Kanye West forced to list rare oceanfront Malibu home due to financial woes, may lose millions on the deal
West needs to ditch his Tadao Ando-designed masterpiece due to financial woes, and he may end up losing money on the coastal crib. See what it’s selling for.
Rapper and designer Kanye West, now going by Ye, is ditching his Tadao Ando-designed Malibu masterpiece for $78.2m (US$53m) — a few years after splurging $84.5m (US$57.25m on the coastal crib.
Insiders tell The Post that a concoction of factors, including the artist’s shaky finances, played a key role in his decision to unload this unique oceanfront abode, even at a loss.
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“Let’s just say the cash flow isn’t really flowing at the moment,” a source revealed, peeling back the layers of West’s motivation.
“The renovations turned out to be a bigger hassle than expected.”
The music mogul acquired the beachfront property back in 2021 and embarked on an ambitious renovation project that remains incomplete.
Jason Oppenheim, of the Oppenheim Group and “Selling Sunset,” stated that the roughly 372 sqm dwelling is in dire need of windows, doors, plumbing, electrical work, HVAC and interior finishes.
“It will take several million dollars for the house to be finished,” Oppenheim told the Wall Street Journal, painting a picture of a mansion in need of a financial rescue.
“Much of the architectural integrity and the architectural value of the house exists,” he adds.
Originally crafted in 2013 by Wall Street titan Richard Sachs, the property spent seven years in the making, involving meticulous planning, permitting and construction.
Sachs later slapped a $75m price tag on the completed house in 2020, constructed from Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Ando’s signature smooth concrete — a behemoth made of approximately 1,200 tonnes of that material, 200 tonnes of steel and 12 pylons driven more than 20m into the sand.
The three-storey house has four bedrooms, colossal window openings facing the water and an additional 140 sqm of deck space, making it a coastal paradise awaiting its finishing touches.
However, West’s troubles don’t end with a mere incomplete renovation.
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In September, he found himself entangled in a legal web when a contractor/caretaker sued him, alleging gruelling work conditions, 16-hour workdays and sleeping on the floor amid open insulation.
The contractor claimed he was let go after refusing to replace the home’s electrical system with generators, citing a potential fire hazard. West denied these accusations.
Not a stranger to controversy, West previously faced backlash for anti-semitic remarks, leading to severed partnerships with major brands like Adidas and Gap last year.
Despite these setbacks, his upcoming album “Vultures” is slated for release in December.
While Malibu’s median home sale price experienced a 21.3 per drop in November, plummeting to $3.5m, Oppenheim insists the market is holding its ground.
“It’s a stretch to make a claim that anywhere is doing as well as 2021 and 2022, but Malibu has held up significantly better than the city of Los Angeles,” Oppenheim said, countering the downward trend.
In a noteworthy parallel move, power couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z snagged their own slice of a rare Ando-designed paradise, shelling out a staggering $300m for an oceanfront mansion in Malibu earlier this year.
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Parts of this story originally appeared in The Post and were republished with permission.
Originally published as Kanye West forced to list rare oceanfront Malibu home due to financial woes, may lose millions on the deal
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