Wednesday, July 6, 2016 / by Mike Shoaff
Larry Bird's nest in Park Shore has $200K price cut
Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Bird's Naples house has been bouncing up and down since he first tried to sell it for $4.8 million in March 2006.
The 6,007-square-foot custom mansion didn't sell then and was withdrawn from the market.
Bird re-listed it for the same price a month after he became president of the Indiana Pacers in July 2013, according to Realtor.com.
He cut the price to $4.6 million in July 2014, then almost immediately re-listed it at $4.8 million, the national real estate listing side said.
But the Park Shore at 308 Neapolitan Way still had no takers, so in late June the price dropped back down to $4.6 million again, Realtor.com reported.
Although the basketball hoop that once graced its four-car garage is gone, the classically styled mansion still shows signs of its 6-foot-9-inch owner in the form of extra-high door frames and ceilings.
Bird's nest also has a 500-gallon saltwater aquarium, wood-paneled home theater, summer kitchen and chickee hut with a thatched roof overlooking a pool and boat dock on Venetian Bay.
The cream-colored home isn't in a gated community, but it does offer some privacy with an ornate gated driveway surrounded by tall hedges.
Bird's home is one of only five single-family houses listed in Park Shore that has a price tag over $4 million.
Sitting on a nearly half-acre lot, the house is appraised by the Collier County Appraisers office at $3.84 million.
Premier Sotheby's International Realty is listing the home. Barbi Lowe, an agent on the listing team, declined to comment.
Now 59 years old, Bird played 13 seasons for the Boston Celtics. He won the National Basketball Association's most valuable player award three times and was named an NBA All Star 12 times.
He retired from the team in 1992, and the next year he bought and subsequently sold a house at 310 Neapolitan Way in Naples.
In 1998 he bought 308 Neapolitan Way for $875,000 through a trust and tore down the existing house, building the current home in 2001.
Bird was head coach of the Pacers from 1997 to 2000, then joined their front office in 2003.