Even for icons, not every parting shot will be iconic.
And so it was this week that Michael Jordan’s 56,000-square-foot mansion in suburban Chicago closed for $9.5 million—a third of what it was listed for when originally put up for sale a dozen years ago. The buyer has not yet been publicly revealed.
Accounting for inflation rates, Jordan will have made out with only 18% of the value he initially sought when he put the Highland Park, Ill., residence on the market in March 2012.
Crain’s Chicago Business was first to report news of the closing.
After its price was repeatedly slashed, the nine-bedroom, 19-bath home had most recently been listed for $14.9 million when it went finally under contract in mid-September. By then, Jordan had spent over $1.8 million in property taxes since putting it up for sale. He and his ex-wife Juanita Vanoy built the home during the mid-1990s, when Jordan was leading the Chicago Bulls to consecutive NBA titles. After the couple divorced in 2006, Jordan took full ownership of the property. In 2013, he decamped the midwest for $35 million mansion in the exclusive Bear’s Club gated golf community in Jupiter, Fla.
Earlier this year, a Jordan-controlled company called Bull & Bear LLC, paid $16.5 million to purchase another home in Bear’s Club. And this week, an entity called Jupiter Wheels, managed by Jordan’s financial adviser Curtis Polk, was reported to be behind the construction of a 125,000-square-foot home on Florida’s Treasure Coast.
Aside from his memory—and the iconic statue of him outside the United Center—the basketball Hall of Famer’s presence is all but frittered away from the Windy City. Later this month, Michael Jordan’s Steak House is set to close its second Chicago-area location in the western suburb of Oak Brook.
