Kanye West is selling his half-renovated 'bomb shelter' mansion because the minimalist concrete walls are 'too grey' for the rapper's taste, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
The sleek Malibu property, designed by famed Japanese architect Tadao Ando, already had a striking postmodern look when Ye paid $57 million for it in 2021.
Since then, West has removed walls, doors, windows and plumbing fixtures to create an even bolder aesthetic, leaving the 4,000-square-foot home an empty shell.
The renovation is far from complete, but the 46-year-old Yeezy mogul put the oceanfront four-bedroom back on the market last week as a $53 million fixer-upper.
An insider tells DailyMail.com that West – whose famous Spartan wardrobe includes just a handful of colors – will take the $4 million hit because he has decided the imposing concrete walls are too cold for his taste.
Kanye West is selling his minimalist Malibu mansion for $53 million because the concrete walls are too gray, an insider revealed
Ye purchased the sleek postmodern property, designed by famed Japanese architect Tadao Ando, for $57 million in 2021
But the rapper has decided to abandon his renovation project and sell it because his concrete walls are the wrong shade of gray. A source confirmed that the color is more cadet gray, while Ye would prefer “more dovetail.”
“You prefer earth tones, muddy colors from silt to loam, but never too cold and nothing that visually oozes like clay,” our source reveals.
'Architects and designers working for Ye have in the past been dispatched to collect soil samples from Britain, France and elsewhere as color references for his iconic looks.
“Unfortunately, the concrete was starting to turn more of a cadet gray and he was hoping for a warmer tone, more of a dovetail gray or a coachman's cape.
Kanye is teaming up with Selling Sunset real estate agent Jason Oppenheim, 46, to sell the house
'You only visited the house at dawn and dusk, when he said the color didn't irritate him that much. Eventually he stopped doing it altogether.'
The boxy, three-story behemoth was built in 2013 for financier Richard Sachs, who spent seven years in planning and construction before putting the completed home up for sale.
It is made of 1,200 tonnes of Ando's signature 'silky smooth' concrete, reinforced with 200 tonnes of steel struts and pylons driven 18 meters into the sand.
The property features 1,500 square feet of deck space, massive floor-to-ceiling windows and breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean — but currently no air conditioning, doors or appliances, according to real estate agent and Selling Sunset star Jason Oppenheim.
He calls it “an extraordinarily rare architectural achievement that should be seen as a masterful work of art, and not just as a home.”
But potential buyers are warned: 'Currently all internal finishes have been removed from the property and work is required to restore or redesign the interior.'
The futuristic-looking building is also at the center of a lawsuit between father-of-four West and former contractor Tony Saxon, who is suing for labor law violations, more than $1 million in unpaid wages and damages.
Saxon claims he worked 16 hour days and slept on the floor while working as a “project manager, caretaker and 24/7 security” to fulfill West's vision of a self-sufficient home that resembles a “1910s fallout shelter.”
He claims West ignored all of his safety concerns and fired him in November 2021 when he refused to remove the widows and electrical wiring.
“We were going to take all that out and build him a kind of Bat Cave,” where West said he could “hide from the Clintons and the Kardashians,” Saxon said in an interview with NBC.
West — who is reportedly worth $400 million — “didn't want electricity. He just wanted to plant. He just wanted candles. He just wanted battery lighting. And he just wanted everything open and dark,” Saxon added.
The Gold Digger hitmaker prefers more earthy tones such as 'silt to leam', a source said
The property is built from 1,200 tonnes of Ando's signature 'silky smooth' concrete, reinforced with 200 tonnes of steel struts and pylons driven 20 meters into the sand.
Ye completely gutted the house as part of his renovation, removing all interior finishes, windows and several walls
Kanye has been criticized for allegedly forcing wife Bianca Censori to wear barely-there outfits like this one she showed off in Miami while clutching a stuffed animal to protect what was left of her modesty.
“You can't keep food in that house because you no longer had a refrigerator. You had no windows. Seagulls came flying in.'
West, who has homes in Los Angeles, Chicago and Wyoming, where he owns several ranches, denied the allegations.
The property sale comes as stunning new images obtained by DailyMail.com show the extent of the decline of Kanye's empire, including his Wyoming ranch appearing abandoned and his Hidden Hills estate in disrepair.
During his heyday, Kanye's goal was to become “one of the greatest real estate developers of all time,” but shocking new photos of his construction empire — including bizarre, futuristic domes — reveal the true extent of his crumbling legacy.
His world-conquering status as a fashion and music mogul is gone, and his real estate ambitions – including outlandish construction projects inspired by Star Wars – have been reduced to rubble.
Now all that remains are the bones of his once audacious goal to become to real estate “what Howard Hughes was to airplanes and Henry Ford to automobiles.”
The Gold Digger hitmaker saw his estimated wealth drop from $2 billion to $400 million after major brands including Adidas and Gap cut ties with him in 2022 over a series of anti-Semitic comments.
In August, he sparked outrage after baring his buttocks to staring tourists during a boat trip with his wife, Bianca Censori, in Italy.
A rep for West — whose new album, Vultures, a collaboration with Ty Dolla $ign, is out Dec. 31 — could not be reached for comment.