Shaquille O'Neal

==Background==
* Also know as Shaq
* NBA player with the Miami Heat
* Plays center, 7-foot-1 inches tall
==Details==
: Source: Sports Business News e-mail for September 21, 2006
===Shaq begins $1 billion real estate venture===
Now he wants to be a force off the court, too. This was written by Sarah Talalay appeared in The South Florida Sun-Sentinel. On Tuesday, the 7-foot-1 NBA All-Star announced the formation of The O'Neal Group, a real estate company that plans to develop properties throughout the country.
The first project is a partnership with MDM Development, the developer of the $1 billion Metropolitan Miami, a three-tower complex with 1,100 condominiums, a hotel, and office and entertainment space in downtown Miami. The project, slated for completion in 2009, will include a Whole Foods market and one of O'Neal's signature 24 Hour Fitness/Shaq Ultra Sport clubs.
"Downtown is already gorgeous, we want to make it elaborate," O'Neal said after a news conference announcing the deal from inside the sales center of The Met project. "So we're going to have a Whole Foods inside, a 24 Hour Fitness inside ... this is not only a real estate deal, we want people to live how they want to live.".
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Luis Pulenta, principal of MDM Development, and Christopher Handy, executive vice president of The O'Neal Group, said O'Neal is investing in the project. O'Neal's eyes got wide and he nodded his head to indicate the investment is substantial. He has also agreed to purchase a Sky Loft in the project's third tower, Met3.
He said he does not plan to sell his $18 million home on Miami Beach's Star Island. Since entering the NBA with the Orlando Magic in 1992, O'Neal, 34, has amassed more than $50 million in real estate holdings, including strip malls, commercial properties and a nightclub, primarily in Florida, New Jersey, Texas and California. 
O'Neal