Sammy Sosa, the famous retired Major League Baseball slugger, just closed on the $9.15 million off-market sale of his waterfront mansion in the exclusive Golden Beach neighborhood.
The deal, which closed Thursday, includes the 7,273-square-foot home at 667 Ocean Boulevard. Built in 1998, it has seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, one half-bath and occupies 24,900 square feet of beachfront turf.
Some of its features include a large master suite with its own terrace overlooking the ocean, a central courtyard with a fully stocked koi pond, plus a modern kitchen with industrial Miele appliances.
Sosa bought the two-story home three years ago for $7.6 million, or about $1,044 per square foot. But sources told The Real Deal that he never really used the home more than a handful of times, so he decided to sell – quickly.
Stuart Drossner of Drossner Realty, a boutique brokerage based out of Aventura, confirmed to TRD that the sale closed Thursday. He said he and Alexander Goldstein of Miles Goldstein Real Estate co-brokered the sale but declined to comment further. The deal has yet to clear county records. Robert Morales, an independent broker, told TRD that he represented Sosa for the sale.
The purchase price breaks down to $1,258 per square foot, an appreciation of about 20.5 percent over only three years, which means Sosa hit this one out of the park.
Sosa isn’t the only professional athlete to dabble in South Florida real estate. Earlier this month, retired Miami Dolphins player Jason Taylor put his Weston mansion on the market for $4.15 million. A number of NFL players like Asante Samuel live in Southwest Ranches, a luxury enclave in Broward County. And early last year, basketball star Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder sold his lush penthouse at 900 Biscayne in Miami for $3.15 million.