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NBA Retiree Calls Foul Over Deal

News Channel 8 file photo (2003)

News Channel 8’s Gayle Sierens, above with Matt Geiger, anchored a report on the former NBA player’s home when it was built in 2003.

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By JOSH POLTILOVE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 23, 2008

TAMPA - Former professional basketball player Matt Geiger is suing a Delaware-based company, saying it agreed to buy his Tarpon Springs property for $21 million but never followed through.

"It seemed the whole time like they were going to close, they were going to close," Geiger said.

In November, Geiger and Global Asset Holdings LLC entered into an agreement in a cash transaction for Geiger's property, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court Monday.

In December, Geiger was offered $15 million by another potential buyer. Global Asset Holdings, however, refused to release him from its contract, and the company's agent continued to assure Geiger it would close the sale, the lawsuit states.

Near the end of February, Global Asset Holdings said it didn't want to buy the property because of "market conditions in the real estate market across the country," according to the lawsuit.

Geiger still lives in the Tarpon Springs home but said he is looking for a more family-oriented place in the Tampa Bay area. He has a girlfriend and two young children.

"There'll be more design around the needs of my family now and my kids," he said. "When you have kids, it really focuses your life on them."

The sale price for the 28,000-square-foot estate at 3385 Old Keystone Road had been listed at $19.9 million. The facilities, built in 2003, include a swimming pool and spa, a guest house and private tennis courts. The home has three floors and includes a game room, cigar room, theater, sauna room, cabana room and library.

The home was to come furnished, according to the lawsuit. Its master bedroom, for example, had a council table, a sofa, a coffee table, four chairs, three end tables, a sofa bench and a bed. Its game room had two pool tables, three pub tables and 30 leather bar stools.

"It's kind of built for someone when I was in a different stage in my life," Geiger said.

A former basketball star at Clearwater's Countryside High School, Geiger played in the National Basketball Association from 1992 to 2002, averaging 9.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, according to NBA.com.

Global Asset Holdings could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Geiger said he recently lowered his home's price to $16.9 million.

At that cost, though, it comes unfurnished.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com.

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