Stacey Plaisance / Associated Press

Brad Pitt, filming a movie in New Orleans, and girlfriend Angelina Jolie have moved into a French Quarter residence, neighbors said.

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Brad Pitt, left, and Angelina Jolie arrive for the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards on Monday, Jan. 15, 2007, in Beverly Hills, Calif.

"It's great if they're here to stay and to be a part of the community," said Rayna Nielsen, who lives across the street from the early-1830s masonry mansion where the celebrity couple has been spotted in recent weeks.

Nielsen said the street was closed off while the couple moved in earlier this month.

Real estate agents familiar with the deal told The Associated Press and The Times-Picayune newspaper that the couple had purchased the home.

Records for the property, which is near the French Market, show the home was purchased for $3.5 million in cash on Jan. 2. Neither Pitt nor Jolie is named in the transaction. Mondo Bongo Trust, which has a Beverly Hills post office box address, is listed as the buyer.

"I think it validates the French Quarter and New Orleans when people like that who can live anywhere in the world choose to live in New Orleans," Michael Wilkinson of French Quarter Realty, who was not the agent of record but was familiar with the transaction, told The Associated Press.

A real estate listing for the property shows the house has a grand spiral staircase, elevator, gourmet kitchen, a large private courtyard and a separate two-story guest house. It also has private parking for two cars -- a luxury in the French Quarter.

It was unclear how much time the couple will be spending in the new home or whether they intend to move their three young children to New Orleans. Five-year-old Maddox is old enough to be enrolled in school. The couple has two other children -- daughters Zahara, 2, and 7-month-old Shiloh.

Calls to Pitt's publicist were not immediately returned Wednesday.

The celebrity couple has helped raise awareness of the city's plight following Hurricane Katrina. Pitt, an architecture enthusiast, teamed up last year with Global Green USA to sponsor an eco-friendly design competition to rebuild parts of the city that were the hardest hit by the August 2005 storm.

Construction on the project will begin in the Holy Cross neighborhood in the city's devastated Lower Ninth Ward in February or March, said Trevor Neilson, philanthropic and political adviser for the couple.

The project will include 12 apartment units, six single-family houses, a community center and day-care facility to be built on 1.5 acres along the Mississippi River, Neilson said.

Pitt's latest film, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," has been filming in New Orleans since November. With a budget of $150 million, it is one of the most expensive productions in the state since Louisiana began offering tax incentives for the film industry in 2002.

The film also stars Cate Blanchett.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

OMG, I would love it if brangelina moved to my city.

I think it would get annoying after a while though living there with them. Tripping over people with telephoto lenses hiding in your bushes and behind your trash can to get a shot of them.

I think it would get annoying after a while though living there with them. Tripping over people with telephoto lenses hiding in your bushes and behind your trash can to get a shot of them.

I didn't say I wanted them to live in my neighborhood. I would love them living in my city from afar.lol

NOPE!!!! Yall are wrong!

They did a report on this yesterday and other than a few photographers and what not, we basically leave them alone. They said a big reason they chose N.O. is because down here we've got our southern hospitality and we leave them alone. It's NOWHERE near L.A. we respect their privacy