Saturday, March 21, 2009

Derek Jeter is housebuilding like it's 1999

We may be living in the worst economic times since the Great Depression, but that apparently hasn't stopped at least one Yankee from doing some big spending.

According to the Tampa Tribune, Derek Jeter is building a Florida house just outside of Tampa that will be the biggest in Hillsborough County. Public records show the house will be 30,875 (!) square feet. Just buying the Davis Island land for the home's location cost $7.7 million.

To put the size of Jeter's new house in perspective, Oprah Winfrey's $50 million Montecito mansion (click here to see what that looks like) is "only" 23,000 square feet. Heck, Bill Gates' legendary home is 48,000 square feet, and Hearst Castle is around 60,000 square feet.

I think it's a little, well, tone-deaf to be building a monster of a house literally the size of a supermarket - and literally half the size of the 55,000 square foot White House - right now. Is Jeter, who is usually good at seeing how things will play out, not aware how out of touch such spending looks right now?

Some might say that "it's Derek's money, he can spend it however he likes." But imagine if, say, Alex Rodriguez or Manny Ramirez had a home planned like that. I think they'd be getting some - make that a lot - of grief for such an ostentatious plan.

At least Jeter won't have to run ads everywhere pushing luxurious - and unsold - "between the bases" seats for his new abode!

What do you think of Derek Jeter's big spending? Leave us a comment!

No comments:

Post a Comment