The buyer of the Malibu mansion that the artist formerly known as Kanye West stripped down plans to restore the home to its original design, adding that some of the moves made by the musician Ye were “dumb.”
The sale of the Tadao Ando-designed house on Malibu Road closed Thursday morning, said buyer Bo Belmont, who runs Belwood Investments. Belmont, like the artist he is purchasing the house from, has a thorny history. He was once charged with attempted murder for a pitchfork attack in Napa County and was ultimately convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and spent three years in prison (“I shouldn’t have brought a pitchfork to a fistfight,” Belmont told The Times).
He purchased the house for $21 million, down from the original $53 million listing Ye put up in December. Ye made headlines for removing windows, doors, electricity and plumbing in the house and the man whom he hired to work on it said he “single-handedly destroyed this architectural masterpiece.”
Belmont plans to restore it.
“My goal is to make it as though Kanye was never there. The house will be restored right back to what it was,” said Belmont in an interview with The Times.
Belmont said that he has gone through the house and that its structure is not too damaged. The changes Ye made were “mostly cosmetic.” His biggest gripe is with the “No More Parties In L.A.” rapper’s removal of the glazing of the floors.
“That was a really dumb move. Really no purpose,” Belmont said.
Ye had many ideas about what he wanted to do with the house, Belmont said, including turning the stairs into a slide, the floor into trampolines and the entire outside of the house camouflage.
“It would have required extensive review… There’s a process to it and he does things his own way, and the city of Malibu, they don’t care who you are they’ll hold you accountable,” Belmont said.
The home was previously owned by Richard Sachs, but was purchased by Ye in 2021 for $57 million. The deal that closed Thursday was negotiated between Belmont and Jason Oppenheim, who represented Ye in the sale.
Belmont said he plans to spend between $6 million and $8 million on restoring the home. He will work with Marmol Radziner, who did the initial build of the house. Belmont’s goal is to flip the house for a profit to benefit investors in his company, which allows members of the public to micro-invest in high-end real estate.
Belmont said there are 500 investors on the Ye house who invested between $1,000 and $1 million.