Deal Estate - February 2010

02/25/10

A Onetime Wheaton Golf Getaway

List Price: $1.23 million
The Property: This 112-year-old home in Wheaton once served as a golf getaway for the Chicago engineer Charles Strobel, a pioneer in the development of the steel-frame skyscraper. Jarvis Hunt, who designed the house for Strobel and his first wife, Henrietta, was also the architect of the clubhouse at the nearby Chicago Golf Club, where Strobel was a founding member.

Posted at 10:02 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (6)

02/24/10

The Remains of the Heyday

In the wake of the bust that followed the glory days of the condo boom, a number of projects ground to a halt. One of the most striking is this unfinished structure at 2609 West Belmont Avenue, where gaping windows, rusting steel, and scattered construction materials give the impression of a six-story-tall ghost town.

Posted at 08:18 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (5)

02/22/10

Art of the Deal — Lincoln Park

List Price: $5.7 million
Sale Price: $4 million
The Property: This contemporary home, designed to accommodate an art collection, was on the market for more than three years before finally selling on February 12th. The new owners, it turns out, are also art collectors and had been looking for a showcase for their own growing collection. What’s more, the new...

Posted at 07:22 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (0)

02/18/10

A Graystone Revival in West Wrigleyville

List Price: $2.495 million
The Property: Just about all that remains of this 115-year-old graystone is its rusticated stone façade. From there back—and from there up—the developer Jody Libman and his company, Trianon, have crafted an entirely new, though historically sensitive home. “You can’t build something that looks like this anymore,” Libman says. “Look how it

Posted at 09:47 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (2)

02/17/10

Sportscaster Tom Waddle Buys House at Below Half Price

The former Chicago Bears wide receiver Tom Waddle, now a sports anchor at Fox Chicago, ESPN 1000, and other media, bought a new 12-room house in an estate section of Lake Forest on February 12th. The $3.25 million that Waddle and his wife, Cara, paid was just 48 percent of the $6.7 million that the home’s builder, Lynch Construction, initially asked for the place in October 2008.

Posted at 08:46 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (0)

02/15/10

A Park Ridge Turkey Finally Flies

List Price: $949,000
Sale Price: $857,500
The Property: The Park Ridge family who bought this new house that had stood unsold for nearly three years got the place for about half of what the builder had originally wanted. “There’s a lot that the builder put in that I don’t think he would have done if he’d known he would sell in the...

Posted at 08:57 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (0)

02/11/10

Oak Park Prairie House at Below 2006 Price

List Price: $749,000
The Property: This charming stucco Prairie-style house, built in 1906 in what is now Oak Park’s Ridgeland Historic District, has four bedrooms, many vintage details, and a rentable coach house, the income from which could defray the new owners’ mortgage expenses.

Posted at 11:30 AM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (0)

02/10/10

Orren Pickell Cuts Lot Prices; Meet the New Owner of Scott Turow’s House

This week, hoping to stimulate construction of new high-end homes, Orren Pickell Designers & Builders lopped 25 percent off the prices of its vacant lots in Lake Bluff, Bannockburn, Long Grove, and Highland Park. Also included in the markdown is the colossal 99-year-old Landsowne mansion in Lake Bluff.

Posted at 08:25 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (1)

02/08/10

All in the Crown Family — Winnetka

List Price: N/A Sale Price: $1 million
The Property: In December, Lester Crown, the 84-year-old patriarch of one of Chicago’s wealthiest families, sold his interest in a secluded Winnetka mansion to his son, Steven.

Posted at 07:22 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (0)

02/04/10

This Side of Paradise — St. Charles

List Price: $1.695 million
The Property: Back in 1984, when Pete and Barbara Rosi went looking for a tranquil country residence in Kane County, they fell in love with a hillside home outside St. Charles that had been built in 1932 as a getaway for a Chicago family. Situated 58 feet above its own private lake, and with tall oaks hanging overhead, the house was their ideal.

Posted at 12:32 PM in On the Market | Permalink | Comments (2)

02/03/10

Chicago’s Real-Estate Forecast

“Realtors cannot change economic reality,” insisted Genie Birch, a Koenig & Strey GMAC agent and the president of the Chicago Association of Realtors (CAR). Birch’s remarks opened CAR’s economic forecast panel for 2010, which met on January 28th at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza. Here are ten other things that Chicago real-estate agents heard from the panel:

Posted at 08:13 AM in Housing Bulletin | Permalink | Comments (1)

02/01/10

Blackhawks’ Troy Brouwer Buys in Roscoe Village

List Price: $699,000
Sale Price: $675,000
The Property: Troy Brouwer, who plays right wing for the Chicago Blackhawks, has bought a three-bedroom, four-bath condo in a new Roscoe Village condo building.

Posted at 07:18 AM in Sale of the Week | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 2010