Man who bought Kanye West's mansion at massive discount shares look into 'dumb' alterations

The man who purchased a beachfront mansion from rapper Kanye West who absolutely gutted the place has revealed just how “dumb” his alterations were.

West, who goes by the name Ye, has been involved in several high-profile controversies in recent years which have seen him fade from the public eye.

It seems away from the limelight, West was steadily dismantling a Malibu home designed by Tadao Ando – an award-winning Japanese architect.

Now, West has sold the property for less than half what he originally paid for it after making some bizarre alterations, like removing all the windows, doors, electricity and plumbing throughout, essentially leaving it a concrete shell.

In 2021, West purchased the 4,000-square-foot beachfront home for $57.3 million. After putting his own spin on the high-end home, he re-listed it for $53 million, but, rather unsurprisingly, the buyers weren’t biting after seeing what he had done to it.

Bo Belmont ended up purchasing the home for $21 million, roughly around 36 per cent of the amount West paid for it, and he has not held back about his thoughts on the alterations.

Speaking to Los Angeles Times, Belmont explained: “My goal is to make it as though Kanye was never there. The house will be restored right back to what it was.”

While admitting that most of West’s alterations were “mostly cosmetic”, he criticised the rapper’s decision to get rid of the glazing on the floors.

“That was a really dumb move. Really no purpose,” Belmont said.

Belmont explained he plans to spend around $6 million and $8 million to restore the home to its former glory and will work with the same person who originally built the house in order to achieve it.

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.