He shoots, he scores, he lists
Two-time NBA All-Star Elton Brand's Hollywood Hills home is a long way from the projects where he grew up in Peekskill, N.Y.
How far has the 27-year-old Clipper forward come? He just listed his 6,000-square-foot home with floating stairways, walls of glass and 20-foot ceilings at close to $5 million.
The three-level city-view home has three bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms, including an oversized master-bedroom suite. The house has Brazilian walnut floors, a floor-to-ceiling mahogany fireplace, a walk-in wine cellar and a loft.
The walled and gated home also has a landscaped yard, a swimming pool and two garages that can accommodate up to five cars.
Brand, who has owned his home for two years, was raised by his single mother, Daisy, in a sprawling, low-income housing project known as Dunbar Heights. The complex had two basketball courts that provided Brand with a place to hone his skills.
Brand is 6 feet 8 but has been known to block more shots than most 7-footers. He has been the Clippers' leading scorer for the last two seasons. This year, he received the NBA's sportsmanship award. And he was recently named to the U.S. men's basketball team, to compete in the 2006 world championships in Japan and the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Brand signed a six-year, $82-million contract with the Clippers in 2003.
Jordan Cohen, at Re/Max Olson & Associates, Westlake Village, has the Hollywood Hills listing.
Miss Congeniality comes in second
Sandra Bullock turned out to be a surprise bidder last weekend at the auction of a triplex in Sunset Beach.
But the actress, who has been investing in Southern California residential income property for several years, stopped bidding at just under $3.2 million, and the triplex sold to somebody else for $3.45 million.
There were 50 to 60 bidders at the auction, but it came down to Bullock, 41, and the winning bidder. Make that a friend of Bullock's and the winning bidder.
Bullock stood off to the side and gave her friend cues, auctioneers said. The friend was not Jesse James, Bullock's 37-year-old spouse. James has a pied-a-terre in Long Beach.
The triplex, on a 30-by-90-foot lot, has two two-bedroom oceanfront units and a one-bedroom unit in the rear over the garage. Auctioneers expect the new owner to raze the triplex and build a single-family home in its place.
