On Season 4 of “Selling Sunset,” held at the E&O Building at 7915-7917 Howard St. at the shore of Shawnee Lake in Harpers Ferry, Steffan Tubbs, a 30-year veteran of Westport Village in Connecticut, and his film and television production business partner Ben Jones, used elements of real estate, mechanics and green living as a backdrop for the pitching session.
Also along for the ride was Jennifer Krasney, an established designer of gay-oriented spaces whose multifaceted approach has taken her to Colorado, Utah, Mexico and France. “People are living longer and are looking to just let go,” said Tubbs.
Between discussions, guests — in a grand ballroom that resembled a Miami nightclub — mixed with drink and hors d’oeuvres, ate risotto with eggplant tapenade, mussels, veal tenderloin with caramelized onions and steamed shrimp, and cameylakes in an amuse-bouche of crostini and Alize Romine.
Those who flew in from New York included René Paco, a longtime client, who sold his home in Miami Beach, Fla., to the series and now resides in New York. The show uses the manor house he has owned since 1972 as one of two locations in the fall season. Paco arranged for an authentic tuxedo-clad “live-in” cook for all this bacchanalia.
Another chef to pull this off was student Brad Goldstein, who came from the Culinary Institute of America. But Paco was surprised by the food. “It was strange,” he said.
As far as Pacific coast beachside homes go, Tubbs said the ones he buys are one-of-a-kind that will set an exclusive pocket in Hollywood or West Hollywood. “Our focus is on doing a kick-ass living space, a place you’ll say, ‘Wow, I am living where people live, where creativity happens, where rediscovering culture happens,’” Tubbs said.
Through the season’s second half, he said, the series explores the mental challenges of trading one home for another — the psychological while losing quite a bit of equity. “A lot of people think this lifestyle is fun, but it is much more emotional than you think,” Tubbs said.
Season 4 airs at 7 p.m. Thursdays on KCET/TV as “Selling Sunset” Businesses Around the World.