Ousted Men’s Wearhouse Founder Is Downsizing in Hawaii — to Neil Young’s $20M Pad
December 9, 2015
You’re gonna like the way you look here. We guarantee it.
Who wouldn’t look good in a 10,000-square-foot mansion right on the Hawaiian coast?
Former Men’s Wearhouse CEO George Zimmer—popularly known for promising in TV spots “You’re gonna like the way you look; I guarantee it”—has listed the property at $35 million, the Los Angeles Times reports. The 7.5 acres comprise 10 parcels on the northwestern edge of the Big Island.
The men’s clothing magnate is downsizing as only the wealthy can: He’s moving to the 2-plus-acre, 3,000-square-foot home that Neil Young just sold him for $20 million. It’s just seven miles up the beach.
Zimmer’s property, which neighbors the Mauna Lani Resort, is one of the largest privately owned oceanfront properties on the Kohala Coast, according to the listing.
The mansion was built in 1995 by Hawaiian architect Lucky Bennett, who basically established the “Kona Coast” style: open rooms connected to extensive lanais (the Hawaiian word for porches), maximizing ocean views, plus native woods integrated throughout. It’s sort of midcentury modern with a tropical flair.
The house has seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a media room, and a billiard room with wet bar. Outside there’s a pool and spa, plus 1,000 feet of ocean frontage.
Zimmer has been through a rough patch the past couple of years. The Men’s Wearhouse board unceremoniously dumped him as executive chairman in 2013 amid complaints that he “wouldn’t accept anything other than full control” of the company he’d founded in 1973 but taken public in the 1990s.
The ouster of Zimmer, who has amassed quite the fan base over the decades because of his catchphrase, set off a firestorm on social media.
He hasn’t stayed down long, though. He has a new venture called zTailors, a website and app to connect the frumpy with the fixers-of-frump – tailors who make house calls.
And Zimmer’s new home ain’t too shabby, even if it is downsized. It has four bedrooms and six bathrooms, and it sits on a craggy beach with just a little less ocean frontage – about 800 feet.
Maybe that’s just as well. It’s not like salt water is great for suits.
