When primelocation wants Hollywood bling that bucks the trend, we look no further than “The Fortress” – the name movie veteran Anjelica Huston has given her LA home now on sale.

At first sight the building, completed in 1994 by sculptor Robert Graham - Huston’s husband until his death in 2008 – looks like a warehouse. But it sits four-square in Venice Beach, one of the plushest parts of Los Angeles and close to the estates owned by other Hollywood glitterati like Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin and Francis Ford Coppola. 

Huston, perhaps best known for her role in The Addams Family franchise and The Witches in the 1990s – as well as being a long-time girlfriend of Jack Nicholson - says she and Robert Graham were inspired by the privacy of the Californian convent in which they spent their honeymoon in 1992.

So they created The Fortress, a functional Bauhaus design complete with girders and struts, steeply walled on its boundaries to keep out prying eyes. But step inside and you see a huge tropical garden, a swimming pool and a garden jacuzzi as part of almost 10,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor studio and gallery space.

There are also almost 4,000 square feet of interior living quarters including a library, dramatic galleries looking over three-storey studio and dance-floor areas, three bedrooms and five bathrooms. There’s also a basement games room and gym for that compulsory LA daily workout.

The property went on sale last year and was first advertised only in California but now, with even Hollywood stars hit by a declining US property market, it is being marketed in Europe by estate agency Engel & Volkers.

The publicity in Europe concentrates on the Mediterranean and French design influences and the Venice Beach boho chic reputation of the house – magazine Vanity Fair says it is found most easily by heading for the tattoo parlours and marijuana shops across the street.

But despite the continuing US downturn and change in global marketing strategy for the house, the asking price remains unchanged at a cool $18m. The owner is clearly not the only stellar characteristic of this particular LA home…

There’s more good news on the horizon for yachting fans and boat owners, as the Mediterranean island of Cyprus is turning its sights to creating several magnificent new marinas.

With the increasing appeal of marinas and marina property, a number of new top notch marinas are being created on the island, to help boost tourism and interest in property. The new marinas are set to be located at the major resorts of Limassol, Larnaca, Ayia Napa and, Paphos, plus a smaller marina at Zygi, and between them will create thousands of new berths for yachts, plus high class leisure facilities and new property.

Various consortiums of private companies are involved in the creation of the marinas, with some still in the tendering process. The biggest by far will be at Limassol, which has recently been awarded to the Zenon consortium, and construction starts in early 2009.

The grand plans for the Limassol marina include a man-made artificial island, with 600 berths, plus 400 berths on the mainland. It will be located near the centre of Limassol and carefully designed to complement the old harbour, old town and medieval castle.

At the new Larnaca marina, which is expected to have at least 900 berths, it will also be able to accommodate the so-called super yachts, measuring over 35 metres in length, and host a terminal for cruise liners. Larnaca is already an important port on the island, but can only accommodate 200 boats, so it will be a massive improvement.