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Hulk Hogan downsizes into $3.3 million mansion on tony stretch of Clearwater Beach

 
Ex-wrestler Hulk Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, has bought a mansion at 1040 Eldorado Ave. on Clearwater Beach.
Ex-wrestler Hulk Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, has bought a mansion at 1040 Eldorado Ave. on Clearwater Beach.
Published May 8, 2012

CLEARWATER — In the larger-than-life world of celebrity, consider this a downsize: Hulk Hogan has bought a mansion a third the size of his last estate.

The ex-wrestler, whose real name is Terry Bollea, sold his sweeping Belleair manor last month for $6.2 million, nearly $19 million below its initial asking price.

A week later, property records show, Bollea and his new wife, Jennifer, bought a 5,000-square-foot home 5 miles away on north Clearwater Beach. Purchase price: $3.3 million.

Bollea's 17,000-square-foot Belleair estate spanned 1.5 acres along the Intracoastal Waterway, with five bedrooms, eight full bathrooms, gym, tanning salon, hot tub, wet bar and a pool with waterfalls. The reality show Hogan Knows Best was shot there.

Though much smaller, the Bolleas' newest home at 1040 Eldorado Ave. still boasts an elevator, fireplace, pool and two spas. The home, built in 2009, looks out on an open expanse of secluded gulf beachfront.

Just south of the Carlouel Yacht Club and the gated millionaire enclave of Mandalay Point, the Bolleas' new neighbors may include Spanx founder Sara Blakely, a Clearwater native and billionaire, who recently bought $8.8 million of undeveloped land less than half a mile away.

The Bolleas bought their home from Jack Staples, a retired business executive who once owned the Maximo Marina, speedboat builder Donzi Marine and more than a dozen Mercedes cars. Staples and his wife, Judie, bought the home for $3 million in late 2010. Bollea and his ex-wife, Linda, once owned another home on Eldorado Avenue a mile south of Hulk's new digs. But in 2010, a year after their divorce, Linda Bollea sold the house, pocketing $1.65 million.

Contact Drew Harwell at (727) 445-4170 or dharwell@tampabay.com. Send letters to the editor at tampabay.com/letters.