Despite playing for Miami Heat for four years, LeBron James always had a home in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, and he’d return there every off-season.
But that wasn’t his only home. Being the best basketball player on the planet affords you the opportunity to have several massive homes in your real estate portfolio.
The man who calls himself “King James” lived quite large down on South Beach. James’ Miami home checked in at 12,178 square feet, replete with 6 bedrooms and 8.5 bathrooms.
But now that James has left Miami and returned home to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers again, he’s looking to leave Miami behind in more ways than one.
According to a report from the South Florida Business Journal, James has listed his Miami mansion for $17 million as he takes his talents back to Northern Ohio.
Per the South Florida Business Journal, James bought the home in 2010, paying $9 million for the lavish home that sits on Miami’s Biscayne Bay. If he gets the full asking price, he’ll make a tidy profit of $8 million.
Who said the market was depressed?
The home features a “custom concrete dock” that could house two (!) 60-foot yachts and sits on a lot of nearly 20,000 square feet.
According to the home’s listing on Zillow (where it’s currently listed as off market), the home also features “a soaring two-story foyer with sweeping staircase, onyx panels and an 8 ft. crystal chandelier.”
The home’s first floor features (and take a deep breath on this one):
A handcrafted, mahogany paneled library, living and dining rooms, bayfront Great Room with custom wet bar and Nana Wall wood-framed wall system that opens the Great Room to the terrace for a continuous indoor/outdoor space, a gourmet kitchen with mahogany cabinetry, two granite countertop islands, commercial-style Wolf gas range, three ovens, two Bosch dishwashers, two Sub-Zero refrigerators, breakfast area, custom-made wine cellar, magnificent laundry room with two washers and two steam-dry dryers, opulent powder room with gold leaf and Nacar Dorado on walls and fossil encrusted marble countertop, custom theater with all-leather seats, acoustical panels, private bar, bath and seating area.
The home's other two floors (yes, it’s three stories) feature a master suite with a covered terrace and its own private sundeck, plus his and hers master bathrooms.
The second floor has three bedrooms with “private terraces and balconies, decorator-designed bathrooms with gorgeous marbles, custom-made closets.”
The outside of the home is apparently just as spectacular as the inside of the home is. The grounds around the home feature “lush tropical gardens and natural coral stone decks,” plus a gigantic infinity pool that overlooks the bay.
It’s probably a safe bet to assume that LeBron’s Akron home isn’t quite as tropically luscious as his Miami manse, but as he said when he announced his return to Cleveland, his “relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball.”
He’s returning home to bring a championship to his hometown team and to help his community.
“I want kids in Northeast Ohio, like the hundreds of Akron third-graders I sponsor through my foundation, to realize that there’s no better place to grow up,” James said when he announced his return to Cleveland.
“Maybe some of them will come home after college and start a family or open a business. That would make me smile. Our community, which has struggled so much, needs all the talent it can get.”
So he returns home to Akron, where he won’t have a view of the Biscayne Bay, but he might have about $8 million more in his bank account.
Plus, if he wins a championship in Cleveland, they’ll probably let him build his own bay around his home.
A castle fit for a King.
