Jeffrey Epstein’s UES townhouse in contract for around $50M

Late financier and convicted sex offender bought property for $20M in 1998

9 East 71st Street and Jeffrey Epstein (Photos via Getty; Wikipedia Commons)
9 East 71st Street and Jeffrey Epstein (Photos via Getty; Wikipedia Commons)

The Upper East Side townhouse once owned by late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has found a buyer.

The home at 9 East 71st Street is in contract to sell for around $50 million, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the transaction. That’s $38 million less than it was originally listed for last summer, and $15 million below the discount that the property got in January.

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The 28,000-square-foot, 50-foot-wide townhouse was originally built in the 1930s, with a Neoclassical facade and huge oak doors. It was used as a school in the mid-20th-century before being acquired by Leslie Wexner, the founder of L Brands, in 1989. Epstein reportedly bought the home from Wexner, a former close associate, in 1998 for $20 million.

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Epstein, who was facing sex trafficking charges, killed himself in a Manhattan jail in 2019. A month prior to his death, he estimated that his properties were worth around $180 million.

In addition to the Upper East Side townhouse, he also owned a property in Palm Beach at the time of his death. That home, located at 358 El Brillo Way, listed at the same time as the New York home, and went into contract in November with an asking price of $22 million. The buyer is reportedly spec home developer Todd Michael Glaser, who plans to tear down the house and replace it with a 14,000-square-foot megamansion.

Proceeds from the sale of his properties will go to his estate, which has established a fund to compensate his alleged victims.

[WSJ] — Amy Plitt