Written by Nancy Bremeau - Special to the Town Crier
As a neighbor who lives within a few hundred yards of Redwood Grove and the Halsey House, I have followed the issue of renovating the Halsey House and caring for the beautiful and unique Redwood Grove Nature Preserve for years.
Some folks feel that the old Halsey House structure is inextricably tied to the nature preserve and that the programs there would fail without it. However, others would argue the nature preserve itself is the critical feature.
There’s another way to look at it that would protect Redwood Grove and enhance our overall Los Altos park facilities. One synergistic solution would be to use the adjacent and underutilized space of the beautiful Garden House to support both parks.
According to
TMZ, the Graveyard singer purchased the home from the One Direction alum for $10,161,150.
The 5-bedroom, 6-bathroom house is 9,659 square feet that sits on 4.75 acres. It featured a wine cellar, library and home theater. The pool has waterfalls, pool house, a koi pond and even a garden. Other amenities include a recording studio, guardhouse, massage/meditation house, full gym and a private guest house.
Payne first put the house on the market in 2018 for $14 million. In 2019, it was dropped just under $13 million before the final ask was $10.5 million, according to
Dirt. Payne also offered the estate as a rental for $40,000 per month. Payne purchased the property in 2015 for $10 million. He made a profit of roughly $161,000 on the sale. Cate Blanchett was the previous owner of the property who installed the meditation area.
Los Altos council addresses dilapidated Halsey House
Courtesy of Jeff LaBoskey
Halsey House, a historical landmark in Redwood Grove, has fallen into disrepair and has been closed to the public since 2008.
The Los Altos City Council accepted a $34,000 state grant during the Jan. 12 council meeting toward preserving Halsey House, a historical landmark in Redwood Grove that has fallen into disrepair.
The money would be used to fund a historic resource study of the property, and the city also agreed to contribute $16,353 from its park-in-lieu fund as part of its matching contribution for the grant amount.
However, the council declined to immediately appropriate an additional $25,000 from its park-in-lieu fund to pay an architectural consulting group for review of the site, opting instead to have its commissions review and formulate recommendations on the direction the city should take on preserving Halsey House.
Public confronts Los Altos council member on claims of threats during meeting Written by Eric He
Los Altos City Councilwoman Lynette Lee Eng faced direct criticism during this week’s council meeting from several public speakers who believed she falsely claimed to have been threatened by a member of Justice Vanguard, a local racial justice organization, in a council meeting last month.
Lee Eng
The public comment session on nonagendized items at the Tuesday s (Dec. 15) meeting turned into a 30-minute back-and-forth, as others later called in to defend Lee Eng.
The issue stemmed from the Nov. 24 council meeting, after Lee Eng didn’t support adding a third-party auditor to take in complaints against the police department. She then claimed she had received threatening messages from members of Justice Vanguard that caused her to be concerned for her and her family’s safety.