By Liana Grey
If it wasn’t enough that his team lost this year’s Super Bowl, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has taken flak for trading his Boston townhome for an eight-bedroom, $25 million mansion in Los Angeles with its own weight room and lagoon-style swimming pool.
Here in Giants territory, sports stars tend to settle for somewhat more down-to-earth digs.
In 2005, Giants quarterback Eli Manning purchased two condos totaling 3,000 s/f at Hudson Tea, a Toll Brothers development along the waterfront in Hoboken, New Jersey.
The home, which sold for a total of about $2.2 million, overlooks the Hudson River and has a number of automated features, including motorized shades, a remote-controlled audio system, and lights that can be adjusted electronically.
After the Giants won the 2008 Super Bowl, Hoboken’s City Hall considered naming a block near the development Eli Manning Drive and temporarily painting the street blue.
But for the most part, the quarterback has managed to keep a low profile in the neighborhood.
A resident of Hudson Tea told a local newspaper that Manning was “neighborly and down-to-earth.” In fact, the sports star had once invited her out for drinks at a local bar with some of his teammates.
Though Manning and his wife, Abby, have a young child, the family doesn’t appear ready to pack up for a suburban mansion anytime soon. About a year ago, the couple was rumored to have expanded their condo, purchasing a 735 s/f studio next door for $535,000.
Toll Brothers declined to comment on what drew Manning to the building, which once housed a Lipton Tea factory and was converted from rentals to condos in 2004. But it’s a fair guess that city views, customized finishes, a large fitness center, and a waterfront promenade played a role.
Privacy, too, may have been an appeal. The building has 24-hour doorman service, and is nestled in Hoboken’s northernmost corner, away from the busy blocks closer to the PATH station.
Manning isn’t the first sports star to move to New Jersey’s Gold Coast, which is a short drive from the Meadowlands Sports Complex and boasts stunning views of the Manhattan skyline and New York Harbor.
Yankees pitcher Rafael Soriano rented four adjacent apartments at Rivers Edge, a building within the Port Imperial community in Weehawken. The 236-unit development, built by Roseland Properties, has a heated outdoor pool, a spa with a waterfall, and a state-of-the-art fitness center. A number of units overlook the Hudson River and the towers of midtown.
For eight years, former Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey lived in a three-bedroom townhouse at Jacobs Ferry, a waterfront development in West New York, just north of Port Imperial. In August, Shockey sold the property for $1.8 million.
And following his seperation from Kim Kardashian, Kris Humphries of the New Jersey Nets returned home to 800-830 Madison, a low-rise luxury development on Madison Street near 8th Street in western Hoboken.
A 20-minute drive from the current Nets Arena in Newark, the development boasts a trellis-covered grill and fire pit, balconies, a pool with a hot tub, and that must-have amenity for professional athletes: a fully-equipped gym.
Still, tabloids reported that Kardashian was never a fan of Humphries’ abode. The reality star once complained on Facebook that the apartment resembled a college dorm; coincidentally, a handful of students from the nearby Stevens Institute of Technology live in the building.
Humpries is one of the few celebrities in Hudson County to stray from the waterfront. Though as luxurious as many of the developments along the river, 800-830 Madison is adjacent to a public housing project and overlooks a construction site near the Mile Square City’s border with Jersey City Heights.
It could be worse: Jeremy Lin, a rising basketball star who recently graduated from Harvard, crashed for several weeks on his brother’s couch while waiting to sign a contract with the Knicks, according to the New York Times. Lin’s brother, a dental student at New York University, lives in a one-bedroom apartment on the Lower East Side.
Some more-seasoned athletes choose to live in the lap of luxury when temporarily stationed in New York. Baron Davis of the Knicks is currenlty renting a three-bedroom apartment for $16,500 a month at MiMA, which boasts a basketball court, private Equinox gym, and even a treadmill for dogs.
“One MiMA Tower is a good fit for someone who might not be looking to acquire more [property], but who is looking to maintain a certain lifestyle,” Daria Salusbury, a senior vice president at Related, told Brokers Weekly earlier this month. “They don’t want to be encumbered by ownership. They might not know how long they will be in New York. They want to come in, and have hassle-free living.”
Though Davis is recovering from an elbow injury while living high up in One MiMA Tower, the collection of ultra-luxury units that begins on MiMA’s 51st floor, fellow sports pros have dropped by to take advantage of the building’s amenities space.
“Our basketball court fits NBA regulations,” Salusbury said. “We’ve had basketball players come here and play pickup games with their buddies.”
