A Connecticut mansion once owned by boxing legend Mike Tyson and rapper 50 Cent is back on the market, and its price history tells a story on its own. The estate at 50 Poplar Hill Drive in Farmington spans about 51,800 square feet on 17.6 acres, and it has passed through some of the biggest names in sports and music since Tyson first bought it.
Tyson purchased the mansion in 1996 for about 3 million dollars, according to contemporary reporting cited by Fox News and TheGrio. At the time, it was already known as one of the largest private homes in the state, with a recording studio, an indoor pool, and a private nightclub that Tyson himself built and named Club TKO, after his own fighting style.
The mansion did not go straight from Tyson to 50 Cent
Most recent coverage simplifies the sale as Tyson handing the house directly to 50 Cent, but the original 2003 wire report by the Associated Press, along with a Yale Daily News report from the same year, shows one more step in between. Tyson signed the mansion over to his then wife, Monica Turner, for just a dollar as part of their 2002 divorce settlement. It was Turner, not Tyson, who sold the property to 50 Cent in September 2003 for 4.1 million dollars, per the AP and later confirmed by CBS News and Complex.
50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, moved into the house and made it his creative base for years. He recorded parts of his 2005 album The Massacre inside its studio, and he added his own touches, including a grotto, a theater, and an infinity pool, spending close to 6 million dollars on renovations, according to Forbes and AfroTech.
50 Cent sold the mansion at a steep loss in 2019
The house proved hard to sell. 50 Cent first listed it for 18.5 million dollars in 2007, and the price kept sliding over the next decade as buyers stayed away. He finally sold it in 2019 for just 2.9 million dollars, an 84 percent drop from his original asking price, as reported by the Wall Street Journal and TMZ. At the time, 50 Cent said the proceeds would go to his G-Unity Foundation, which supports low income communities.
The buyer was not named by the listing agent, but later reports, including one from the Wall Street Journal, identified them as Casey and Shera Askar, a Florida based couple who run a group of restaurants and franchises. The Askars have seven children and reportedly used the Connecticut estate as a summer and holiday retreat.
The mansion is now listed for 9.9 million dollars
The new owners spent more than 3 million dollars renovating the property, according to its current listing with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. The updated mansion now includes a casino room, a billiards room, a racquetball court, and a fitness center, along with the original nightclub, recording studio, and seven kitchens.
The current listing puts the property at 21 bedrooms and 40 bathrooms, a higher count than the 18 to 19 bedrooms mentioned in older press reports from the 50 Cent era. That gap likely reflects how the space has been reconfigured over three decades of ownership and renovation, rather than a change in the total footprint of the house.
With the recent upgrades, the estate is now back on the market for 9.9 million dollars, more than three times what its most recent owners paid for it in 2019. It remains one of the largest private homes in Connecticut, carrying the marks of every owner who has lived there, from Tyson's original nightclub to 50 Cent's recording studio to the Askars' more recent additions.
