Gold Coast Home Finds Buyer After Six Price Cuts

A buyer has decided to seize an opportunity presented by the owners of a Gold Coast mansion running out of patience.

The mansion in the 1400 block of historic Astor Street is finally under contract after four years of dancing between on and off the market and six price cuts from its initial listing, amounting to a 55 percent reduction.

After slicing the asking price to $4 million earlier this month, the 9,300-square-foot home appears to have found a buyer. The home, which was originally listed in 2018 for nearly $9 million, is now listed as under contract on public listing sites. The final sales price isn’t yet known, yet luxury sales in the city as of late have come in well below listing prices on many of the most expensive properties despite a strong volume of sales in the high-end segment of the market.

Despite the deal for the property and another sale for $7 million earlier this year in the historic Astor District, the Gold Coast’s home market in the Gold Coast has been stagnant in recent years. High-end deals in the neighborhood haven’t closed quickly, either, as illustrated by those two taking years of sitting on the market for the respective properties, as well as the fact that seven of the nine Gold Coast homes currently listed for $4 million or more have already sat on the market for more than 100 days. Only six homes have sold in that same range throughout 2022.

The home just sold at 1421 North Astor was built in 1892 and has seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, and was once the home of a Catholic Missionary Order. It’s unclear who the current owner is, as Cook County Property Records list the owner as a land title company.

The property is in a historic stretch of Astor in the Gold Coast, with homes designed during the 19th century by wealthy Chicagoans.

Katherine Malkin, a broker with Compass that is representing the listing, previously told The Real Deal the owners are very motivated and cut the price most recently because it’s been on the market for a long time.

It has been for sale since at least 2018, when it was listed for $8.95 million, according to the home’s public listing. Subsequent price cuts brought the home down to $5.25 million, and its most recent cut to $4 million occurred earlier this month.

The price cuts follow a similar pattern of another nearby home, which eventually sold in July for $7 million despite seeking $13.5 million when it was originally listed two years ago. That 10,000-square-foot Beaux-Arts style mansion at 15 West Burton Place was the first to sell in the Gold Coast for over $7 million since 2017.