Aug 10, 2009

Sale of the Week

NBA and Olympic Star Buys in River North

List Price: $1,699,000
Sale Price: $1,425,000
The Property: The Chicago native Dwyane Wade, a member of the NBA’s Miami Heat and the gold medal–winning 2008 U.S. Olympic basketball team, has bought a four-story riverfront townhouse in Kinzie Park.

Wade, whose unusual first-name was handed down from his father (it’s pronounced Dwayne), is a five-time member of the NBA’s All-Star Team. In 2006 he led the Heat to its first-ever NBA title and was named the MVP for the championship round. He played for Richards High School in Oak Lawn and Marquette University in Milwaukee, though he entered the 2003 NBA draft instead of finishing college.

Wade and his wife and high-school sweetheart, Siohvaughn Funches, have been locked in an acrimonious divorce fight since 2007. His mother, Jolinda Wade, is a former prison inmate who now has her own ministry, the Temple of Praise, in a building (at 12900 South Halsted Street) that her son bought for her.

The Kinzie Park townhouse is part of a development of former industrial parcels across the river from the East Bank Club that also includes high-rise condos. The townhouses have private yards fronting the river along a shared promenade. Wade bought a 3,900-square-foot unit with a two-car garage and a rooftop deck.

The property was on the market for almost a year, says the seller's agent, Harold Blum, and it sat vacant for a while. “But then we furnished it and we got two offers,” says Blum, who would not reveal whether Wade’s offer was the higher of the two. Wade closed on the sale in late June, but information on the deal only surfaced recently at the Cook County Recorder of Deeds. I could not reach Wade for comment.

Price Points: The seller, Richard Greenberg, had paid $849,500 for the unit in 2000, when it was new. His listing sheet says the townhouse had been remodeled recently, although it does not say how much was spent. Greenberg initially asked $1.799 million for this unit; two other riverfront units at Kinzie Park are on the market now, priced at $1.649 million and $1.799 million.

Listing Agent: Robert John Anderson and Harold Blum, both of Baird & Warner, 773-697-5555; Robert@robertjohnanderson.com and hbchicago@gmail.com

Posted at 07:35 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink

 Email  Print  del.icio.us  digg  yahoo!  Comments  Feed

Subscribe to Deal Estate : Deal Estate