Jeffery Epstein's Upper East Side townhouse has its price cut from $88M to $65M
Jeffrey Epstein’s Upper East Side New York City townhouse has just had its sale price slashed by $23 million after six fruitless months on the market.
The sprawling East 71st home is now listed for $65 million, a decrease of 26 percent from its original asking price of $88 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.
First put up for sale in July, along with another of his mansions in Palm Beach, Florida, the listing was posted just under a year after Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on a slew of sex trafficking charges.
The millionaire financier reportedly abused dozens of girls as young as 14 at the opulent property, before his arrest in July 2019.
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The sprawling East 71st home is now listed for $65 million, a decrease of 26 percent since it was first listed in July
The 50-foot-wide, 100 feet deep property is considered one of the city’s most prestigious homes, with a vast 28,000 square feet of space spread over seven stories (Image shared by Modlin Group, who are representing the property)
The listing was posted just under a year after Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on a slew of sex trafficking charges.
The 50-foot-wide, 100 feet deep property is considered one of the city’s most prestigious homes, with a vast 28,000 square feet of space spread over seven stories. Its new asking prices works out to be about $2,300 per square foot.
It features an impressive neoclassical stone facade – made of French limestone – that is decorated with ornate carvings and picturesque balconies.
The mansion also has an imposing 15-foot tall front door, which once featured the letters ‘J.E’ in raised brass but they’ve since been removed.
‘This Mansion presents a once in a life-time opportunity to own the largest single-family home in New York City,’ the listing reads. ‘This historic landmark could easily present itself as a palatial consulate, embassy, foundation, or a museum to once again house some of the world’s greatest works of art.’
The listing makes no mention of Epstein and features only one photograph inside the home, one external image, and one picture of the home’s balcony.
Its impressive exterior facade – made of imported French limestone – is decorated with ornate carvings and picturesque balconies (Image shared by Modlin Group, who are representing the property)
In recent years , the property has gained infamy as a house of horrors, where, for years, Epstein reportedly sexually abused dozens of underage girls
The home has an imposing 15-foot front door, which once featured the letters ‘J.E’ in raised brass (seen above after the July 2019 raid)
Built in the early 1930s, the home was originally commissioned by Herbery N. Straus, an heir to the Macy’s department store fortune, whose father had perished on the Titanic 18 years earlier.
More recently it was owned by Leslie Wexner, chairman of L Brands, which owns retailers including Victoria’s Secret, who was also a mentor of Epstein’s.
Epstein reportedly purchased the home from Wexner back in 1998 for $20 million – just under $7 million more than Wexner had bought it for in 1989.
In the years since, the property has gained infamy as a house of horrors, where, for years, Epstein reportedly sexually abused dozens of underage girls.
The shamed financier reportedly had hundreds of pinhole surveillance cameras installed throughout the home so he could monitor his victim’s ‘private moments’ in bedrooms and bathrooms. He allegedly had a media room behind a hidden door where he kept stacks of TVs playing the surveillance feeds.
Esteemed guests who’ve stayed at the home include Prince Andrew, who is shown in the above image peering around the front door in December 2010
Epstein also reportedly hung a bizarre oil paining of Bill Clinton in a blue dress inside his seven story mansion
Epstein died in a New York jail in August 2019, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide
When his home was raided in July 2019 as part of a sex trafficking sting, authorities reportedly found lurid images of young girls locked in a safe. They also found ‘piles of cash’, diamonds and an expired foreign passport listing Epstein’s residence as Saudi Arabia.
Epstein died in a New York jail in August 2019 aged 66, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide.
Most of his belongings were removed from the home following his death, though people who have viewed the listing previously claimed that some of his relics – mainly furniture – remain.
He was believed to have at one time hung a bizarre oil painting of Bill Clinton wearing a blue dress on one of his walls. Other quirks inside the mansion included a huge taxidermy tiger and a stuffed poodle.
Esteemed guests at the home include Prince Andrew, who was pictured in December 2010 peering around the front door, as he reportedly waived goodbye to a brunette female he’d led out.
Modlin, who has the listing for Epstein’s Manhattan mansion, previously said they didn’t think Epstein’s association with the property would affect their sale prices – despite the home apparently playing a central role in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking operation.
The reason behind the home’s dramatic price cut is not yet known. However, the New York real-estate market has reportedly been hard hit by the pandemic, with townhouse sales down 50 percent on 2019.
Where luxury townhouses are considered, there has been just 22 sales over $10 million in the first three quarters of 2020, compared to 64 during the same times frame last year, according to WSJ.
Epstein’s beachfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, also hit the marked in July of last year for $21.995 million
However, that home was sold in November to spec home developer Todd Michael Glaser who says he intends to replace the existing home with a 14,000-square-foot Art Moderne mansion
Epstein owned multiple luxury properties around the world, including an island dubbed Little St. James, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which was known to locals as ‘Pedophile Island.’ A month before Epstein’s death, he estimated his properties were collectively valued at over $180 million.
Epstein’s beachfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, also hit the marked in July of last year for $21.995 million.
However, that home was sold in November to spec home developer Todd Michael Glaser, who says he intends to replace the existing home with a 14,000-square-foot Art Moderne mansion.
Sale proceeds from the Epstein estate will go towards a compensation fund for the dozens of alleged victims who have filed civil suits in the wake of his death.
