Legendary singer/songwriter Billy Joel welcomed in the New Year by acknowledging his continued inability to sell his mansion in the Oyster Bay section of Long Island.
The New York Post reported the Grammy-winner brought up his real estate woes during a New Year’s Eve concert at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York. Joel acquired the property he dubbed “Middlesea” –which includes a 20,000-square-feet residence with five bedrooms and eight bathrooms, along with a three-bedroom beach house, a bowling alley, helicopter pad and an inground pool – in 2002 for $22.5 million. He tried to sell it for $32.5 million in 2008, but no one would put bread in the Piano Man’s jar at the time, so it was withdrawn from the market until last May when it was relisted at $49 million.
The 74-year-old Joel laughingly told his concert audience that “nobody” wants to buy his mansion, adding that he was eager for a sale because “I’m just going to spend a little more time in Florida like old Jewish guys from Long Island do.”
However, he also assured his audience that he will always be in a New York state of mind.
“Just because I’m selling that house doesn’t mean I’m leaving Long Island. I still have a house on Long Island,” he said, referring to his summer home in Sag Harbor.
Photo: Craig O’Neal / Flickr Creative Commons
;
