Waterfront Lake Geneva Mansion Sells for $12.7

A waterfront Lake Geneva mansion’s builders have moved on, notching another eight-figure sale in the ritzy Wisconsin vacation enclave frequented by wealthy Chicagoans.

The nearly 12,000-square-foot home at 906 South Lakeshore Drive in the town of Fontana sold for $12.7 million this month, down 8 percent from the asking price when it was first listed in October, according to public listing data.

The buyers are not yet identified in public records. Broker David Curry of Geneva Lakefront Realty represented both the sellers and the buyer, and did not return a request for comment Monday afternoon.

The sellers were trusts listed under the names of Katherine and Terrence Ryan, who bought the property in 2008 for $3.35 million, according to previous reports. They completed the six-bedroom, seven-bathroom Cape Cod-style home in 2011.

It’s the sixth sale for $9 million or more in the Lake Geneva area since June of last year, and Curry has brokered four of those deals. Most recently, Curry in November represented the seller of a $9.6 million property at N2270 Folly Lane, which also included an approximately 13 percent cut from its last asking price of nearly $11 million.

The Lake Geneva ultra-luxury market attained unprecedented momentum in recent months, especially following the 2022 record sale for $36 million of Richard Driehaus’ former estate to billionaire Chicago-area businessman J. Christopher Reyes and his wife, Anne.

In September, another waterfront Lake Geneva mansion changed hands in an off-market, $16.5 million deal also brokered by Curry. The biggest sale in Lake Geneva last year was pricier than Chicagoland’s, which topped at $12.5 million with a Winnetka mansion on Lake Michigan’s shoreline.

The Fontana estate’s sale thinned Lake Geneva’s high-end listings down to just one property publicly listed for sale for more than $5 million. It’s a seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom home at N1959 Solar Lane, spanning nearly 5,000 square feet and asking a little under $9.3 million. It’s represented by Tricia Forbeck of Compass.

The Fontana estate sold by Curry was listed at just under $14 million when it went on the market on Oct. 13, according to Curry and MLS data maintained by Zillow. The asking price dropped by $1.2 million before the final sale was made on Feb. 1.