Major League Baseball’s highest-paid player is doubling down on South Florida real estate.
More than a year after signing a record-breaking $43 million-a-year contract with the New York Mets, ace pitcher Max Scherzer is in contract to buy a waterfront estate in Jupiter near his current home.
Scherzer is buying a corner property on Commodore Drive that is on the market for nearly $18 million, sources told The Real Deal. Scherzer and his wife, Erica, own a waterfront mansion on the same street, which they acquired in 2020 for $9.8 million.
Records show longtime newspaper publisher Robert Smylie is selling the 0.7-acre property to Scherzer. Smylie paid $2.9 million for the home in 1999. The 7,220-square-foot, five-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom house was built in 1990. The lot has 325 feet of water frontage.
The home hit the market in November with Lori Schacter of Illustrated Properties. Schacter declined to comment. Holly Meyer Lucas of Compass is representing the Scherzers.
The deal is expected to close at the end of the month. It went into contract in early February, according to the Multiple Listing Service.
The Jupiter listing describes the property as a teardown opportunity. “Customize this home or make your new dream construction,” the listing reads.
The Hall of Fame-bound pitcher does in fact plan to knock the house down and build a new mansion, sources told TRD. Meyer Lucas confirmed that her clients plan to list their existing home for sale with her, and could sell it within a year, while their new house is being built. She declined to provide an asking price for the Scherzers’ existing home.
Late last year, Scherzer also paid $5 million for a home on New York’s Long Island. He signed a three-year, $130 million contract in November 2021, ESPN reported at the time.
Private club communities in northern Palm Beach County have benefited from the pandemic-era boom, resulting in long wait lists at many clubs. Scherzer’s properties are part of Admiral’s Cove. That includes the nearby Admiral’s Cove Premier Club, which has golf, tennis, restaurants, a marina and a yacht club.
High-end home sales slowed over the past year. In the fourth quarter, luxury home sales fell 21 percent in Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens, according to Douglas Elliman’s reports. Still, the market hasn’t come to a complete standstill.
Last week, Patrick Park, an heir to the Park Corporation fortune and a longtime friend of Donald Trump, sold his Jupiter estate for $19.8 million. Park and his wife, Milly, sold the mansion at 136 Bears Club Drive to a hidden buyer.
In February, a former beauty queen and her beverage mogul husband sold their newly completed waterfront Admirals Cove mansion for $9.9 million.