NEED TO KNOW
- Richard Gere and wife Alejandra relocated to Spain from the U.S. at the end of 2024
- Ahead of their big move, the couple sold their New Canaan, Conn., home for $10.75 million
- While the 1938 property is reportedly set to be torn down, small business Hudson Valley House Parts is working to restore historic pieces from the site
Richard Gere and his wife Alejandra intend to move back to the U.S. in a few years, but they won’t be able to return to their former Connecticut mansion.
Seven months after the couple sold the sprawling New Canaan abode for $10.75 million in October 2024, the home is reportedly set to be torn down in order to make room for a nine-property development on the site, according to Hudson Valley House Parts.
The New York-based business is devoted to architectural salvage and historic preservation, per their website. They’ve been working to preserve some pieces at the Geres’ former home for the last few weeks, according to an Instagram post shared on Sunday, May 25, which references an article from Realtor.com. The outlet was the first to report the news.
“Gere purchased this property from Paul Simon and Edie Brickell in 2022,” the caption reads, in part. “It has since been sold and scheduled for demolition with the intent to develop the 32-acre lot into nine individual properties. Over the past month our team has been working to save the pieces that we can from the landfill.”
The small business has been documenting the preservation process on their Instagram, most recently with this cast stone wellhead that was recovered from the actor’s former estate, as well as these steel bay casement windows.
PEOPLE has reached out to Hudson Valley House Parts for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Richard, 75, and Alejandra, 42, had lived in the home for two years after purchasing it in 2022 for $10.8 million. The Runaway Bride alum reportedly wanted to turn the historic 1938 property into a farm at one point, according to local outlet, the New Canaan Advertiser.
It features six bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, a pool, multiple gardens and a three-bedroom guest cottage. There are “period details” on display throughout the property, a previous listing with Sotheby’s states.
While Richard and Alejandra (née Silva) had lived in the United States since they got married in 2018, the Pretty Woman star did tease their possible move to his wife’s native Spain in an April 2024 interview with Vanity Fair Spain.
Andreas Rentz/Getty
“For Alejandra, it will be wonderful to be closer to her family, her lifelong friends and her culture,” he said at the time. “She was very generous in giving me six years living in my world, so it is only fair that I give her at least another six living in hers.”
He added that relocating to Madrid would be a “great adventure” for their family, as the pair share two young children together: Alexander, 6, and James, 5. Gere also shares son Homer, 25, with ex-wife Carey Lowell, while Alejanda is also mom to son, Albert, 11, with ex-husband Govind Friedland.
Richard Gere/Instagram
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In April, Alejandra admitted that their family does have plans to move back to the United States in an interview with the Daily Mail.
“For a few years [we’ll live in Spain], and then come back,” the publicist and activist said. “But we’re always coming back. We’ll come back here in the summer because we have the kids at camp. We just have to balance our lives there and here.”
She added, “I’m with my family … I missed them a lot. But I miss the U.S. So we come back and forth.”