Poor Josh Groban. The multi-platinum selling crooner doesn’t seem to have any trouble selling records — he’s widely reported to have sold well above 20 million and as many as 25 million in his career — but he just can’t seem to unload his Malibu estate that was re-listed over the weekend with an asking price of $4.695 million. Property records show golden-throated showbiz hyphenate — singer, songwriter, producer and occasional actor who’s about to embark on a North American tour to promote his seventh studio album “Stages,” a collection of mostly well-known songs from Broadway musicals — purchased the walled and gated, 1.88-acre Point Dume property in August 2005 for $4,125,000 and has had it on and off the market a healthy handful of times at ever lower prices since the spring of 2010 when it first came up for sale with an in-hindsight rose-tinted price of $6.1 million.
SELLER: Josh Groban
LOCATION: Malibu, CA
PRICE: $4,695,000
SIZE: 3,294 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
Current listings describe the architecturally pastiched, circa 1976 residence as a “Tuscan Villa” with four bedrooms and three bathrooms in 3,294-square-feet. A self-contained two-story guesthouse with separate gated entrance includes an open-plan living area with compact but complete kitchen, another two bedrooms, one bathroom and a dedicated two-car garage. The multi-level main residence, which has its own attached two-car garage, includes a long and narrow, bi-level entrance hall and a formal dining room with exposed wood and beamed ceiling that overlooks a double-height living room with fireplace and a quartet of towering arched windows that open to a small terrace and grassy yard. A games/billiard room that adjoins the living room has a walk-in wet bar and French door access to the outdoors and, back upstairs just off the dining room, a partly wood-paneled library/den has a high coffered ceiling, carved stone fireplace, and arched French doors. The nearby center-island kitchen has just one window — a wide, greenhouse type situation over the sink — but does have high-quality if nowadays quotidian granite counter tops, two dishwashers, full-size side-by-side fridge and freezer, and a built-in breakfast banquette. The main house also includes a small office with built-in storage and bookshelves and a home theater with wood floors and beamed ceiling. Stone tile floors throughout the main living spaces continue right on in to the master suite that features an exposed wood and beamed ceiling, an awning-shaded balcony, roomy if dated bathroom, and custom fitted walk-in closet and dressing area. The walled and gated grounds offer a long driveway and generous parking, established gardens and mature shade trees, numerous lounging areas that include a roof terrace and a dining terrace with outdoor fireplace, an outdoor kitchen and barbecue station, a lighted tennis court and a swimming pool and spa backed by a stacked stone waterfall. Listing information makes special note that the property comes with deeded beach rights and a resident’s key to access one of Point Dume’s all but private beaches.
Other high-profile Point Dume homeowners include but are hardly limited to Gwyneth Paltrow and ex-hubby Chris Martin, Kate Hudson’s former fiancée and baby daddy Matt Bellamy, Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves, Kenny G, Julia Roberts, Barbra Streisand, and Kid Rock whose Bali-inspired estate has also been on and off the market several times over the last few years and is currently priced at $12.75 million.
Mister Groban — currently romantically attached since late last year to “2 Broke Girls” actress Kat Dennings who, in case any of y’all are curious, owns an updated 1930s Tudor-style residence in the foothills above Sherman Oaks that she bought two years ago for $1.5 million — also maintains a two bedroom and three bathroom condo in a nondescript building in Beverly Hills that he picked up in May 2003 for $900,000 as well as a 2,336-square-foot, full-floor loft condo with three bedrooms and two bathrooms in a boutique building in New York City’s Tribeca ‘hood that our research shows he snatched up in November 2011 for $4,412,500.
Listing photos: Pritchett-Rapf & Assoc.
