It’s round two in the high-stakes real estate ring for Sugar Ray Leonard. The long-retired five-time world champ, now 65, gave it an unsuccessful go about two years ago amid a tidal wave of publicity and a too aggressive asking price just shy of $52 million. Now, the legendary boxer has hung a considerably lower if still startling $46.5 million price tag on his longtime estate in the Riviera, a particularly pricey neighborhood of L.A.’s posh Pacific Palisades community.
Leonard, who is Khloé Kardashian’s godfather, and his wife Bernadette, daughter of Paul Robi, one of the original members of the seminal 1950s and ‘60s band The Platters, paid an unrecorded amount in 1993 for the two parcels that comprise the roughly 1.8-acre spread where mansion specializing L.A.-based architect Richard Landry custom designed them a sprawling, ivy-covered Florentine Villa set amid lush gardens. Listings jointly held by Drew Fenton at Hilton & Hyland, Tomer Fridman at Compass and Jade Mills at Coldwell Banker show there are a total of seven bedrooms and eight full and four half bathrooms between the nearly 17,000-square-foot main house and poolside guesthouse.
Huge wrought iron gates hung between stone pillars swing open to a massive brick-paved motor court, and carved stone urns flank the front door. Inside, opulently appointed and decided traditional living spaces feature a mix of wood and rough-cut stone floor tiles imported from Jerusalem, hefty wood beams on the ceilings and antique carved stone fireplaces from Europe. Formal living and dining rooms, both with wood-trimmed French doors to the gardens, are complemented by more relaxed but still grand and elegantly dressed family quarters that include a cavernous double-height family room, a gourmet kitchen and breakfast room, a screening room and a solarium.
Shielded from view behind towering hedges, and sprinkled with fountains and statuary, the meticulously maintained park-like backyard showcases myriad recreation and leisure options: Great sweeps of lawn are encircled by mature trees; an oval swimming pool makes a classic Old Hollywood statement in a sunny clearing; and a lighted tennis court includes a viewing platform alongside a putting green.
A few of the many other high-profile folk who own homes close enough to send the staff over to borrow an egg include Steven Spielberg, Dan Castellaneta, the instantly recognizable voice of Homer Simpson on “The Simpsons,” and imprisoned sex offender Bill Cosby.
