Is Sandra Bullock leaving the capital of Texas behind?
The 47-year-old Academy Award-winning actress has put her $2.5 million Austin home up for sale, according to the Austinist. The residence—a 5,600 square foot, one-story complex overlooking Barton Creek—includes a pool, a view of the Austin skyline, and a tennis court, according to the listing at Redfin.
Bullock currently commutes between Texas and California, according to People. Reports from across the country and beyond speculate that the move is primarily motivated by her desire to be closer to the Los Angeles preschool that her two-year-old son Louis attends. (Bullock also has an LA-based production company, Fortis Films.) Bullock adopted Louis from New Orleans in 2010, a process she started with then-husband Jesse James.
After a public scandal erupted around James’ affairs with several women, Bullock ended her five-year marriage by filing for divorce in Travis County.
In 2010, Bullock sold the Sunset Beach home she shared with James for $4.5 million and began living in Austin full time. Now, she’s reportedly remodeling a $16 million mansion in Beverly Hills. (Bullock also owns homes in New Orleans and Wyoming, according to the Daily Mail.)
In a May 1998 story for TEXAS MONTHLY, Bullock told Skip Hollandsworth that she was moving to Austin because she felt at home.
“A lot of people in the industry are baffled that I would just pick up and leave L.A.,” she said at the time. “But I feel a lightness when I’m here. It’s the kind of place where I can feel normal again.”
Does putting her house on the market really signal she’ll be saying goodbye to Austin for good? (After all, Bullock still has a number of business ties to the city, including a successful downtown restaurant, Bess Bistro, and a delicatessen-cafe, Walton’s Fancy and Staple.) At Curbed, Nick Leighton mused that Bullock “seems to have an affinity for the city” and so will probably be househunting in Austin again soon.
