The Bears Club, developed by the world’s greatest golfer, Jack Nicklaus, is now home to the world’s greatest basketball player, Michael Jordan.

The Bears Club was just a huge empty piece of land for years with a few cows and a lot of barbed wire owned by John D. McArthur until it was sold to Jack Nicklaus who had a dream for his ultimate golf course community. JN later split the parcel in 2 and developed the 2nd parcel into the Ritz Carlton of Jupiter.

While the Bears Club and The Ritz share the same stop light and first few hundred feet, the Ritz home owners drive straight and the Bears Club members and homeowners turn right into a magnificent, gated, stoned entry.

The caddies at the Ritz, when asked the difference between the two clubs, respond that the “Ritz homeowners are all millionaires, but the Bears Homeowners are billionaires”. While that may not be universally true at the Bears Club, they do have more than their share of ultra wealthy members.

MJ’s choice of a 3-acre homesite at the Bears Club is not all that unpredictable. His desire for privacy will certainly be well-served there, as entry to the Bears Club is well guarded.

His home has already been landscaped with a literal forest of trees, giving little or no glimpse of his mammoth 28,000 sq. ft. home, together with 3 separate structures; a guard house, guest house and pool house.

He paid $4.8m for the land and $7.6m for the construction, making this $12.4m mansion probably the most expensive non-waterfront home in the Palm Beaches. MJ’s total commitment when furnished will probably exceed $20m.

Jordan’s house has 11 bedrooms, 6 on the 2nd floor alone, a 2-story guard house, an athletic wing together with basketball court and lavish workout facility. It’s rumored his huge media room with state-of-the-art electronics is ‘cigar friendly’.

Photo Credit:  Jeff Lichtenstein with Abacoa Real Estate