Inside LeBron James’s $70 Million Property Portfolio By Abby Montanez

James’s first major real estate purchase came not long after the Cleveland Cavaliers made him the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NBA draft. At 18, he reportedly paid $2.1 million for a property in Bath Township, just northwest of Akron, then tore down the existing house and built a custom mansion. The roughly 30,000-square-foot estate sits on about seven acres and has six bedrooms, eight full bathrooms, and six half-bathrooms. It also has a two-lane bowling alley, recording studio, home theater, aquarium, sports bar, and full barbershop. The primary suite comes with a two-story walk-in closet.

James expanded the property a few years later, paying $425,000 in 2006 for an adjacent parcel with a five-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom house. In 2012, an LLC linked to James bought another Akron home for $220,000. The roughly three-bedroom house, about a quarter-mile from the main estate, was reportedly intended for his mother, Gloria. James has kept his Akron properties through his moves to Miami and Los Angeles, with the main estate now estimated to be worth about $9.2 million.

When James joined the Heat in 2010, he picked up a waterfront home in Miami’s Coconut Grove area. He paid $9 million for the custom-built mansion, a steep discount from its $11.9 million asking price. The nearly 16,000-square-foot house has six bedrooms and plenty of room for relaxing and entertaining, including an eight-seat theater, wine cellar, billiards and poker rooms, along with a pool with a swim-up bar and multicolored LED lighting. The primary suite opens onto a private waterfront balcony, while a separate guesthouse sits above a three-car garage and the private dock accommodates two 60-foot boats.

James lived there throughout his four seasons with the Heat, during which he won two NBA championships and two MVP awards. After returning to Cleveland in 2014, he listed the house for $17 million and later cut the asking price to $15 million. It sold in August 2015 for $13.4 million, a substantial return on his investment.

James bought his first home in Los Angeles in 2015, paying $21 million for a 9,440-square-foot Colonial-style house in the Brentwood area, records show. The six-bedroom, eight-bathroom mansion has a double-height foyer, a wood-paneled office, and a home gym, while the outdoor spaces offer multiple patios and an infinity-edge pool that stretches nearly the width of the house. Naturally, there was also a basketball court.

James kept the property through his return to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014 and their 2016 championship season before putting it on the market in early 2021 for $20.5 million, selling it later in the year for $19.6 million.

Two years after buying his first Brentwood house, James supersized. Records show he paid roughly $23.5 million for a newly built spec mansion in late 2017, shortly before signing with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018.

At nearly 16,000 square feet, the contemporary estate has eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. The house also has a 1,500-bottle wine cellar, theater, cigar room with air-purifying technology, onyx bar, and elevator. An indoor-outdoor gym connects to a spa with a steam room, shower, sauna, and massage room, while marble-lined covered patios lead to a rooftop terrace.

In September 2020, James paid about $36.75 million for a 2.5-acre Beverly Hills estate that had been listed for $39 million. The roughly 13,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style property is steeped in Hollywood history. Built in the 1930s, it was once owned by actor Charles Boyer; Howard Hughes later acquired the property and reportedly leased it to Katharine Hepburn. It was eventually owned by Lee Phillip Bell and William J. Bell, the creators of The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful.

The original compound had a four-bedroom main house, two detached guesthouses, a screening room, a lighted tennis court, a pool house, and an oval swimming pool. James, however, had bigger plans for the property. In June 2023, he demolished the existing structures and began building a new compound from the ground up.

Plans call for two separate residences with a shared driveway and motor court, a guard-gated entrance, and 10-foot security fencing. The main house will span roughly 16,000 square feet over two stories, with a 7,700-square-foot basement garage, pool and spa, outdoor kitchen, and solar panels. A second, 6,550-square-foot single-story residence will include a basement theater, expansive terrace, hot and cold plunge pools, and a palm-filled courtyard.

James returned to South Florida in October 2022, reportedly paying $9 million for a condo at Estates at Acqualina in Sunny Isles Beach, just north of Miami Beach. The Trump Group, the developer behind the project, sold the Collins Avenue unit to a company managed by James and linked to his Akron-based LeBron James Family Foundation. The unit is one of 154 within the development’s 49-story south tower.

Not much is publicly known about the specific unit, but the building itself is decidedly over-the-top. The residential lobbies were designed by the late Karl Lagerfeld and a 45,000-square-foot amenities villa includes an ice-skating rink, bowling alley, and movie theater.