Photo: Randall Slavin
Actor Jeremy Renner leads a double life as a bow-wielding superhero and a savvy real estate developer, and here he speaks to David Hochman about the secrets of designing unique homes.
Jeremy Renner likes to break down barriers. Not that I'm talking metaphorically, but as an actor, he certainly subverts expectations in nearly every role he takes on. Renner's role as a lone wolf military bomb disposal expert in “The Hurt Locker” earned him an Oscar nomination not for his toughness but for his big-hearted kindness. In Marvel's “Avengers” series, he's equally astounding as Hawkeye, an expert archer who has no real superpowers. Renner, 45, reprises the role in this month's blockbuster “Captain America: Civil War.”
But his work in another field, residential design and development, brings to the fore another side of Lennar's creative vision: With real estate partner Christopher Winters, Lennar has bought, renovated and sold more than 20 Southern California homes since the early 2000s, including a Holmby Hills mansion purchased in 2013 for $24 million by Christian Candy, brother of luxury real estate developer Nick Candy.
Renner, who also runs his own production company, spoke to Robb Report about his hugely successful career that has bucked conventions in Hollywood and beyond.
Which is more difficult: film production or real estate development?
In both cases, you have to give it your all to stay on top; there's no room for half-assing. I see them both as similar jobs. Both have great creative and financial rewards. Both require audacity and a sense of risk. Whether you're making a movie or turning around a property, you're managing people, putting out fires, solving problems, working to stay on time and on budget, and focusing on the little details that lead to greatness.
The Marvel character Hawkeye is known for his precision and absolute insight. He could be a great developer.
I have a deep personal connection to Hawkeye, and that quality carries over into my other work. I make all the decisions about the homes we build: design, materials, fabrics, furniture. These homes are not only ready to go, they come fully stocked with everything you need. Cut flowers, linens, towels, everything. Just bring a few clothes and you're ready to go.
How can you personalize a property if you don’t know who owns it?
My job is to give you an elegant clean slate and create your own style. We have a very neutral color palette and I'm not going to go for a canary yellow bathroom, for example. One of the women who bought our house repainted her kitchen pink, which is nice, but it was her choice. I lean towards masculine and rich. I'll take a charcoal mohair sofa over a purple one any day. The buyer can bring those in or just add some cushions.
Is it true that the year you were nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for “The Hurt Locker,” you lived in a house without electricity, gas, or running water?
Dude, at first, we pretty much lived in the house we built. We invested all our money and had nothing left. During the Oscars promotion, the house was almost finished, but we still had no running water or heat. We slept in tents with hardwood floors to avoid getting covered in dust. Then we put on our tuxedos, hopped in a limo, and stopped off at Starbucks to brush our teeth.
How has your approach to California's luxury real estate market changed since you started in the early 2000s?
Christopher and I started small. We spent about $640,000 on our first midcentury modern house in Nichols Canyon in 2002 and sold it a few months later for about $900,000. It was super exciting, but we felt we could go bigger. Most of our properties have sold for $3-5 million, but a few have sold for a lot more. We've done modern, Spanish, and Greek revival properties, and we've gotten a lot smarter along the way. We don't want to run power lines through beautiful views. We don't want to set the price-per-square-foot record for the neighborhood. Ultimately, we want to turn around an ugly, shitty house on a beautiful street. We've gotten good at doing that.
Have concepts of luxury and connoisseurship evolved over the past decade, particularly since the recession began?
Well, there were different phases. A few years ago, more Russians wanted to park their money in a safer economy in the United States. It was a time when anything went when it came to investing. Now the emphasis is on craftsmanship and quality finishes. You're not just buying a house. This is your life. You want everything you see and touch to be special. If you're going to spend $24 million on a house, you don't want to fill it with lamps from Home Depot. That's not my style. My brother says, “Dude, you spent that much on curtain panels?” and I say, “Dude, you want it to look good!”
What about technology? How are new advancements impacting the homes you build?
Look at all the things you can control with your smartphone. It's mind-blowing. Sonos delivers music to your home, room by room, with the touch of a button on your iPhone, without the need for complicated wiring. Nest lets you control the temperature from your car, so your home is warm when you get home. August lets you answer the doorbell from work and unlock your door remotely. It's like having a personal assistant in your pocket. Lutron delivers the efficiency of LED lighting without the dentist's office look. It delivers a glow similar to incandescents, and you can turn it on with an app. As long as you take your eyes off the screen every now and then, you can use these amazing advancements to your advantage.
How is the home you live in different from the home you are developing for sale?
I split my time between my home in Lake Tahoe and my home in Los Angeles. In both, I've spent money on things that you wouldn't on a normal home. I installed some of the biggest solar panels in Los Angeles. I would never do that on a home I'm planning to sell, because it would take four or five years to recoup that investment. I wouldn't build a giant lagoon with a diving bridge and waterfalls built by craftsmen from the San Diego Zoo. That might be a bit extreme for some buyers, but I'm building a home to live in for the rest of my life. It's my taste and my desire.
How do you spend your limited free time?
I actually just took six months off recently to record a lot of music with my daughter. Before I was an actor I was a musician and I've been putting together an album and it's finally almost done. I also love motorcycles and I've been riding them my whole life. I have a BMW, two Harleys and a Triumph Speed Triple. The one I'm most proud of is this beautiful Norton Commando. Only 50 were made and it mostly sits in my garage but I can drive it. It's very satisfying to be so close to home. I've spent so much time and energy and money and life building these houses and I've never been there. It's nice to just sit back and enjoy the reward.
RobbReport.com Extended Q&A
What are the design features of the homes you build?
Style-wise, anything goes. I just finished a midcentury modern house. I've done a lot of Spanish and Greek Revival. A home is where you spend your life, so it's about space and flow. That's my specialty. It has to be cozy. It can't have too much furniture or too little. For example, I try not to have sharp objects in my bedroom because I don't want to bump into something when I'm trying to turn on the light in the middle of the night. If the flow isn't working, even if it's the first time you're in the house, you won't have a problem finding the switch. Most people don't know why they like something. It's usually emotional. But I try to identify what it is that makes a room feel good.
Where do you find design ideas?
I get my inspiration from great hotels. I love the Greenwich Hotel in TriBeCa. The beds are really nice. It doesn't feel like mass-produced furniture. The lighting is soft and gorgeous. The floors are antique. It feels like there's history there. It's more like a home. Soho House in Berlin feels like that. I love the comfort of the Charlotte Street Hotel in London. The same team also does the Covent Garden Hotel. It's all about atmosphere, whether it's a hotel or a home. I want it to be elegant. I want every room to be sexy. My guiding principle is that I could walk around this room naked and feel amazing.
The photoshoot for Robb Report took place in your midcentury modern home. What were the challenges of building in that style?
Modern can sometimes look cold with its hard lines. But it had the benefit of high ceilings and lots of glass. In this house, I wanted to create an indoor-outdoor feel, so I used the same stone inside and out. It had a Japanese or Hawaiian resort feel, but I also borrowed from Frank Lloyd Wright. I wanted to put handmade Wright-style tiles on the wing walls and add lighting that would make the tiles look three-dimensional. It really told me what the house needed.
Do you see yourself pursuing acting or real estate in the future?
I feel fortunate that I can do a lot of different things: acting, real estate, etc. I'm recording a lot of music. If I ever feel like I don't want to work as an actor again, I can. It feels good. Right now, I want to be near my daughter and not be taken overseas to do a big-budget action movie. Being with my daughter is the most important thing to me. In the meantime, I'm focused on the two homes that I own and live in. I'm not actively looking for a new property at the moment. But, you never know what's going to happen.
Photography: Randall Slavin, Costume Stylist: Charlene Roxborough Konsker, Assistant Stylist: Jazmine Gandhi, Grooming: Felicity Bowering for Leslie Alyson INC.
The May 2016 issue of Robb Report will be available in bookstores from April 19th.