Ex-Chipotle CEO Steve Ells flips $35M townhouse for tasty profit

Real Estate

Talk about loaded! Burrito baron Steve Ells knows how to make a quick profit with fast food — and fast real estate. 

The founder and ex-CEO of Chipotle has sold his West Village crash pad for $35 million a mere eight months after buying it — for a $5 million profit in an off-market deal, according to property records, Gimme can report exclusively.

Everything about the deal was fast. Ells bought the 177-year-old redbrick townhouse, at 27 E. 11th St., for $29.5 million last October, as Gimme exclusively reported, within a week after first seeing it.

The five-story townhouse was the childhood home of the first female White House physician, Janet Travell, who was elected under president John F. Kennedy.

Ells shelled out the big bucks so he’d have temporary digs while waiting for the completion of his megamansion. Ellis bought two buildings for $32.5 million in 2014 and 2015 and has spent close to a decade combining them into his dream home.

The epic construction project captivated locals.

Ells had another pied-à-terre, a penthouse at 40 Fifth Ave., but he sold it last June to Eleven Madison Chef Daniel Humm for $14.5 million, $500,000 over ask, thinking his townhouse combo was about to be completed — until major storm damage changed his plans, as Gimme previous reported. 

While the mystery buyer bought the home through an LLC named Kaiaulu, which means “community neighborhood village” in Hawaiian. 

The 25-foot-wide, Greek Revival townhouse is 9,000 square feet and comes with seven bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, a sweeping circular staircase and its own elevator. It also boasts more than 2,000 square feet of outdoor space, from a garden to two terraces and a roof deck. 

The restored facade includes a wrought iron railing, stoop, balcony and historic gas lamp. Inside, the renovated smart-wired home comes with four wood burning fireplaces, three gas fireplaces, radiant heat floors, and a temperature controlled wine cellar.

There’s also lots of light from skylights and large windows along the home’s rear facade.

The home was part of an original group of four row houses built in the 1840s. This one was built in 1845 for Samuel Holmes, a dry goods merchant. 

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