Sylvia Kumar lowers price on Upper Brookville estate

The price has been lowered on La Selva, the 24.3-acre Upper Brookville estate owned by Sylvia Kumar, wife of imprisoned former Computer Associates chief Sanjay Kumar.

The 40-room villa, once used by the Roman Catholic Church as the St. Francis Retreat House, was purchased by Sylvia Kumar in 2001 for $6.75 million. It was put on the market in June 2007 for $17 million. The price for the estate is now $14.5 million, according to the Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty Web site.

The Italian Renaissance mansion was built in 1915 for investor Henry Sanderson, and the gardens were laid out by the Olmstead Brothers landscapers. The home is across from the Planting Fields Arboretum. There are seven bedrooms, 7 ½ baths, eight fireplaces and a seven-car garage, according to the listing. Annual taxes are $77,612.

Billy Joel's on-again-off-again Centre Island listing

Looks like Billy Joel is still in a Centre Island state of mind, at least for now. The singer's $32.5 million mansion, Middlesea, which was until recently listed with agent Dolly Lenz, has disappeared from the Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate, Web site. Lenz could not be reached for comment, but a source close to Joel tells Newsday that the home has not been sold.

Joel purchased the home in 2002 for $22 million, and married wife, Katie Lee, there in 2004. He listed the Tudor-style waterfront mansion for sale in September 2006 with Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty for $37.5 million, later reducing the price to $32.5 million. In fall 2007, Joel's listing with Daniel Gale lapsed. Lenz began representing the property in March 2008.

Middlesea sits on 14.26 acres with 1,550 feet of direct waterfront. The home has eight full and three half baths, and 13 fireplaces. Designer Nate Berkus designed the living room for Joel and his wife.

Price lowered on Fox Hall in Upper Brookville

An Upper Brookville mansion, said to be a replica of the Scottish summer palace of Bonnie Prince Charlie -- the 18th century Young Pretender to the British throne -- is now listed with a new broker and at a less princely sum.

The 12-bedroom brick manor home known as Fox Hall, originally listed for $17 million with Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty, is now priced at $14.9 million with Doug Peterson of North Site Realty Corp.

The mansion was completed in 1915 and sits on more than 18 acres. The grounds include a restored three-bedroom carriage house, a six-car garage, a cottage and a greenhouse. Teddy Roosevelt was said to have favored a spot on the grounds known as "Teddy's Rock" as a resting place while hunting.

The home has a banquet-sized formal dining room, a kitchen with a butler's pantry, a grand entry foyer and a library. The master suite includes his and hers baths, a men's dressing room and a private lady's writing room.

Brookville's Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony buy house next door

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony have brand-new neighbors -- themselves. Public records show that the superstar couple purchased the home next door to the one they already own in Brookville for $2.05 million.

The sale closed Dec. 19 on the 2.24-acre property. The deed is in Anthony’s name.

The five-bedroom, 4 ½-bath Colonial originally went on the market last March for $2.299 million with Regina Rogers of Prudential Douglas Elliman. The property shares estate gates with the home that Lopez and Anthony already own. The couple reportedly spent millions of dollars to fortify security and the gates to the estate prior to the birth of the twins, Max and Emme, last year.

At the time the house went on the market, Rogers told Newsday, “In order to access this house, you have to enter through the estate gates. I love the approach, and the long Belgian block-lined bluestone driveway."

Folk artist selling Roslyn Harbor home where show shot

Folk artist Thomas Langan is selling the Roslyn Harbor compound that he owns with his wife, Penelope. The one-acre property on Glenwood Road is listed with Antonietta Rijo and Maria Young of the Manhasset office of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate for $2.9 million.

Annual taxes are about $26,207.

The three-bedroom waterfront home with its wraparound deck was built in 1860. The property includes a post-and-beam barn that serves as Langan’s studio and a boathouse leading to a 138-foot dock.

Scenes from Glenn Close’s television show “Damages” were recently filmed on the property. Commercials for Progresso soup and Folger's Coffee also were filmed here, as was the 1999 movie "Double Platinum" with Diana Ross and Brandy.

Langan’s works are in the private collections of luminaries such as John Cleese, Penny Marshall and Caspar Weinberger. He also has a work in the permanent collection of the Museum of American Folk Art in Manhattan.

Bank-owned Glen Cove mansion 'as is' for $1.2 million

A 14-room Gold Coast mansion, built in 1907, is looking for the right buyer to bring it back to its former grandeur. The seven-bedroom Colonial is on 1.66 acres on Crescent Beach Road in Glen Cove. “It is grand and beautiful, but needs to be restored,” says Gail DeLane of DeLane Realty in North White Plains.

The home is listed for $1.2 million, and comes with water views, three fireplaces, an inground pool and beach rights. The property is bank owned and is sold “as is.”

In 2008, the Nassau County SPCA seized two horses from the property and charged the home’s former owner, Kelly Pfeifer, with animal cruelty. The horses were found emaciated, without food, water or salt, and living in filth in a garage that had been converted to a stable, according to a report in Newsday. Pfeifer eventually forfeited the animals and pleaded guilty to a minor charge. She paid a $250 fine, as well as $4,540 in restitution, and agree to undergo psychological counseling, the article says.

Jonathan Vilma's Woodbury house taken off the market

The listing for the Woodbury home belonging to former New York Jet Jonathan Vilma has been taken off the market. The Eagle Chase condominium, which had been on the market since March 2008, is now the scene of a double murder investigation in which Vilma is not implicated. Police are reportedly looking to question Vilma’s cousin in connection with the crime.

Vilma, who now plays for the New Orleans Saints, had originally listed the two-bedroom home in the gated community for $929,000. He had recently lowered the price to $899,000. The two-story condo has an eat-in-kitchen, a master suite with a bedroom, bath and loft, and a fireplace. The development has a clubhouse, pool and tennis courts.

Taxes on the unit are $18,462.

Vilma was not the only former New York Jet to live in the Eagle Chase development. Former Jet wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson once lived in a three-bedroom, 3-1/2-bath unit there . That condo was listed last November for $1.199 million.