http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/16980459.htm
King James builds a castle of a home
LeBron's new Bath mansion will include studio, theater, bowling alley, casino
By Bob Dyer
Construction continues on a 35,440-square-foot home where Cavaliers star LeBron James will reside in Bath Township. An outer wall will feature a limestone sculpture – a bas-relief of James' head, wearing his trademark headband. The home should be complete in the summer of 2008.
Phil Masturzo, ABJ
Construction continues on a 35,440-square-foot home where Cavaliers star LeBron James will reside in Bath Township. An outer wall will feature a limestone sculpture – a bas-relief of James' head, wearing his trademark headband. The home should be complete in the summer of 2008.
More photos
The surprise is not that he's building a huge house -- What, you expected LeBron James to buy a bungalow on a land contract? -- but that 19 local families will be living within 800 feet of his bedroom window.
Most of those people are wondering why. They can't figure out why a guy who could easily afford hundreds of acres and complete privacy would build his dream house in the middle of their relatively modest Bath Township neighborhood.
They started wondering that in 2003, when LeBron paid $2.1 million for a house there. They really began scratching their heads two years later when he knocked it down to clear the way for something bigger and better.
Much bigger and much better.
According to the blueprints, LeBron's new home will encompass 35,440 square feet.
That's a tough number to wrap your mind around, because the township's next biggest house (formerly occupied by ex-Telxon boss Raymond Meyo) is a mere 13,914 square feet.
Let's put it this way: LeBron's home will be closer in size to the Montrose Best Buy, which is 45,000 square feet.
The basketball star's pad won't be finished until the summer of 2008 -- and no wonder. It will include a recording studio, a two-lane bowling alley, a casino, a 26- by 63-foot theater, a sports bar, an aquarium and a barbershop.
Yes, a barbershop. Says so right there on the prints. Lower level. Near the front. Next to the bowling alley.
A first-floor master suite, which includes a two-story walk-in closet, is about 40 feet wide and 56 feet long -- bigger than half the houses in Bath.
A place like this does not have a ``dining room.'' It has a dining hall (roughly 27 by 27). It not only has a ``great room'' (34 by 37), but a bigger, two-story ``grand room.''
The ``family foyer'' off the six-car garage -- near the elevator -- is inconsequential compared to the ``grand foyer'' inside the front entrance, complete with a sweeping, divided staircase leading up to four second-story bedrooms.
Outside, the west wall will feature a limestone sculpture -- a bas-relief of LeBron's head, wearing his trademark headband.
The exterior is contemporary, with varying roof lines and angles. Thanks to architect Robert J. Porter III, it doesn't look nearly as massive as you might expect.
Bath Zoning Inspector Bill Funk says the home didn't require a single zoning variance -- although a previous owner got special permission to raise the maximum see-through fence height to 8 feet.
Construction began in August. The house is under roof, but plenty remains to be done, including the exterior walls.
LeBron's place will not initially include two staples of the rich and famous: There's no indoor basketball court and no swimming pool, at least for now. Space has been saved for a large outdoor pool with a kiddie pool and a pool house. Another future addition: a mammoth garage.
LeBron's lot is an oddly shaped, 5.6-acre tract wedged among lots that average 2.3 acres and houses that average 3,209 square feet. His property is 300 feet wide at the street and 677 feet deep. About two-thirds of the way back, the width expands to 471 feet.
Happy with location
One of the cornerstones of wise home-buying is that you don't want the most expensive house on the street. But when your income hits nine figures and you're hanging with the likes of Warren Buffett, all the traditional rules go right out the window. You build exactly what you want, and you build it where you want it.
Clearly, LeBron is more concerned with another real estate axiom: location, location, location. He's within easy striking distance of his office (also known as Quicken Loans Arena) and on the outer fringe of his hometown.
``It lets me be close to my family and friends in the Akron area and continue to contribute to the community,'' he said through his agent.
The house is in the southern part of the township, not far from state Route 18. We're not going to provide a TripTik, because traffic already has been a major headache for the neighbors.
``People who come to photograph it are disrespectful,'' says Tom Bader, one of LeBron's nine immediate next-door neighbors. ``They park their car in the middle of the street -- with their doors open! And you're sitting behind them! All I wanna do is go home after a hard day's work.''
Sometimes Bader even has to wait to turn into his own driveway because gawkers have driven up into it, hoping for a better view of LeBron's place.
``As far as LeBron the man goes, I think he's an outstanding individual,'' says Bader, a graduate of James' alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.
``He's great for Cleveland. I'm proud to have him. I have no issues with LeBron James at all. The problem is the baggage that he unintentionally carries with him.''
Of course, living next door to one of the most popular athletes on the face of the planet is something plenty of people would love -- especially young ones.
``My children obviously think it's cool,'' says Bader, laughing. ``They can hardly wait to go over and play basketball with him.
``I said, `Honey, I don't think that's going to happen. Besides that, don't ever, ever invite LeBron over to our house to play ball because he's going to twist his ankle and I will have my house eternally egged.' ''
Another neighbor, who didn't want to be identified, said most of the residents, being typical Cleveland sports pessimists, figure LeBron eventually will leave for greener pastures, and they fear nobody else will be able to afford the place.
``Our concern is, if he leaves Cleveland, what is going to become of this home, this monument?'' she said. ``What would it become if it weren't going to be somebody's home?''
Well, when you're in LeBron's financial ballpark, you could keep it as a summer house.
In fact, he's already juggling multiple residences. While he waits for his palace to be finished, the best player in Cleveland Cavaliers history is splitting his time mainly between a huge apartment in downtown Cleveland and a relatively modest four-bedroom house in Medina County's Highland school district. He paid $580,000 for that one in June 2005.
And to think, only five years ago this guy was living with his mother in a two-bedroom flat at Spring Hill Apartments, a subsidized-housing complex next to the Akron Expressway.
King James builds a castle of a home
LeBron's new Bath mansion will include studio, theater, bowling alley, casino
By Bob Dyer
Construction continues on a 35,440-square-foot home where Cavaliers star LeBron James will reside in Bath Township. An outer wall will feature a limestone sculpture – a bas-relief of James' head, wearing his trademark headband. The home should be complete in the summer of 2008.
Phil Masturzo, ABJ
Construction continues on a 35,440-square-foot home where Cavaliers star LeBron James will reside in Bath Township. An outer wall will feature a limestone sculpture – a bas-relief of James' head, wearing his trademark headband. The home should be complete in the summer of 2008.
More photos
The surprise is not that he's building a huge house -- What, you expected LeBron James to buy a bungalow on a land contract? -- but that 19 local families will be living within 800 feet of his bedroom window.
Most of those people are wondering why. They can't figure out why a guy who could easily afford hundreds of acres and complete privacy would build his dream house in the middle of their relatively modest Bath Township neighborhood.
They started wondering that in 2003, when LeBron paid $2.1 million for a house there. They really began scratching their heads two years later when he knocked it down to clear the way for something bigger and better.
Much bigger and much better.
According to the blueprints, LeBron's new home will encompass 35,440 square feet.
That's a tough number to wrap your mind around, because the township's next biggest house (formerly occupied by ex-Telxon boss Raymond Meyo) is a mere 13,914 square feet.
Let's put it this way: LeBron's home will be closer in size to the Montrose Best Buy, which is 45,000 square feet.
The basketball star's pad won't be finished until the summer of 2008 -- and no wonder. It will include a recording studio, a two-lane bowling alley, a casino, a 26- by 63-foot theater, a sports bar, an aquarium and a barbershop.
Yes, a barbershop. Says so right there on the prints. Lower level. Near the front. Next to the bowling alley.
A first-floor master suite, which includes a two-story walk-in closet, is about 40 feet wide and 56 feet long -- bigger than half the houses in Bath.
A place like this does not have a ``dining room.'' It has a dining hall (roughly 27 by 27). It not only has a ``great room'' (34 by 37), but a bigger, two-story ``grand room.''
The ``family foyer'' off the six-car garage -- near the elevator -- is inconsequential compared to the ``grand foyer'' inside the front entrance, complete with a sweeping, divided staircase leading up to four second-story bedrooms.
Outside, the west wall will feature a limestone sculpture -- a bas-relief of LeBron's head, wearing his trademark headband.
The exterior is contemporary, with varying roof lines and angles. Thanks to architect Robert J. Porter III, it doesn't look nearly as massive as you might expect.
Bath Zoning Inspector Bill Funk says the home didn't require a single zoning variance -- although a previous owner got special permission to raise the maximum see-through fence height to 8 feet.
Construction began in August. The house is under roof, but plenty remains to be done, including the exterior walls.
LeBron's place will not initially include two staples of the rich and famous: There's no indoor basketball court and no swimming pool, at least for now. Space has been saved for a large outdoor pool with a kiddie pool and a pool house. Another future addition: a mammoth garage.
LeBron's lot is an oddly shaped, 5.6-acre tract wedged among lots that average 2.3 acres and houses that average 3,209 square feet. His property is 300 feet wide at the street and 677 feet deep. About two-thirds of the way back, the width expands to 471 feet.
Happy with location
One of the cornerstones of wise home-buying is that you don't want the most expensive house on the street. But when your income hits nine figures and you're hanging with the likes of Warren Buffett, all the traditional rules go right out the window. You build exactly what you want, and you build it where you want it.
Clearly, LeBron is more concerned with another real estate axiom: location, location, location. He's within easy striking distance of his office (also known as Quicken Loans Arena) and on the outer fringe of his hometown.
``It lets me be close to my family and friends in the Akron area and continue to contribute to the community,'' he said through his agent.
The house is in the southern part of the township, not far from state Route 18. We're not going to provide a TripTik, because traffic already has been a major headache for the neighbors.
``People who come to photograph it are disrespectful,'' says Tom Bader, one of LeBron's nine immediate next-door neighbors. ``They park their car in the middle of the street -- with their doors open! And you're sitting behind them! All I wanna do is go home after a hard day's work.''
Sometimes Bader even has to wait to turn into his own driveway because gawkers have driven up into it, hoping for a better view of LeBron's place.
``As far as LeBron the man goes, I think he's an outstanding individual,'' says Bader, a graduate of James' alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.
``He's great for Cleveland. I'm proud to have him. I have no issues with LeBron James at all. The problem is the baggage that he unintentionally carries with him.''
Of course, living next door to one of the most popular athletes on the face of the planet is something plenty of people would love -- especially young ones.
``My children obviously think it's cool,'' says Bader, laughing. ``They can hardly wait to go over and play basketball with him.
``I said, `Honey, I don't think that's going to happen. Besides that, don't ever, ever invite LeBron over to our house to play ball because he's going to twist his ankle and I will have my house eternally egged.' ''
Another neighbor, who didn't want to be identified, said most of the residents, being typical Cleveland sports pessimists, figure LeBron eventually will leave for greener pastures, and they fear nobody else will be able to afford the place.
``Our concern is, if he leaves Cleveland, what is going to become of this home, this monument?'' she said. ``What would it become if it weren't going to be somebody's home?''
Well, when you're in LeBron's financial ballpark, you could keep it as a summer house.
In fact, he's already juggling multiple residences. While he waits for his palace to be finished, the best player in Cleveland Cavaliers history is splitting his time mainly between a huge apartment in downtown Cleveland and a relatively modest four-bedroom house in Medina County's Highland school district. He paid $580,000 for that one in June 2005.
And to think, only five years ago this guy was living with his mother in a two-bedroom flat at Spring Hill Apartments, a subsidized-housing complex next to the Akron Expressway.
Bill Gates - 66,000 sq ft
Warren Buffet - 6,000 sq ft
According to Forbes. Although I saw Gate's mansion listed @ 48,000 sq ft elsewhere. He's probably done some expanding since it was first built, or else Forbes is exagerating.
My house is bigger than Warren Buffet's.
"He still resides in the 6,000-square-foot gray stucco home he bought in 1958 for $31,500." -- Forbes.com
LOL, yeah. I just came across a cool blog post on that subject:
Article: http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/...ndicator-if-he-buys-a-mansion-sell-the-stock/
The CEO housing indicator: If he buys a mansion, sell the stock!
This weekend's Wall Street Journal talks about one of the most interesting studies (originally reported in BusinessWeek) that I've come across in a long time:
David Yermack of New York University and Crocker Liu of Arizona State University studied 432 CEOs of S&P 500 companies at the end of 2004 and found that 12% of them lived in homes of at least 10,000 square feet or on at least 10 acres. In the subsequent year, the share prices of companies with megamansion CEOs lagged behind S&P 500 chief executives with smaller homes by 7%, on average .... The study also looked at the 23 CEOs in their sample who had bought houses after taking over the CEO job, and found that together the companies lagged behind the S&P by about 25% in the three years after the purchases. Still not convinced? CEO buyers of smaller homes, by comparison, beat the S&P average in that period by 22%.
Isn't this interesting? Here are a couple of the possible reasons for it:
- Executives take home the largest pay packages in years, where they sell a lot of stock or exercise a lot of options. Then, they use that money to buy a huge home. Insider selling is often used as an indicator of trouble at a company, so it wouldn't be surprising if the share prices lag in years after CEOs sell a lot of stock.
- Building an expensive home may be a sign that a once-driven executive is getting bored with work. And besides, who has time to manage things like cash flow and strategic vision when there's wallpaper to pick out, home theater packages to choose from, and a wine cellar to design? Being a CEO takes a lot of time and energy, and so does building a palace. Something's gotta give.
I wonder about other personal life indicators of CEO performance -- divorce, children, physical fitness levels, and so on. If divorce has a negative impact, True Religion Apparel (NASDAQ:TRLG) is one stock I would not want to own. One of the company's top designers, Kim Lubell left after divorcing her husband, Jefferey Lubell -- the company's CEO. And then there's the housing indicator: This summer, the couple spent over 11 million dollars to buy a 7,000 square foot "walled and gated Mediterranean-style villa reminiscent of a California mission but far more elegant ... on three acres overlooking the ocean."
With all the fighting over who gets the house, who's going to be running the company?
SRC: http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/...ndicator-if-he-buys-a-mansion-sell-the-stock/
