Real Estate Industry News

Two of the homes in the real estate portfolio of deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein have come to market this week, as the WSJ reported. The first is a seven-floor, $88 million mansion measuring 28,000-square-foot on New York’s East 71st Street near to Cornelius Vanderbilt’s former house and the former Frick Residence (now the location of the Frick Art Collection). Only one photo of the interior has been released by listing agent Adam Modlin with The Modlin Group, which shows the ornate living room.

According to the listing, the house was commissioned in 1930 by Herbert N. Straus, heir to the R. H. Macy & Co., who hired Horace Trumbauer to design the opulent home. The home has imported French-limestone “meticulously decorated with carvings”, 15-foot-tall oak entry doors, and an elaborate video security system. In between Strauss owning the home and Epstein purchasing it for $20 million in 1998 from Leslie Wexner (founder and CEO of L Brands LB , the parent company to brands such as Victoria’s Secret and Bath and Body Works), the sprawling townhouse went through several different identity changes. In 1944 it became an extension of the St. Claire Hospital, then in 1962 it became the college prep Birch Wathen School, then in 1989 it was converted back into a private residence. It’s location opposite the Frick Museum means its views are protected from new construction.

In Palm Beach, Florida, Epstein’s 14,000-square-foot property sits behind a tall privacy gate where a main house, three-bedroom staff house and pool house make up the estate. Epstein purchased the property in 1990 for $2.5 million and it is now on the market for $21.9 million. From it’s location on the Intracoastal Waterway it has views of the Tarpon and Everglades islands. The home is listed with Kerry Warick of the Corcoran Group. No pictures or active listing page were available at this time.

Epstein died last year while in jail facing federal charges for sex trafficking. For more details see Forbes coverage here.