By Jeff Lichtenstein from jeffrealty.com

The Bears Club, developed by the world’s greatest golfer, Jack Nicklaus, is now home to the world’s greatest basketball player, Michael Jordan.  The Bears Club was just a huge empty piece of land for years with a few cows and a lot of barbed wire owned by John D. McArthur until it was sold to Jack Nicklaus who had a dream for his ultimate golf course community. JN later split the parcel in 2 and developed the 2nd parcel into the Ritz Carlton of Jupiter.

Michael Jordans New Home

The caddies at the Ritz, when asked the difference between the two clubs, respond that the “Ritz homeowners are all millionaires, but the Bears Homeowners are billionaires”. While that may not be universally true at the Bears Club, they do have more than their share of ultra wealthy members.

MJ’s choice of a 3-acre homesite at the Bears Club is not all that unpredictable. His desire for privacy will certainly be well-served there, as entry to the Bears Club is well guarded.  His home has already been landscaped with a literal forest of trees, giving little or no glimpse of his mammoth 28,000 sq. ft. home, together with 3 separate structures; a guard house, guest house and pool house.

The Bears Club Golf Course Clubhouse

He paid $4.8m for the land and $7.6m for the construction, making this $12.4m mansion probably the most expensive non-waterfront home in the Palm Beaches. MJ’s total commitment when furnished will probably exceed $20m.  Jordan’s house has 11 bedrooms, 6 on the 2nd floor alone, a 2-story guard house, an athletic wing together with basketball court and lavish workout facility. It’s rumored his huge media room with state-of-the-art electronics is ‘cigar friendly’.

The Bears Club is already being used extensively by MJ. His usual routine is to play golf from sunrise to sunset. His handicap varies from 3-7, dependent on the difficulty of the golf course and whether he is spraying his drives.

While MJ loves cigars and gambling, it’s rumored he’s tamed the latter in deference to Jack Nicklaus’ wishes to ‘tone it down’.

The Bears Club has 55 estate residences, with starter estate homes beginning at $4-5 million and the largest homes being priced just under $20m. Besides the estate residences, they have 3 other categories, Golf Villas, 14 Club Cottages, and 13 Vintage Estate Homes.

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About Jeff Lichtenstein:

Jeff Lichtenstein has sold 400+ homes since 2001 in Jupiter, Jupiter Island, Palm Beach Gardens & Palm Beach, Florida - among the most expensive zipcodes in the US - home to the likes of Donald Trump, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Celine Dion & Bill Gates.  Jeff can be contacted directly at 561-346-8383 or jeff@JeffRealty.com .  His personal website showing all the happenings in the Palm Beaches is www.JeffRealty.com