Brad Pitt's ex-girlfriend and her billionaire husband have angered neighbors — they are rebuilding a historic building in New York
The housing issue has spoiled not only Muscovites — New Yorkers also suffer from communal dramas. Right now, such a scandal is breaking out in an elite area near Central Park, well, the main character in it was 55-year-old billionaire and investor Bill Ekman. To those who follow the star chronicle more than the investment markets, he is also known as the current husband of Brad Pitt's ex-girlfriend Neri Oxman. The couple is already raising a two-year-old daughter.
Obviously, the billionaire took care of the family home, but his idea does not cause emotion among the neighbors. The fact is that Ekman and Okman purchased a penthouse, decorated with pink plaster and stucco, on the roof of an apartment building built in 1927 at 6-16 West 77th Street. The remarkable structure was part of the property of the feminist writer Nancy Friday, who owned four apartments with a total area of 5,000 square meters.
In 2017, the woman died, and the property appeared on the market - Ekman and Oxman, which is well-known designer and professor of the media laboratory MIT, bought these apartments in November 2018 for a total of $ 22.5 million. The costs are small, because last year Ekman's firm made a profit of $ 2.6 billion per transaction. Ekman's personal fortune is estimated at $3.3 billion.
The new owners wanted to restore and change everything, and definitely decided to get as far away from the original as possible. They decided to turn the penthouse into a real glass aquarium and commissioned the project to Norman Foster, perhaps the world's most famous architect, who became famous for his modern interventions in historical buildings such as the Hearst Tower in New York and the Reichstag building in Berlin.
Many residents were not happy with this idea, because the house is located in a historically protected area and everyone had to carry out repairs in accordance with strict regulations.
It's like a house in Malibu or a restaurant pavilion on the waterfront. Many of us renovated our apartments when we moved in, and we were told that when you change the windows, they should be exactly the same as the windows that were there before,
- said one of their neighbors Ekman.
And although wealthy people live in the house, they do not have to compete with Ekman's capital — many suspect that the billionaire used his influence to get certain permits.
It seems to me that he has taken over the building. It's disturbing,
- another tenant shared.
However, in the billionaire's house there are also supporters who consider the old pink pentahus an "eyesore" and are not against renovation. The project also received approval from the Historical Society of New York, however, Ekman and Oxman are the main sponsors of the organization and have already invested one million dollars, promising another 20 million.
The final decision on the project should be made next week.