De Nysschen selling a piece of the high life

Johan de Nysschen has put a New Jersey townhouse that he renovated while running Cadillac on the market for $5.25 million so he can move to Tennessee for his new job as COO of Volkswagen brand's North American region.

The four-story, 6,000-square-foot property in Hoboken has a gym, sauna, indoor pool, 500-bottle wine wall, rooftop terrace, elevator, game room and four-car garage.

De Nysschen and his wife, a banking executive, spent about $2.5 million overhauling it, their listing agent told The Wall Street Journal. The couple paid $3.5 million for it in 2015, the year he moved Cadillac's headquarters from Detroit to just across the Hudson River in Manhattan. General Motors fired him in 2018 and has since moved the luxury brand back to Michigan.

The renovation, which included the addition of skylights, floating stairs and translucent glass walls, was partly influenced by de Nysschen's experience with automotive design. "Design is design," he told the Journal. "You begin to get a sense of muscle memory."

De Nysschen added a canopy and barbecue equipment to the terrace so he could grill in any weather conditions. "For South Africans, barbecue is like a religion," he said, telling the newspaper that visitors have complimented his steaks and lamb chops.

Volkswagen hired de Nysschen in 2019. He said he is relocating to Chattanooga "as a pragmatic business decision" because the pandemic has made commuting too difficult.