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!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're absolutely right. You should go down to the job site and tell the workers that he hired that it's inappropriate so that they go home and sit on a couch all day rather than be employed.

While I agree that, had Manny or ARod done this, they'd be under a lot of fire, I also believe that Jeter is taking a big risk here by spending that much money during a depressed economy. He is providing jobs and hopefully spurring economic activity. In essence, while his project may be gaudy, he is using his 8 million dollars helping a lot of people.

Anonymous said...

Jeter earned it, he can spend it anyway he wants. I have no issue with that.

My question is why? Why this, why now and why this big?

Why does someone who is always so understated now decide to be beyond overstated?

Some say he has decided to settle down, get married and have a family. If I was his prospective spouse, I'd want a say in where and what I would be living in.

From an investment perspective, this is a big house on a small lot feet from the street in Tampa, Florida. A little different than Oprah's smaller house, on a much larger lot, set far away from the world and in Montecito, CA. Building something that big in that location is a bad business decision.

Anonymous said...

Yet another entry you can file under the "who cares?" heading.
In related news, I read that Arod paid $2.35/gal to fill up his $300,000 maybach, which he then drove to the movies, where he paid $9.75 to see Escape to Witch Mountain. And don't even get me started on what he paid for popcorn!!!

Can we please start talking about baseball now? this place is getting more and more dopey. Meaningless entries about irrelevant baloney.

While the squawkers used to be a fun place to discuss baseball related issues while at the Daily News, it has since become nonsensical drivel.

i know that it is my choice to come on the site and participate, nobody is making me continue to visit the site, but my hope is that the start of the actual season will prompt the writers to start focusing on why we are here in the first place.
km

Anonymous said...

Yeah man, it's no problem he's building the house. His salary is unaffected by the economic slow down. What is he supposed to pretend he got a paycut? And think of it as an economic stimulus for Tampa. I'm sure there are a lot of happy people thanks to him.

Anonymous said...

it's because people are hypocrites when it comes to the god and perfect derek jeter. the same derek jeter who got a pass from paying his new york city taxes when other hard working people have to pay them. jeter could rape a ten year old and get away with it. people think he piss is champagne and his poop is godiva chocolate. the way everyone praise and worship jeter is annoying. even one of his girlfriends the chick on friday night lights is a big time pothead who smokes weed with her cast members and some fans. for a man like jeter to talk against drugs he sure support those that use them. jeter says what people want to hear and pays others to keep quiet and his secrets. the man got away with a lawsuit for not paying his taxes and saying his home was never new york city. but no one gives him crap about it. had this been arod they would have torn him apart. jeter is just sneaky but fans would commit mass suicide if they found out mr. perfect jeter had skeletons in his closet like other human beings. it would not surprise me of he ordered a pope mobile to ride around the bases in the new stadium since he's the chosen golden one. people must have low self esteem to worship a this man and afraid that someone may actually expose his secrets one day. jeter is just sneaky and knows how to get away with things better than most. but he's no different from the other sneaky athletes, he just smiles and knows how to get away with it. they all have to sign privacy contracts when they go out with him and he's not about to date public anything but a celebrity because he thinks regular normal girls are not good enough to be in his presence. the same as his pals. only celebrity like michael jordan and tiger woods are good enough to run with the jeets. you normal fans are beneath him

Anonymous said...

Don't worry, one day all the secrets will come out about "golden boy" Jeter......should be very interesting to hear, don't you think?

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