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Esta página no está disponible en español. THE MIAMI HERALDJ.Lo Gets New Address: Miami BeachBY DOUGLAS HANKS III
May 10, 2002
Jennifer Lopez has paid $9.5 million for a bayside mansion on Miami Beach's star-studded North Bay Road, sources familiar with the deal confirmed Thursday. The singer and movie star will have wide views of Biscayne Bay before her and a Bee Gee on each side. Barry and Robin Gibb, brothers in the 1970s disco group that hit it big with Stayin' Alive, own houses next door to the 10,800-square-foot Mediterranean villa in the 5800 block of North Bay Road. Singer Ricky Martin owns a house about eight blocks down the street. Landscapers on Thursday were trimming the grass outside the walled and gated palazzo, which has eight bedrooms, 11 fireplaces, a pool, gazebo and dock. Lopez, 31, closed on the property this week, the sources said. Her reported purchase comes as some are questioning whether the Beach has lost much of its glamour and star appeal. The Wall Street Journal last month declared South Beach a tired scene in a front-page article titled ''Madonna Deficit,'' noting that some of the area's resident celebrities have packed up and left. In Lopez, the Beach would get a Latin diva famous for barely-there evening gowns and for South Beach club sightings with then-boyfriend Sean Combs. She met her first husband, Ojani Noa, while he waited tables at Larios on the Beach in 1996. A native of the Bronx, N.Y., with Puerto Rican roots, Lopez recently opened a Latin restaurant in Los Angeles and has a clothing line that bears her recording nickname, J.Lo. She is starring in the thriller Enough with Billy Campbell. Jerry Powers, publisher of Ocean Drive magazine, the ultimate chronicle of Beach glamour, said Lopez's home purchase reaffirms Miami's celebrity status. He noted that Will Smith and Janet Jackson were reportedly looking at property here in recent weeks and said too much has been made of Sylvester Stallone's and Madonna's giving up their homes here. ''We lost two stars,'' Powers said. ``Now we're getting some solid folks here.'' Now married to dancer Cris Judd, Lopez lives in Los Angeles, according to the office of her publicist, Allan Nierob. A spokeswoman for Nierob said Nierob did not know whether Lopez had bought property in Miami Beach. Carlos Justo, the listing agent and an owner of Wimbish-Riteway Realtors, would confirm only that a sale closed on the property this week. He would not identify the buyer.
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JENNIFER LOPEZ