These Professional Athletes Capitalized on Real Estate

While star athletes are paid well during the height of their careers, they still look for other ways to make a buck and compete. Many have found real estate to be the perfect opportunity to score new wins.

Here are some notable athletes who got in the game this year.

Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The boxer-turned-investor has never been shy when it comes to flaunting his wealth, which he’s putting to use in real estate. This week, he put up $100 million in equity to join forces with Go Partners on a luxury rental portfolio valued at $3 billion.

The pugilist also recently acquired a Black Spruce affordable housing portfolio consisting of 1,000 units in Morningside Heights for $402 million and invested in a $10 billion office portfolio of 18 assets owned by New York-based 601W Companies.

For good measure, Mayweather did something flashier, buying a large stake in the former Versace Mansion turned luxury boutique hotel Villa Casa Casuarina in Miami Beach. The former champion never lost a fight, but real estate can knock down even the savviest investors.

Manu Ginobili

Instead of his trademark Eurostep, former San Antonio Spurs star Manu Ginobili is stepping up to the line in Homestead with plans for a $337 million mixed-use project.

Teaming with other retired Argentinian athletes, including ex-soccer player Juan Sebastián Verón, the NBA Hall of Famer is looking to develop a complex with a 10,000-seat soccer stadium, 38,000-square-foot basketball facility, 200-bed student housing building, 5,000-square-foot sports medicine center, a hotel with up to 150 rooms and sports fields.

A majority of Miami-Dade County commissioners authorized the mayor to negotiate a lease agreement with the investment group.

Jonathan Vilma

Super Bowl winner Jonathan Vilma tackled receivers for the New York Jets and New Orleans Saints, but the linebacker decided to try tackling affordable housing this year. The former University of Miami star proposed a 102-unit project on a church site in Palm Beach County back in June.

Vilma partnered with the West Palm Beach Seventh Day Baptist Church to propose the apartment complex, as well as a new church building near Haverhill.

Mo Vaughn

Compared to some of the other jocks dabbling in real estate this year, Mo Vaughn is a seasoned vet. The founder of affordable housing firm Omni America partnered with Hyperion Group on a 147-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood.

Vaughn, a former MVP first baseman for the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets, co-founded Omni with Schneur in 2004.

Taj Gibson

Taj Gibson is hanging on to the twilight days of his NBA career, but the Brooklyn native is also turning back to his hometown. In July, the former New York Knicks forward — who is currently on the Charlotte Hornets — launched GFB Development and proposed a “transformational project” alongside Alloy Development on Nassau Street.

Tobias Harris

NBA basketball players Terry and Tobias Harris of Visionary Development Group want to build a 90-unit affordable housing complex in East Hollywood. Their firm filed plans for the seven-story building last month, which would replace a laundromat on the site.