In the fall of 2021, Kanye West paid a whopping $57.3 million in cash for an oceanfront home in Malibu designed by renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Shortly after, the music mogul turned Yeezy fashion designer controversially gutted the property to remodel it, ripping out all the windows, doors and interior fittings before changing his mind and putting the vacant and uninhabitable concrete structure back on the market for a whopping $53 million last January. Unfortunately, there were no takers and within months the price was slashed to $39 million. Now, after nearly three years of disrepair and exposure to the elements, the property is finally in escrow and set to sell for $21 million—a staggering $36 million less than West paid.
As the first report from The only trueThe budget-conscious buyer is Belwood Investments, a California-based real estate crowdfunding company that has been selling homes since 2018. The new owner plans to raise at least $5 million over the next 12 to 16 months to restore the unfinished property to its original condition and then put it back up for sale for around $40 million.
“We are incredibly excited to acquire this property,” Belwood founder and owner Steven “Bo” Belmont said in a press release. “Not only is this a phenomenal real estate investment; it is also an opportunity to revitalize and preserve an architectural gem by the famous Tadao Ando and ensure it remains a Malibu jewel. This acquisition exemplifies Belwood Investments’ commitment to transforming properties with historical and architectural significance while providing exceptional returns to our investors.”
The house on Malibu Road before West removed its windows, doors and all of the interior furnishings.
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The 370-square-meter house was originally designed and built for the financier and art collector by Japanese architect and Pritzker Prize winner Richard Sachs. It was completed in 2013 in collaboration with architectural firm Marmol Radziner, using 1,200 tons of concrete and 200 tons of reinforced concrete. Although there are currently few photos, listings show that the house was planned with four bedrooms and five bathrooms in just over 370 square meters. There are also about 140 square meters of outdoor terraces with sea views. However, plumbing and electrical installations, heating and ventilation systems and interior finishes are currently missing.
A brokerage price report prepared by Rugiero for Belwood estimates that the property’s final value after restoration will exceed $50 million, while other brand-new or newly renovated homes along the same stretch of sand typically trade for around $20 million. But the Brutalist building is one of only a handful of U.S. structures designed by 82-year-old Ando, who has been called “Hollywood’s favorite starchitect” and whose homes are considered “the hottest must-haves among the super-rich.”
In 2023, Jay-Z and Beyoncé paid $190 million for a much larger Ando-designed estate in Malibu. It remains one of the highest prices ever paid for a home in California. Kim Kardashian plans to build an extravagant Ando-designed vacation home near Palm Springs, and Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield and his wife Jen Rubio bought Tom Ford’s Ando-designed ranch in New Mexico for $40 million in 2021.
West, who remains a successful record producer and one of the most successful musicians of all time, appears to be turning away from real estate ownership. His other LA estate, in Calabasas, where his now-shuttered Donda Academy was located, has fallen into a state of disrepair, and when he’s not traveling the world with his usually scantily clad wife, Bianca Censori, he often stays for months at a time in some of Los Angeles’s poshest hotels, including the Chateau Marmont and the oceanfront Nobu Ryokan in Malibu.
