Source: Orlando Sentinel
The Pinellas property appraiser valued the pro wrestler’s pad at $6.4 million last year.
Tom Zucco | St. Petersburg Times
Posted June 21, 2006
BELLEAIR — The House of Hogan is for sale.
Pro-wrestling legend/actor Terry Bollea, known to most of the world as Hulk Hogan, and his wife, Linda, put their country French-style Belleair mansion up for sale last month.
This isn’t just any run-of-the-mill mansion. The five-bedroom, eight-bath home is believed to be the most expensive home on the market on the west coast of Florida, and according to Forbes magazine it is the eighth-most-expensive home for sale in the South.
Where to begin?
The roof tiles are imported from France. The floors are center-cut oak that’s hand-carved in a basketweave pattern. The windows are handmade leaded glass. The kitchen has custom copper sinks, steel and hand-carved limestone countertops, and a fireplace, one of seven in the 17,000-square-foot house.
Outside, across the 2.3-acre grounds overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway and the Gulf of Mexico, is the guest house, the boat house, the pool and waterfall, the maid’s quarters, and the four-car garage.
Bollea and his family moved to Miami Beach about three weeks ago, said Coldwell Banker Realtor Marcia Ellis, who sold the original Belleair property to the Bolleas 14 years ago and listed their current home.
The family moved to a new $12 million bayfront estate on Miami Beach.
The reason for leaving, Ellis said, had nothing to do with the Bolleas’ running legal battle with neighbors and the town of Belleair over the menagerie the family kept, including a rooster named Lilly. After the family parted with all but six of the nearly two-dozen animals it kept, a court ruled last year that Terry Bollea did not violate town codes.
Ellis said the Bolleas moved to Miami so that the couple’s two children, Brooke, 18, and Nick, 15, can pursue music and acting careers.
Although the Pinellas County property appraiser stands to gain a sizable windfall when the Belleair home is sold — the house was assessed last year at about $6.4 million, and property taxes were $126,207 — the Tampa Bay area is losing a home-grown celebrity, at least full time.
But Bollea, who graduated from Robinson High in Tampa, still owns a 3,500-square-foot house on Clearwater Beach, and his mother lives in the area.
