Kanye West Finds a Buyer for $39 Million Malibu Mansion He Gutted, Removed Windows from and Abandoned

Kanye West has found a buyer for the beachfront Malibu home he put on the market in December 2023 after gutting it.

Selling Sunset star Jason Oppenheim, whose brokerage sold the architecturally significant property, confirmed to PEOPLE that the home is in escrow.

In 2021, the rapper paid $57 million for the home, which he has since stripped of all its interior fixtures and fittings. He initially listed the mansion, which features views of the Pacific Ocean from every room, for $53 million before dropping the price to $39 million in April 2024.

In December, Oppenheim confirmed to PEOPLE that West had removed the house’s interiors and the asking price reflected the cost of installing new finishes. 

Photos and video of the property in its current state published by the New Yorker in June, show the ocean-facing facade with all the windows removed and its railings rusting in the open air.

A few months before West listed the property, a former employee of the rapper who was hired to manage the remodel, sued West over allegedly dangerous working conditions and unpaid wages in September 2023.

Tony Saxon, who says he was hired in September 2021 as a project manager and served as a full-time security guard and live-in caretaker for the residence, claims he made “constant complaints” to West about various safety hazards, including “workers unsafely demolishing various parts of the house with no safety equipment,” in a filing obtained by PEOPLE. 

Saxon claims he worked 16-hour days, during which he was responsible for cleaning, construction, demolition, coordinating all workers, hiring contractors and 24/7 security.

The document alleges that Saxon was sleeping in “makeshift conditions” on the ground with his coat as bedding throughout his employment.

The complaint also claims that West “disregarded” Saxon’s concerns that he needed to rest due to a “severe” back injury.

Saxon alleges he was fired in November 2021 after refusing to remove all of the windows and electricity from the home.

When Saxon “refused to engage in unlawful conduct or to engage in activity that would further cause him physical injury,” West allegedly responded, “If you don’t do what I say, you’re not going to work for me, I’m not gonna be your friend anymore and you’ll just see me on TV,’” the lawsuit says.

Saxon alleges in the filing that he was told his pay rate would be $20,000 per week, but only received two monetary transfers: one of $20,000 for his own services and one of $100,000 as the weekly budget for the project.

The contractor’s attorney, Ron Zambrano, filed a mechanics lien on the property in January. 

A mechanics lien is described by California’s Department of Consumer Affairs as “a ‘hold’ against your property, filed by an unpaid contractor, subcontractor, laborer, or material supplier.” If unpaid, the lien “allows a foreclosure action, forcing the sale of the property in lieu of compensation.” The current status of the lien is unknown.

“We just want to make sure [West] has enough money to pay the more than $1 million he still owes our client before he goes completely broke,” Zambrano said in a statement in January, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “So in this case, if someone wants to buy Kanye’s Malibu home, they’ll have to deal with us first. That sale cannot happen without Tony being paid.”

Zambrano tells PEOPLE the lien is still in place, and the litigation is ongoing.

PEOPLE also reached out to an attorney for West, Brian Brumfield, but did not immediately hear back.

The home, which includes 4,000 square feet of interior space and about 1,500 square feet of outdoor living areas, was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando.

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When the property was listed, Oppenheim said it was a privilege to sell a home from the renowned architect, who’s designed fewer than 20 homes in the U.S. Ando also designed Jay-Z and Beyonce's $200 million Malibu property.

“I wanted to have a listing with such architectural pedigree,” he said, adding that the property’s Malibu Road location is “one of the most desirable areas in the world.”

The Oppenheim Group founder said the value of the property, which he called “a unique home for a unique and discerning buyer,” was “really in its structure.” 

According to the listing, the home is constructed of approximately 1,200 tons of concrete, 200 tons of steel reinforcement and 12 “massive” pylons driven more than 60 feet into the sand.