Now that they’re very rich and don’t have to campaign for a while, Bill and Hillary Clinton are looking for a bigger house or two.
It seems their relatively modest five-bedroom Colonial in Chappaqua — which they bought for around $1.7 million in 1999 — was politically correct for a time, but it is no longer big enough for their social ambitions.
“They want to be able to entertain now, and they need space to do that,” says one source familiar with their house-hunting mission.
Since leaving the White House with legal debts of about $11 million, the Clintons earned more than $109 million in speaking fees, book deals and various domestic and foreign business arrangements.
A Clinton spokesman denied that Bill and Hill are searching for a new home, but we hear they checked out a possible weekend home in Willow, a hamlet of Woodstock in the foothills of the Catskills. The Clintons stayed nearby at the charming Emerson Resort & Spa, a hotel employee confirmed.
The $1.2 million home in Willow and an adjacent property would give the Clintons about 7 acres and separate quarters for their staff. But the house is in bear country, where neighbors often see 250- to 450-pound black bears on their porches and pay extra for special “bear-proof” garbage cans.
The Clintons are also searching for something closer to their Chappaqua home. Sources say they are in the process of scouring other towns in Westchester for a larger estate.
Some new Material
Madonna’s house prowl continues. The $40 million Upper East Side townhouse buyer is now torn between two loves: the Hamptons and Westchester. Out at the beach, the Material Mom has been hanging with fashion photographer Steven Klein, who is driving her by some interesting homes (when she isn’t falling off horses at his Bridgehampton estate). In Westchester, Madonna has been spotted with a noted horse trainer who is scoping out barns while she checks out houses.
The East End includes celeb-pal attractions like Gwyneth Paltrow, while Westchester provides more land and more privacy and a certain degree of star power in its own right. One estate Madge looked at was near the Bedford Post Inn, owned by Richard Gere, whose dream was to ride his horse up to the inn like people did in the olden days. It’s unlikely that Madonna or anyone else will be doing that anytime soon, but she might like the nearby horse trails.
TriBeCa calls
The stars have flocked to the Tribeca Film Festival this week. But they’re also heading to TriBeCa for condos. James Gandolfini, flourishing in “God of Carnage,” is in contract for a $7 million, 3,000-square-foot duplex penthouse at the Fairchild building at 55 Vestry St.
Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts checked out a 3,000-square-foot, $5.4 million unit at the nearby Pearline Soap Factory (above). (We hear their One Madison Park pad might become an investment property.) And David Schwimmer looked at a $2 million duplex in Pearline, already home to Justin Timberlake.
CC-ing the sites
CC Sabathia is really bringing the heat in Alpine, NJ. The Yankee pitcher just closed on a $1.5 million piece of property adjacent to his 12,000-square-foot mansion.
The two-bedroom Cape house on a third of an acre doesn’t seem like anything special for a man who recently bought a $15 million home. Sabathia might keep the house for guests — or tear it down for more privacy.
“It’s a small but strategic area with a high premium,” says broker Dennis McCormack of Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty, who handled the deal. “Lots like this are unbelievably rare in Alpine.”