Lakefront Glencoe Mansion Sold for $6.3 Million

A sizable discount did the trick once again to move a north suburban Chicago mansion on Lake Michigan’s shoreline.

The seller of the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom design spread across 6,100 square feet at 325 Shoreline Court in Glencoe fetched $6.25 million, down 22 percent from its initial listing price when it hit the market in November at $8 million.

Listing agent Jena Radnay of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate represented both the seller and the buyer, who hasn’t yet been identified in Cook County records. The seller was a trust that obscures the identity of its beneficiary in public records, and Radnay did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While it’s common for luxury Chicagoland listings to take steep price cuts — Radnay cut the Glencoe listing price by $1 million, or 13 percent, to just under $7 million before it finally sold well below that figure, as it contended with a dramatic slowdown in deal volume for high-end housing.

It was the eighth home sale in the Chicago area for $6 million or more this year. Meanwhile, home sales for $4 million or more — considered the six-county metro area’s ultra-luxury benchmark — tallied 36 this year as of the end of June, down 51 percent from the same time last year, when 73 homes had sold at or above that threshold.

However, 2023 is so far still outdoing 2020 and 2019, as 20 and 32 such transactions had occurred through the first six months of those years. The market for high-end homes could be heading back closer to the pre-pandemic average of 51.5 home sales at $4 million or more after a sudden boom sparked during the health crisis.

Helping to keep prices propped, however, is the scarcity of listings due to the number of sellers dwindling, as recent buyers in high-dollar deals settle into the homes they absorbed at record pace during the pandemic. That gives sellers with current listings some pricing power to get closer to their ideal return from a buyer drawn into Chicagoland facing fewer options.

The Glencoe home was also much less expensive compared to some other high-end homes in the ritzy North Shore suburb, even with 130 feet of Lake Michigan frontage. The most expensive listing in the town currently on the market is the lakefront mansion at 595 Longwood Avenue, where the seller is seeking $11.9 million, reduced from $14 million when it hit the market last year.
Separately, the 1930s-era Glencoe mansion built for the former Pabst Brewing Company president and chairman Harris Perlstein at 443 Sheridan Road had its price chopped to $12 million early this year, down from $18 million when it first tested the market in early 2021. The listing was removed from the market again in April without a deal being made, according to public listing sites.