A 19th century Gold Coast mansion sold for $6.6 million, the latest in what’s been a healthy market for luxury home sales this year.
The seller of the mansion at 1523 North Dearborn Parkway was a legal entity connected to John Simpson, a partner in Chicago-based Broadhaven Capital Partners. The buyers were Chicago aircraft leasing executives Brian Hollnagel and Victoria Ricks Hollnagel, according to Crain’s.
Simpson bought the now-132-year-old house in 2011 for $5.3 million, according to Cook County records. Listing agent Mary Bennett of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff Realty Group said Simpson then gutted the interior and renovated it.
Archived listings online show the house has six bedrooms, five full baths and a four-car garage. Simpson first listed it for sale in May 2015 at $7.98 million, then increased the price to $8.2 million the next year. By mid-2017, the price was back down to $7.9 million.
While the sale closed in June, the Hollnagels actually took ownership a year ago under a deal to delay the recording of the transfer of ownership with the county until last month.
The Chicago area has seen a surge in pricey home sales this year. A stripped-to-the-wires penthouse at the Ritz-Carlton Residences on Michigan Avenue sold for $8 million in June, the seventh Chicago-area deal this year to reach that number.
JDL Development’s 9 West Walton condo building has dominated the list of most expensive home sales recently, led by billionaire Ken Griffin’s record-shattering $59 million purchase of a four-story penthouse atop the building in April.
Overall, Chicago lags far behind its big-city counterparts in terms of $1 million-plus home sales, standing 18th nationwide of the top 50 largest cities, according to a recent report.
The mansion bought by the Hollnagels was rented by billionaire J.B. Pritzker and his wife, M.K. Pritzker about a decade ago, while they rehabbed their Gold Coast mansion on Astor Street, which they bought in 2007 for $14.5 million.
J.B. Pritzker is the Democratic nominee for governor in the November election. He is the cousin of Col. Jennifer Pritzker, an active Chicago real estate investor through her Tawani Enterprises. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien