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September 2, 2010 |
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| November 06, 2007 |
By: Paola Iuspa-Abbott |
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t looks like Miami Heat star Shaquille O’Neal has found a buyer for his Star Island mansion on Biscayne Bay.
The imposing NBA center has been trying to sell the 19,440-square-foot estate since January. Initially, he asked $35 million for the eight-bedroom house. But he reduced the price to $32 million in May, according to the Multiple Listing Service.
Unconfirmed reports place star Major League Baseball free agent Alex Rodriguez as the buyer.
This is the second time O’Neal has had the house on the market since paying $18.8 million for the waterfront estate in September 2004.
In mid-2005, O’Neal unsuccessfully looked for buyers for his posh home as he eyed a waterfront mansion in Fort Lauderdale. That didn’t materialize, and the home was off the market until early this year.
Esslinger Wooten Maxwell broker Kevin Tomlinson said he called Shaq’s real estate agent last week to make an appointment to show the house and was told the house was under contract.
“I didn’t get to show it,” he said. At least three other real estate insiders confirmed a pending contract.
Coldwell Banker broker Jill Eber, who represents O’Neal, declined to comment, citing a confidentially agreement. Eber and partner Jill Hertzberg are the listing agents together with O’Neal’s sister-in-law, Macoriah “Cori” Nelson of Coldwell Banker.
Nelson also declined to comment.
“I am unable to discuss the details of the deal,” she said.
Two brokers speaking on condition of anonymity said the contract is worth $25 million to $27 million. The assessed value of the house on 2.45 acres is $25.3 million, according to the Miami-Dade County property appraiser’s office.
The sales contract came to be almost two months after the 7-foot-1, 340-pound center filed for divorce from his wife, Shaunie. The couple has been married for five years. They have four children.
Brokers said “A-Rod” Rodriguez has been looking for a bigger home for at least two months. Shaq’s home is more than twice the size of the Coral Gables home occupied by Rodriguez, a former New York Yankee who became a free agent after he opted out of a $252 million contract at the end of the World Series.
Rodriguez is said to have started home shopping shortly before his agent, Scott Boras, announced the third baseman wanted to test free agency.
Rodriguez and his wife, Cynthia, paid $12 million for an 8,310-square-foot home at 181 E. Sunrise Ave. in December 2004. Their six-bedroom home is in Sunrise Harbor, a gated community east of U.S. 1 and south of Cocoplum.
Off the baseball diamond, Rodriguez is known for investing some of his fortune in real estate. He wrote the introduction to “Real Estate Riches: How To Become Rich Using Your Banker’s Money,” by real estate investor Dolf de Roos.
Rodriguez’s real estate agent Billy Bean said he has been helping his client look for a new home but couldn’t comment.
“He asked me to keep things quiet until something materializes,” said Bean, a former major leaguer.
Paola Iuspa-Abbott can be reached at piuspa@alm.com or at (305) 347-6657.
26 Star Island photo by A.M. Holt
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