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I'm a business journalist and a fiction author. My novels "Mute" - "Silence the Living" and "Famous After Death" are available now from Silver Leaf Books.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Check out LeBron James' house

King James has his castle in Miami. A story by Oscar Pedro Musibay and yours truly was the first mainstream media mention of Miami Heat superstar LeBron James buying a mansion in Miami. The story is here if you care to dig in:

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2010/12/08/lebron-james-buys-miami-mansion.html


How opulent is the castle of #6? A scan of the Realtor listings when it was for sale provides some stunning glimpses. The house had six bedrooms and 8.5 bathrooms in 12,178 square feet. The three-floor home has an infinity pool leading to Biscayne Bay along with a coral rock bar and cascading waterfalls. The master suite – one might call it the King’s throne room – has a balcony with a view of the bay. The master bathroom has a freestanding Victoria Albert Napoli tub. The home has a gourmet kitchen looks suitable for a team of chefs. It has a theater room with elevated leather seating and a wine cellar.

When James wants to invite some friends over, he has a private balconied guest house for them. To keep out prying eyes, the home is gated and has an advanced security system.
 
The home was first built on the site in 1924, but it was torn down and built from the ground up in 2010.

It was originally listed at $11.9 million, but James got them to come down to $9 million. Still, he paid $739 per square foot of living area. Few homes in South Florida sell in that range anymore. Being on Biscayne Bay and having decked out amenities sure helped boost the value. Zillow.com estimated the home’s value at just over $5.1 million.
  
It must put a smile on the faces of his new neighbors because this deal could boost their property values. When the property gets reappraised by Miami-Dade County, the tax bill will probably be enough to employ a whole station of firefighters.

Now where in the house will James display his MVP trophies? Hopefully he'll save space for some NBA championships.