A huge villa on the American coast near New York is for sale for $35 million. But there is one problem: the buyer is not allowed to live there.
Source: De Telegraaf, New York Post
Yesterday at 10:02
The current owner, real estate dealer Harry Macklowe, has done so much illegal renovation work on the 11,000 square meter property in recent years that there are enormous claims from the local government.
Macklowe, also known in the US as an art collector, bought the building, which is part of a nature reserve, in 2017 for almost 10 million euros. From that moment on he started working like crazy with a contractor. Over the years, several extensions and a swimming pool appeared and the garden was tightened up. The property now has four bedrooms and five bathrooms. The council tried to rein him in from day one, but Macklowe continued unabated.
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Illegally blown up
Macklowe had previously been in trouble with the law when he illegally blew up a building in Manhattan, endangering the lives of neighbors, the justice department found. That earned him a fine of $2 million, which he paid out of his back pocket as a wealthy project developer. Macklowe narrowly avoided a prison sentence because the judiciary could not legally prove that it was criminal behavior.
From the beginning, there were fines and legal procedures from the government. But his neighbors, including director Steven Spielberg, also objected to the fact that Macklowe annexed a piece of nature reserve in addition to all the renovations. He also previously had an argument with American celebrity Martha Stewart over plants in his garden.
Laughing at asking price
Apparently the 86-year-old real estate dealer is now exhausted by the 21 lost procedures and so he is looking for a buyer. According to the New York Post, the asking price of 35 million euros is widely laughed at. Due to all the seizures, a new buyer is not allowed to live there for a day. It is not worth more than $12 million, the newspaper quotes fellow real estate dealers and neighbors. And that amount is mainly because of the unique location between Lake Georgica and the Atlantic Ocean.
For the time being, there are still all kinds of lawsuits that need to be settled first and there are still outstanding fines that need to be paid, neighbors told the Post.
Angry ex across the street
Another salient detail is that Macklowe’s angry ex lives on the other side of the lake. Linda and Harry separated in 2018 after 59 years and the divorce resulted in quite a court spectacle. Ultimately, the judge decided that their art collection should be auctioned. The ‘Macklowe collection’, with works by Jackson Pollock and Alberto Giacometti, generated almost 670 million euros in 2021.
To tease Linda, he had twelve-meter-high photographs of himself and his French bride seventeen years younger hung up on one of his buildings. If he ever leaves his lake house, he will no longer be able to peek in on his ex, residents told local media.
