Andrew Mazzella has been looking for an entrée to the California real estate market for the last three years.
Then, two weeks ago, the builder and real estate developer based in Bozeman, Montana, walked into a house in Malibu that he described as “the most controversial house in the world.” And he was sold.
“The second I saw it in person, I said this is it,” he said in an interview.
The house he finally chose? A beachfront, concrete mansion designed by Tadao Ando, the renowned architect known for his minimalist design and use of concrete. But aside from being one of the few examples of Ando’s residential designs, the property has made headlines in recent years after it was purchased and gutted by rapper and producer Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
Ye purchased the house for $57.2 million in 2021. By January 2024, it was back on the market for $53 million. In April, that price dropped to $39 million, and in September, it sold to Belwood Investments for $21 million.
Mazzella purchased the house from Belwood Investments, a firm that uses crowdfunding to fix and flip properties, for somewhere between $30 million and $34 million, a member of the Belwood team said.
Amanda Lynn with the brokerage Nest Seekers served as Mazzella's agent in the deal. Celebrity broker Dylan Eckardt was also involved.
Now, Mazzella said he plans to finish restoring the house before finding another buyer. In the meantime, he’ll be shelling out about $1 million a month for construction, property taxes and other fees.
“We need to sell it right away,” he said. “But you can’t get around how long it’s gonna take.”
Commercial fisherman turned real estate developer
Mazzella says the task doesn’t intimidate him, though. In fact, his excitement was palpable as he gushed about his plans, sometimes jumping from topic to topic and stumbling over his words.
An Alaska native, Mazzella got his first job when he was 14 years old, he said. By the time he was 15, he was working as a commercial fisherman — think “Deadliest Catch.”
When it was time for college, Mazzella moved to Bozeman, where he initially began studying architecture. By the time he finished school, he’d switched his focus to engineering and business, and he had started his own construction company, Mazzella Construction.
In those early days, around the time of the Great Recession, Mazzella said he would spend his winters fishing and crabbing to finance his projects.
“There was very little construction work, much less real estate,” he said. “You couldn’t get loans at all, so I just grinded away.”
By 2013, Mazzella gave up his fishing side hustle and made the switch to full-time building in Montana. Within two years, he’d started producing entry-level speculative houses. More than a decade later, he’s expanded to luxury vacation houses in Bozeman, and last year, he even got his foot in the commercial real estate door.
“My main focus has always been ultra-high-end and residential,” he said. “I just always wanted to go to the highest level. I mean, there’s really no other way to put it than that.”
Restoring an important piece of architecture
This project, Mazzella said, is as high as it gets.
Since purchasing the house in September, the Bellwood Investments team completed electrical work, secured the home's original builder for the project, received approved plans and permits from the city and began some construction.
Mazzella will stick with those plans, he said.
“I love design. I love architecture. But I’m also primarily a businessman,” he said. “It’s just a no-brainer to have them do it.”
Mazzella’s purchase is expected to close by May 1. For now, he said, he’s focused on finishing the project and finding a seller, even if it takes longer than a year.
“We will not cut corners under any circumstance ever on any job,” he said. “In this case, it’s just not even an option.”