It can't be easy being Manny Ramirez (probably deservedly so). First, the one-time Red Sox star quits baseball so as to avoid a 100-game suspension over a second juicing allegation. Second, he's arrested in Florida on domestic violence charges. Third, old No. 24 loses a cool $3 million on a condo he's been trying to unload since he, Theo Epstein and Terry Francona bestrode these parts like gods on Earth.
The history, quickly:
· Ramirez first put the 4,500-square-foot penthouse in the Ritz-Carlton in Chinatown on the market in 2005 for $6.9 million, not an entirely unreasonable price given the spread's bona fides—4 bedrooms, six baths and a mural of Fenway Park in Manny Jr.'s room—and the frothiness (excuse us, strength) of the real estate market then.
· He took it off the market after it didn't sell.
· He put it back on in March 2009, right around the time he signed with the Dodgers, for $8.5 million.
· Price-chop followed price-chop.
· He closed on a sale to an LLC for not only $3 million under the last original asking but $300,000 less than what he paid for the condo in 2001.
In the end, though, Ramirez did hit a $5.5 million homer, making his closing one of the biggest by far this year in Boston. In fact, by our back-of-the-envelop calculations (and with a little help from our pals at Trulia), it appears that Ramirez' Ritz-Carlton sale is the most expensive condo deal in Boston since at least March. Finally, some good news (not baseball- or family-related but still...).
· Manny Ramirez Finally Unloads Ritzy Digs [Herald]