly Hills businessman, plans a major renovation.

Kathrin Nicholson of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, handled both sides of the deal.

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