Beyoncé Malibu Rental
COLDWELL BANKER
WHO: Jay Z and Beyoncé
LOCATION: Malibu, CA
PRICE: $400,000 per month
SIZE: total of 16,107 square feet with 10 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms
 Word on the celebrity real estate street is that Jay Z and Beyoncé brought their newly born twins home from the hospital last week not to the swanky estate in L.A.’s hoity-toity Holmby Hills they rented a couple of years ago at a reported rate of $150,000 per month or to a Beverly Hills estate once owned by Madonna where they reportedly holed up during their pregnancy but rather to the so-called La Villa Contenta, an even larger, more lavish and profoundly pricey, 6.3-acre compound in Malibu that rents for a spine tingling and bank account draining $400,000 per month. Should the immensely deep-pocketed couple, who the bean counters at Forbes estimated hauled in more than $107 million in 2016, decide they like La Villa Contenta it’s additionally for sale at $54,50,000, a sky-high price by any standard but almost a third below the rose-tinted $75 million price tag the compound’s owner, real estate developer Richard Weintraub, first asked for the super-luxe spread when it came for sale amid a flurry of international publicity in 2010.
Sequestered behind an imposing gate, a forbiddingly high hedge and abundant mature foliage, the heavily fortified compound, on a high bluff with panoramic coastline views but, alas, no direct beach access, is anchored by a Mediterranean inspired main villa that measures in at around 12,000 square feet with three en suite guest and family bedrooms and a couple of staff bedrooms plus a major league master suite with fireplace, large private terrace, two bathrooms and his-and-her closets.
A long, palm-lined driveway leads to a stone-inlaid circular motor court and monumental, two-story carved limestone entrance that opens to a double height foyer with intricate, hand-laid pietra dura mosaic floor and stone-crafted curved staircase. Opulently furnished with museum quality art and antiques, the decidedly baronial residence includes a massive, maple-paneled step-down living room bookended by matching carved stone fireplaces. French doors open the room to a spacious loggia with sweeping ocean view. The mansion also includes: a massive formal dining room illuminated only by candle light from a pair of 18th century amethyst and rock crystal chandeliers; a library that features a groin vaulted ceiling and a marble fireplace; and an expensively equipped kitchen with 18th century reclaimed stone floor that flows into an adjoining solarium/family room with ocean-view lounge and dining areas. The basement level, accessible by stairs or an elevator, contains a billiards room paneled in pine and bamboo, a climate controlled wine cellar, a fully equipped gym, and a state-of-the-art screening room with barrel-vaulted ceiling and 14-foot screen.
The compound also offers plenty of room for guests, security, household staff and nannies in a self-contained six-bedroom guesthouse/office with polished green Venetian marble walls and a separate one-bedroom guest cottage. There’s also a huge glass and steel greenhouse designed to accommodate thousands of orchids and, easily the compound’s most elaborate and ostentatious folly, a ballroom/natatorium so extravagant it might just as easily be at home at Hearst Castle. The Romanesque-style structure, constructed of carved marble with interior spaces encrusted with more than a million sea shells, sports a glass roof, an onyx fireplace, a Murano glass tiled lap pool, a catering kitchen and a pair of dressing rooms paneled in rare onyx with comfy lounge areas and steam showers. The sprawling, meticulously groomed grounds, which surely require at least a couple of full-time gardeners to maintain, offer myriad outdoor amusements and activities with extensive formal gardens, vast sweeps of rolling lawns, an infinity-edged outdoor swimming pool and a tennis court with viewing platform.
The uni-named international superstars, frequently rumored and reported over the last few years to be on an exhaustive hunt to purchase a knock-your-socks-off trophy estate in Los Angeles with a budget of up to $75 million, still maintain a residential foothold in New York City where they keep an 8,309-square-foot duplex condo in Tribeca Jay Z scooped up in 2004 for $6.85 million and where the couple were married in 2008.