There once was a time, before the real estate crash, before the credit crunch, and before the global economic meltdown, when Shaquille O'Neal figured he could sell his Star Island mansion for between $32 and $35 million. That was 2005, and this is now.
Joan Fleischman reported this morning that Shaq has finally sold the house after four long years, but didn't have a name of the buyer or a price. Now the South Beach Condos Blog is reporting that the deal went down for a mere $16 million. Not only is that $19 million less than the highest asking price, but also $2.8 million less than the $18.8 million Shaq bought the place for in 2004.
In 2007, Alex Rodriguez was rumored to be in negotiation to buy the spread for around $25 million, $10 million less than the original asking price. Then there were reports late last year some ne may scoop it up for $19 million. Eventually the asking price was lowered to $22.5 million, which apparently was still too high.
Still no word yet on the identity of the buyer.
Update: It's being reported that the buyer is none other than Russian billionaire Vladislav Doronin, better known in the west as the boyfriend of supermodel Naomi Campbell.
