“Kanye West bought an architectural treasure – then gave it a violent remix.”
The chanteur Kanye West, variously known for his excellent flexes – What’s Gucci, my nigga? What’s Louis, my killer? What’s drugs, my dealer? What’s that jacket, Margiela? Doctors say I’m the illest ’cause I’m suffering from realness Got my niggas in Paris and they going gorillas, huh – as well as a distaste for the already much maligned Hebrew, has taken a thirty-mill plus hit on the sale of his beachfront Malibu mansion.
The Chicago-born fiddler of studio knobs pissed away the three bricks following the troubled three-year renovation of the iconic Tadao Ando house in Malibu, which was stopped by city authorities.
The Tadao Ando Malibu House, 24844 Malibu Road which he bought for fifty-seven mill in 2021, became an experiment where Ye indulged his fascination for architecture alongside his new gal’s university-honed skills.
In the New Yorker, Ian Parker tells the compelling saga of Ye buying the joint from financier Richard Sachs, who originally wanted seventy-five mill for the house – and employing a cowboy tradesman called Tony Saxon to sleep in the place while simultaneously destroying it, eventually re-listing it for sale at $39 mill.
And after.
The listing, handled by pint-sized Selling Sunset star Jason Oppenheim, languished.
Oppenheim gamely touted its “architectural integrity,” estimating millions more to restore, but buyers balked at the burned out German bunker on Normandy Beach vibe.
Prices tumbled: $39 million in April, then whispers of fire-sale desperation.
Nearly three years after acquisition, the property finally found a taker, a crowdfunded firm called Belwood Investments, snapping it up for $21 mill. The math swas pretty brutal: a $36 million loss, not counting renovation costs that likely pushed Kanye West’s total hit past $40 million.
Belwood, undeterred, pledged $5 million to resurrect Ando’s vision, aiming to flip it for $40 million in 12-16 months.
Founder Bo Belmont hailed it as a “phenomenal investment” in preserving Malibu’s heritage.
For Kanye West, it’s a stark ledger entry in his turbulent portfolio. His Calabasas ranch, once home to the shuttered Donda Academy, sits neglected; he bounces between luxury hotels like the Chateau Marmont and Nobu Ryokan.
This ain’t just financial folly, it’s a metaphor for Ye’s chaotic genius.
Ye’s worth almost three bill so, comparatively, it’s like someone on a hundred gees losing a thousand bucks.
If it was Elon Musk, world’s richest man doin’ the losin, it’d be the equivalent of six bucks.