As trade rumors swirl around two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks star has picked up some commercial real estate in the backyard of the team he has been most closely linked to.
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Antetokounmpo paid $14.1M to acquire 111 Clarkson Ave., an eight-story, 28-unit apartment building in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn, according to a deed posted to the New York City register.
The building, dubbed The Lawrence, was developed in 2018, according to StreetEasy. All of the units in the building, which benefits from a 421-a tax abatement, are rent-regulated, according to PincusCo, which first reported the sale.
The nine-time All-Star signed as the buyer for The Original Lawrence 111 LLC, the entity that acquired the property from developers Seth Brown and Richard Ludwig. The deal went under contract in October, closed on Nov. 18 and was recorded with the city on Monday, according to property records.
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Antetokounmpo, who was born and raised in Athens and is nicknamed the “Greek Freak,” has played his whole career in Milwaukee since the Bucks drafted him in 2013. He was named most valuable player of the 2021 NBA Finals, when he led the franchise to its first championship in 50 years with a 50-point performance in the clinching game.
But the Bucks have failed to maintain that success despite Antetokounmpo's status as one of the world's four best players. This summer, he expressed an openness to being traded and identified one team as his preferred next employer, ESPN reported: the New York Knicks.
No deal has come to fruition, and the Knicks are among the favorites to reach the NBA Finals without him.
But Knicks fans hoping his first New York City property investment signals a future playing home games at Madison Square Garden might be disappointed.
Antetokounmpo, who turned 31 on Dec. 6, also last month paid $11.4M for an apartment building in the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood, local business news outlet BizTimes reported.
Bisnow sent inquiries to Antetokounmpo's agent, Alex Saratsis, and his investment firm, Build Your Legacy Ventures, and didn't receive an immediate response from either.
