Robert De Niro 'Homeless' After Apartment Fire

The blaze ripped through their home at 88 Central Park West in June, The New York Post reports. Caused by a lint buildup in a clothes dryer, the fire damaged every apartment on the fifth floor.

Since then the De Niros have decided to renovate their apartment; which a source told the Post could take two to three years to complete. The couple have not yet found a suitable place to live in the meanwhile.

Recently, the couple passed on the lease of a 64th-floor pad at the Park Imperial at 230 W. 56th St. that was on the market for $100,000 a month. A source told the Post that they decided not to go forward with the lease once they discovered the apartment belonged to fugitive software tycoon Jacob “Kobi” Alexander, who was fined millions of dollars after an SEC investigation and is now on the run in Namibia.

“There was an issue with misrepresentation of the apartment and they managed to get out of the lease. The apartment went back on the market two days ago,” the source said.

The editor of high-end Avenue magazine, Daisy Prince, reportedly overheard Hightower telling friends that she and De Niro are looking to rent a five-bedroom apartment, with no preference of one floor or duplex, but require “tons of closet space.”

According to Prince, Hightower admitted that it was easy to find five-bedroom apartments to buy but not to rent.