Michael Jordan’s Highland Park estate once symbolized the retired shooting guard’s achievements as one of the greatest players in NBA history. But today, the home sits unoccupied on the real estate market with Jordan unwilling to lower the asking price or remove the customizations that made it uniquely his home.
“The person who buys the home is not buying it just to have a big house but is buying it really for bragging rights and for the legacy that Michael Jordan built with the property,” real estate agent Kofi Nartey told The Wall Street Journal.
Jordan, worth a reported $3.2 billion, placed the estate on the market in 2012 for $29 million. And despite several wealthy fans showing interest in the property, there have been no takers. The Highland Park estate is listed at $14.8 million, about a 50 percent difference from Jordan’s initial asking price.
Throughout the years, Jordan’s team has developed several strategies to entice buyers. Nartey, for instance, attempted to capitalize on Jordan’s popularity in China by creating a series of videos in English and Mandarin, even offering a free pair of Air Jordan sneakers in the hopes of sweetening the deal.
Yet no sales have come. Instead, the residence has become a tourist photo opportunity–with visitors posing in front of the entrance gate. Most recently, a TikTok video went viral sharing images of a flooded interior, heightening speculation into the estate and its long-standing placement on the real estate market.
Why Won’t The Property Sell?
Since being placed on the market in 2012, the residence has received several interested buyers but all deals have fallen through.
Investors were considering developing a museum dedicated to Michael Jordan or others who were contemplating a condominium complex, but in both instances, the deals fell through as a result of neighborhood zoning and lack of parking, according to Highland Park officials.
In addition, the estate’s location — several miles away from Lake Michigan — make it less than desirable for the asking price.
“Most people who are spending that kind of money in the Chicago area want to live on the lake,” Listing agent Katherine Malkin reported in The New York Post.
An Estate for the King of the NBA
In 1991, Jordan and his ex-wife, Juanita, purchased the seven-acre property with plans to build a home. Within three years, the couple had built a 56,000-square-foot mansion nestled behind an iron gate bearing Jordan’s uniform No. 23.
Throughout the estate are constant reminders of its owners — outside, the putting green sports flag included Jordan’s signature Nike silhouette, the basketball court bears the name of his children and the home movie theater has lights displaying his image.
When he divorced Juanita in 2006, Jordan gained full ownership of the property. His decision to sell came after his children from the marriage — Jeffrey, Marcus, and Jasmine — became adults and moved on.
At present, Jordan has paid roughly $1 million in taxes on the property. Despite Jordan’s insistence on not depersonalizing the property, Malkin is confident that the estate will one day sell, adding that he is “looking for a conventional, clean sale,” she said. “He doesn’t want someone there to sign a T-shirt. He’s willing to wait.”
