How art mogul Louise Blouin lost her legendary Hamptons property
The last time Blouin spoke to Vanity fair for this story, she wanted to highlight the points she emailed, texted and called about. “I don’t pay. When you’re the president and CEO of a global company, you don’t pay,” she said over Zoom. And then, a few breaths later, “I paid everyone, they stole the money on the other side”.
Several former employees were interviewed by FOR EXAMPLE also believes there were some irregularities, but not to the extent that Blouin alleges. Others say their way of doing things is the norm. Blouin announced that the Manhattan district attorney had opened an investigation; The DA declined to comment.
As for the house, “she has seller’s remorse,” said John Allerding, an attorney with Bay Point Advisors, Blouin’s ultimate lender. If there were a minimum reserve bid, “we would have no bidders and we would be in the same position as when we entered in September 2022: two assets no one wanted, creating costs.”
The Justice Department is conducting an investigation into federal deductions from Blouin employees’ paychecks that were never sent to the government. Blouin has filed a complaint with the government. When reached by VF, an IRS investigator and an IRS spokesperson declined to comment. From Europe, Blouin said VF The company allocated money to pay the withholding but the money was never remitted to the federal government. She said she had nothing to do with any “scam” because she did not run her own company, and she welcomed the IRS investigation. “The truth will eventually come out,” she said.
“New York City ate me up,” Blouin said in another call, with a laugh. “I was unlucky in New York.”
The comes home Gin Lane is a long way from Dorval, the Montreal suburb where Blouin grew up in comfort, one of six children. Her parents run an insurance brokerage company. She attended private school and rowed competitively. According to Toronto Star, She traces her heritage from her mother’s side to Jacques Viger, the first mayor of Montreal, elected in 1833. Blouin attended McGill University but never graduated. She annulled her first marriage to David Stewart, an RJR-Macdonald tobacco heir. In 1987, Blouin married MacBain. A Rhodes scholar and the son of a Liberal member of parliament, MacBain was a rising star at Power Corporation, the company owned by the family of Blouin’s brother-in-law, Paul Desmarais Jr., from whom from one of Canada’s wealthiest families. As the MacBains’ business grew, the couple moved to Europe and summered at La Dune, where they enjoyed family life with their three children and threw lavish parties. But some thought MacBain did not share Blouin’s social ambitions and the pair grew apart.
Two years after buying La Dune, in 2000, the marriage ended but the parties continued. Calvin Klein, Ross Bleckner and Bianca Jagger were among the many guests. Blouin sold her shares in the business to her ex-husband for a reported $200 million. The men she dates in this new chapter—including Simon de Pury, the “Mick Jagger of auctioneers,” and Prince Andrew—are also attracted to La Dune.
For years, La Dune was Blouin’s calling card, luring stars and their hangers-on through its oceanfront doors. But over time, it became a liability. By 2018, the $26 million mortgage required additional lenders. In 2023, the complex was both under bankruptcy protection and up for sale for a staggering $150 million. It was also renting for millions. “If she could get a $2 million or $3 million tenant for the summer, which is possible, she could pay off the loan,” a broker who has worked with Blouin told VF.
Those who passed through this complex in its final months on the market said VF that it had great bones, but there was something tragic about it. A banker who attended a lunch prepared by Blouin’s personal chef on the terrace overlooking the ocean last summer ultimately turned down her request for a refinance.
“When people live beyond their means using assets they have or have inherited to withstand the water, it usually doesn’t end well. No one thought it was worth $150 million. It’s like the Gray Garden with faded seascape photos by Hiroshi Sugimoto on the walls,” he said. He noted that such grand old houses “really get knocked down by the ocean.”
Finally, on a cold winter night in January of this year, Blouin lost La Dune in a live foreclosure auction that lasted a little over five hours, at Sotheby’s New York office on the Upper East Side. The auction was the first time Sotheby’s auctioned real estate had ever been auctioned live alongside the artwork, in a collection called “Visions of America.”
“This is going to be a series on Netflix,” one potential buyer whispered, referring to all these dramatic developments.
“I’m surprised she kept the house this long,” a former La Dune worker told me. “Her ex-husband, John, was easy to deal with, but she didn’t spend enough money on maintenance. She reminded me of Nick Nolte in Get down and get out in Beverly Hills.”
The complex eventually sold for $88.48 million, including broker commissions. It sounds like a lot, but the amount is much less than the debt on the property, according to Bay Point Advisors. Blouin spoke out against the sale without legal representation in Central Islip bankruptcy court in February. She is currently debating how to allocate the money from the sale of La Dune. Court-ordered mediation with Bay Point will take place this summer. If unsuccessful, both sides will return to court at the end of July, after this story is published. She also debated whether she owed Bay Point money. Blouin closed her art publishing empire long ago, although she says she is building an online archive. She also sold much of her prized real estate, including the penthouse duplex at 165 Charles Street designed by her friend, Richard Meier.
Two women who worked for Blouin and sued Louise Blouin Media Inc. and the company’s owner, Louise Blouin, for money owed say they are still waiting to be paid in full, despite the settlement. But Blouin’s fighting spirit—and apparently her lifestyle—lives on.
