After Splurging $16 Million on a Shaquille O’Neal Mansion, American Billionaire Defies NBA Team Owner’s Miami Project

Bad neighbors? That’s what it seems. Two billionaires have reached their wits’ end with each other. Vlad Doronin, a billionaire property developer, bought a house in Miami from Shaquille O’Neal for $16 million in 2009. While O’Neal wanted to sell it for $35 million, he lowered the price after it remained unsold for three years. However, Vlad Doronin is unhappy with the construction happening across his house now. Why is that?

Doronin’s neighbor is Memphis Grizzlies’ chairman Robert Pera. Pera has built a mansion boasting a basketball arena and a jumbotron. As per DailyMail, the 28,000 square-foot, glass-fronted structure on Star Island is so huge that its video screen can be seen from half a mile away!

However, Pera took special permission from the city to make his plan come to fruition as his building structure went over the local limits. He hired a lobbyist so that the structure, which is roughly three times bigger that the initial one, could be approved. Now the latest addition to the property is a two-story high, 40-foot wide jumbotron. As per Miami Beach residents, the display has been switched on and off throughout the day and night and people aren’t happy with it.

Doronin’s attorney, Neisen Kasdin, shared that Pera’s property resembles a professional sports complex rather than a home. Further, he stated that the extra height would invade Doronin’s privacy. “We have made multiple attempts through the owner’s attorney … to contact and reach the owner to discuss what he’s seeking [to build] and see if there’s a way to mitigate or modify it,” Kasdin stated.

DailyMail conducted a survey of the property and spoke to construction workers. They confirmed that the property has a basketball court and rows of seats similar to bleachers. Further, there’s a tennis court, pool, boat dock and roof deck and a brightly lit atrium with giant solar panels installed on its roof.

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How Shaquille O’Neal struggled to sell the property!

O’Neal selling the property for $16 million didn’t just affect him. It is something that may have not thrilled his then neighbors, which included Rosie O’Donnell, Gloria Estefan, Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs and Lenny Kravitz. The luxury housing crunch meant their mansion’s values would also be affected. As reported by ‘The Read Deal’, real-estate experts had suggested how Star Island home prices were falling owing to demand and supply.

However, it was a good deal for Vladislav Doronin, Naomi Campbell’s ex-boyfriend. The supermodel met the Russian real estate developer in 2008. They dated for five years.

Star Island is a man-made island created by Carl Fisher in 1922. It consists of only 35 homes and is a very hyper-exclusive place that only a few can afford. No doubt, it took him time to sell the property. It was sold just a year after ‘Shaq’ was traded from Miami Heat post his fallout with head coach Pat Riley.

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