These hitmakers just took a big hit.
The New York Post is reporting that Grammy winners Alicia Keys and producer husband Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean have sold the New Jersey mansion they purchased from comedian Eddie Murphy at a substantial loss.
The property, which they purchased in two parts nearly a decade ago for $12.1 million, had been on the market for years, originally listing for $14.9 million in 2015 before being slashed to $9.4 million this past summer.
But according to the report, it went into contract for just $6 million in February — less than half they paid for the whole shebang in 2013.
The reason for the discount may be because the power couple has been spending most of the time with their two children at the cliffside mansion in La Jolla, California known as Razor House that they purchased in 2019 for $20.8 million. That home, designed by Wallace E. Cunningham, is believed to be the inspiration for “Iron Man” Tony Stark’s home in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But the 32-room Englewood estate is something to marvel at in its own right.
The 25,000-square-foot, Colonial-style home features six bedrooms, a recording studio, an indoor pool, two bowling lanes, two elevators and a movie theater.
Since buying the property, Keys and Dean spent million renovating it while adding on an art gallery to display the works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Kaws and Maya Hayuk that they own.
A classically trained pianist, Keys was signed by Columbia Records when she was just 15 years old, and went on to write and perform such hits as “Girl on Fire” and, with the Hip Hop artist Jay-Z, “Empire State of Mind.”
Dean has produced hit singles including Beyoncé’s “Upgrade U,” “Check on It,” and “Ring the Alarm.”
Murphy bought what was known as Bubble Hill in 1985 for $3.5 million before expanding it from 10,000 square feet to about 25,000 square feet.
[New York Post] — Vince DiMiceli