32 Club Way, Cedar Grove
List Price: $16,495,000
Taxes: Your Gue$$
Bedrooms 7
Full Baths 8, Half Baths 3
Total Rooms 24
Garage Spaces 6
Lot Size: 5 Acres
Listing Agent: Gerry-Jo Chranmer Turpin Realtors, Bernardsville, NJ 908-766-6500 x18
Just past Bradford Bath & Tennis Club, along a road with big, brick Tony Soprano-like homes, JLC Contracting is building a new five-acre estate at the end of a private road with jaw-dropping views of Manhattan.
The private residence could easily double as a five-star resort. Still under construction, the house plan includes a spa, exercise room, home theater, art gallery, elevator, fountains, and a guest house off the infinity pool, connected to the main house by an underground tunnel. Is the property in Montclair or Cedar Grove? The home has a Cedar Grove zip code but is being marketed as a Montclair Estate, and according to the GSMLS, if the future owner has kids, they’ll attend elementary school in Cedar Grove, and high school in Montclair. This property of immense proportions went on the market April 16 for a cool $16,495,000. At that price, taxes (yet to be determined), don’t even matter. One local realtor speculates taxes will hover in the $450,000 range. 32 Club Way has its own website, which describes its surreal luxury and comfort. It’s simply astounding. I mean really, who lives like that?
It’s also hard to believe someone would build such a palatial estate on spec – especially in this economy. And local realtors I spoke with are mystified. “It’s the most expensive house listed in Essex county in the last decade,” one Baristaville realtor commented, “about five years ago, a Millburn houme was listed for $12.9 million, and sold for under $10 million.” “There’s no precedent in the area for anything like this,” says realtor Kate McDonough. “It’s so out of the box. In Montclair, only a few homes have ever sold for just under $4 million,” says McDonough.
How do you go about finding a buyer for this kind of a property? Mc Donough says the realtor will probably market to agents for Hollywood stars and pro athletes.
Realtor Remarks: An all-new French Renaissance-style estate in Montclair takes its architectural inspiration from gracious chateaus in the Loire Valley where extravagant living spaces, park-like grounds and stunning views are given the highest priority. This grand estate presents bright and airy living spaces filled with extraordinary design elements, making it one of the Tri-State area’s premier properties. Privately situated on five acres atop the first ridge of the Watchung Mountain range, this elaborate residence takes in fantastic Manhattan skyline views that reach for miles. Breathtaking vistas stretch from the George Washington Bridge to the north, to Midtown’s skyscrapers, the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, and southward to Newark Liberty Airport and the Elizabeth Seaport The 24-room residence’s elevated position provides spectacular overlooks from nearly every room in the main home, as well as the glamorous resort-style cabana which will be situated on the huge lawn. Memorable outdoor entertaining can take place in a dramatic 50-by-25-foot infinity edge pool with an attached hot tub to accommodate up to 12 people. The pool will be accented by two large gas-burning fire bowls and various water fountains. Highlights of this estate, which is still in the construction phase, will include mahogany terraces, eight fireplaces, an elevator, vaulted and coffered ceilings, cove lighting, ornate millwork, stunning gathering areas and a lavish master suite. The finely-detailed 12,000-square-foot interior on two levels contains seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms. A pleasing exterior combination of stucco and wood gives the home a sophisticated, old world feeling. Approached by a long circular drive leading to a stone courtyard near the home’s porte-cochere, there is garage parking for six cars. Want to find out more? Check out the website here.
Their web site says it’s in Montclair… Baristanet says it’s in Cedar Grove. Conan is confused.
If the address is Cedar Grove, why is it listed as a Montclair property? And honestly, I somehow doubt the children of anyone who buys this home will attend Montclair High.
Mapquest says Cedar Grove, too… however will we find the Open House this Sunday… :>{
Oh, sorry — I hadn’t read far enough; you do somewhat unravel the enigma…
“I mean really, who lives like that?”
Leona Helmsley used to; now, it’s mostly Hedge Fund Managers. These are the same poor babies who couldn’t use their heliports in Greenwich for a few days after that big, bad old windstorm came through. Boo hoo!
I considered making a bid, until I realized that after shelling out 16.5 mil for the house and having to cough up $450,000 per for the taxes, I probably would not have enough left over to pay the new 20% town pool fee hike.
Too bad. I like the secret tunnel from the guesthouse idea. All sorts of mischief could ensue there!
I guess one ugly brown turret wasn’t enough, they needed two of them for it to be worth the price tag.
I get the same view up on Eagle Rock Res anytime I want.
But kudos to them for adding that much tax revenue to Cedar Grove – we should annex it, we need the money.
Why wouldn’t the kids go to Montclair High School? I know some pretty rich people who send their kids there — kids get into good colleges too if they don’t get mixed up with the wrong crowd. It’s good enough for make-up artist Bobbie Brown’s kids, right?
It’s awful, I mean a nightmare. It’s an insult and a mark of stupidity to buy anything that bad for that much money, seriously.
Taxes might be $450,000 in Montclair but will only be $168,000 in Cedar Grove. So, Blu, put your greedy spendthrift Montclair hands back in you own pockets. Montclair is fast becoming a Greek municipality.
Incidentally, Cedar Grove elementary…Montclair High doesn’t figure. Does Montclair take students from surrounding communities….I mean legally.
I think this developer is going to lose his shirt. The house is monstrous, the view is gorgeous but it’s not very asthetically pleasing from the outside — very sterile. I can’t imagine anyone with that kind of money would buy this place when they could spend a fraction and get a gorgeous house elsewhere in town. What are you paying the extra 10-12 mill for??
And the dividied school thing makes NO sense. It’s either cedar grove, or montclair, right?
I would not buy it IF I could afford it. It’s size makes it ugly. It looks like a resort hotel.
I was surprised that it only has a 6 car garage. I frequently pass a house in Livingston with a 10 car garage, and that house is in the 2 to 3 Mil. catagory. I believe living in that house would make one a “target”; to be found in that underground tunnel.
I suspect that this is the monstrosity that one can see from Valley Road by Edgemont Park. We’ve been serenaded by the jackhammers digging into the basalt for about a year now. And contrary to the artist’s redition, it looks to me like the main house is much closer to the cliff – making it quite an eyesore to those looking up at it from the Montclair side.
Wow it’s pretty cool how a simple google search for this address can bring me to an actual message board all about it. I love the internet! Anyways, my friend lives down the road from this place and we walk up to it once in a while.. the backyard of this house is literrally the size of a pro football field, so its a good distance away from the cliff.. its unreal.. plus it has that huge infinity pool.. i think its the coolest house ive ever seen.. maybe someday i can afford it LOL! hopefully some celeb or athlete will live there.. oh and my parents told me that the house itself is in montclair, but the entrance and part of the driveway is in cedar grove, not sure how the taxes work then
Ahhhhh… so that’s the jackhammering… it’s been a mystery and hard to determine the location with the noise bouncing around. Thanks TwinDad.
When I win the lottery, I’ll buy the house and convert it into a small school. There’s plenty of room for classrooms (including art classes, music classes) and lots of outdoor space for sports and outdoor lunches, weather permitting.
If I had that kind of dough, I wouldn’t live in Cedar Grove or Montclair. I’d consider Edgartown, MA; Carmel, CA; the Hamptons in NY or New Orleans.
For that price, I’d want it to be a little more attractive! Yes, it is on an amazing piece of property, and the grounds look beautiful, but the house is not so attractive, in my opinion. Also, ridiculously overpriced – take off $12 million & you can buy something similar around Montclair… I have a feeling it’s going to sit unsold for a VERY long time.
Also, I agree w/ Mrs. Martta – I’d buy a beach house in Nantucket!!!!
I love the fraud in the photo. Manhattan appears to be about 5 miles away rather than 15. The skyscrapers are much smaller on the horizon when viewed from here.
Do you have any damage to your house from the construction?