Inside Matt Lauer's Portfolio of Million-Dollar Real Estate
Matt Lauer has been collecting high-end homes in New York City, the Hamptons and abroad.
The disgraced NBC anchor has retreated to one of his homes on Long Island, where a source tells PEOPLE he plans to spend time with his family after being fired from Today for alleged sexual misconduct in the workplace.
The house, a beachfront estate he bought for $36.5 million from actor Richard Gere in 2016 according to the New York Post, is just one of several million-dollar properties Lauer has purchased in the celebrity-favorite summer destination over the years.
The Hamptons
The 12-bedroom, 12-bath property, known as Strongheart Manor, features a 14,000-square-foot main house with two guesthouses and a basketball court on six acres.
Lauer listed another property nearby (pictured top and above), his mansion in the hamlet of Sag Harbor, for $17.995 million in July. The 6-bedroom, 7.5-bath house is set on 25 acres that include a heated pool, pool house, wet bar and tennis court.
In addition to incurring some eye-popping real estate fees, Lauer has employed some of the country’s top design talents to elevate his homes. In Sag Harbor, the estate grounds were designed by Anna Wintour’s landscape architect Miranda Brooks and have “secret” gardens, a pool and a guesthouse. Inside, Daniel Romualdez, a favorite of fellow Hamptons homeowners Tory Burch and Ina Garten, executed the decor.
This past summer, the former anchor also listed — and quickly sold — a smaller waterfront cottage in the area for $3.5 million.
New York City
Lauer and wife Annette purchased an apartment in the Lennox Hill neighborhood of Manhattan’s Upper East Side for $5.882 in 2004, according to Architectural Digest. The magazine notes that the 1920s, neoclassical-style building was also once home to imprisoned former financier Bernie Madoff.
New Zealand
The journalist’s termination may also interfere with a real estate deal he has in the works on the other side of the globe. Lauer is in the midst of a complicated approval process to lease a 16,000-acre farm in New Zealand, according to the New York Times. Due to high demand for properties in the island country, it has instituted a “good-character test” for foreign buyers as part of the purchase process. Lauer previously passed the test, but his case is now being revisited by authorities in light of his firing.
The property, called Hunter Valley Station, is located on the South Island on the shore of Lake Hawea and valued at $9.2 million by local media.
NBC announced early Wednesday that Lauer had been fired after the network received a “detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior” on Monday, with reason to believe “this may not have been an isolated incident.”
Lauer, who joined the network in 1992 as a newsreader on Today, had been co-anchor of the morning show since January 1997 and reportedly signed a $20 million dollar contract last year.
