Grammy-winning saxophonist-songwriter Kenny G is beating the rising cost of gasoline prices by walking to his newly built getaway in Malibu.
He can go there on foot because the retreat is next door to the home that he bought in 1998 for $12.5 million as a surprise for his wife, Lyndie Benson.
The idea behind the getaway was to provide a place for the soprano sax player to take a break without having to drive. The 3,500-square-foot house, which has a separate address, was finished in time for his upcoming 50th birthday on Monday.
The retreat, which cost an estimated $3.5 million to build and furnish, offers a sweeping view of the ocean. It has two bedrooms, four bathrooms, a 9-foot-long piano, a dining table that seats 16, a billiards table, a terrace and a bar designed by Rande Gerber, who owns more than 20 swank watering holes and is married to model Cindy Crawford.
The 1-acre getaway also has a tennis court and a 1,500-square-foot recording studio, which replaces one that the musician used on his 1.5-acre main-residence property. The studio there was in a guesthouse overlooking the ocean. A second guesthouse on the main property has offices and a screening room.
The main residence is a six-bedroom Cape Cod-style house, built in 1991. It was also updated.
Albino Construction built the getaway, Clayt Hudson designed the new recording studio, and Lafia/Arvin, a Design Corp., completed the retreat and studio interiors while updating the main house.
Kenny G has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. He is known for such laid-back hits as "Songbird," "Silhouette" and "Sentimental." He won a Grammy for best instrumental composition for "Forever in Love" in 1994. His first album was produced in 1982 after he graduated from the University of Washington.
Chateau rising on sheik's old estate
A 36,000-square-foot mansion with a guardhouse in its frontyard and a stone bridge over a lake is under construction on the site of Beverly Hills co-founder Max Whittier's former estate.
In the 1970s, the estate belonged to Saudi Sheik Mohammed al Fassi.
The sheik caused a neighborhood uproar by painting the white plaster statues of nudes on the front veranda in natural skin and hair tones. He put plastic flowers in outdoor urns and painted the stately white house lime green.
