Warhol protégée “Baby Jane” suing neighbor over mansion renovation

Andy Warhol, Baby Jane and 41 East 65th Street
Andy Warhol, Baby Jane and 41 East 65th Street

Andy Warhol’s protégée “Baby Jane” Holzer isn’t taking her neighbor’s disruptive home renovation lying down. Holzer recently filed a lawsuit against investment giant KKR president Joseph Bae, in which she claims that his mansion rehab almost knocked her townhouse down.

In 2006, Holzer — a Palm Beach real estate heiress discovered by Warhol — paid a whopping $16 million for a townhouse at 41 East 65th Street, and she says her investment was nearly toppled after Bae began redoing his $20 million home at 45 East 65th Street, according to the New York Post.

According to the lawsuit, Holzer claims she asked Bae to use “extreme care” while renovating his property, because she has “rare, irreplaceable artwork” hanging along a wall shared by the buildings. But Holzer says that Bae paid her no mind and proceeded to remove bedrock, causing vibrations that damaged her third-floor hallway.

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Then, early this year, demolition work “caused the complete collapse of [her] second floor front ceiling, severely damaging Ms. Holzer’s real and personal property,” the suit says, according to the Post.

She is now suing Bae and his contractors for an unspecified sum..[NYP]Christopher Cameron