Suburban Chicago Mansion Lists for $11M Amid Luxury Hot Streak

A lakefront mansion in Glencoe is positioned to become the highest residential sale in the North Shore suburb in over five years if it finds a buyer near the $11 million asking price.

Dennis and Jane Carlton have put their 5,550-square-foot mansion at 21 Lakewood Drive on the market for $10.9 million, or $1,960 per square foot, Crain’s reported. The listing is being managed by Annette Blumberg of real estate firm Baird & Warner.

Built in the early 1960s, the two-story mansion sits on over 2 acres with unobstructed views of Lake Michigan. The home was rebuilt by architect Tony Grunsfeld In the early 2000s to give it a modern aesthetic. Grunsfeld, who died in 2011, was known for his minimalist yet dramatic designs, a style reflected in the Carlton home.

The five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home features soaring ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows. The second level includes an office, billiard room, exercise room and an artist’s studio. It also has a pool and a 3-car garage.

Dennis Carlton is an emeritus professor of economics at the University of Chicago. He didn’t comment on the sale, but records indicate the couple has moved to Bethesda, Maryland.

Glencoe has seen a handful of high-end sales in recent years, though few have surpassed the $10 million mark. In 2019, developers purchased a 12-acre estate on Green Bay Road for over $10 million, but that sale was a commercial sale for a housing development.

The most expensive residential sale in Glencoe was in 2014, when Eric Lefkofsky, then CEO of Groupon, paid $19.5 million for a lakefront home on Glade Road.

Other high-priced residential transactions include an 8,800-square-foot estate at 595 Longwood Avenue, which sold in August for $7.25 million, or $826 per square foot, marking the neighborhood’s most-expensive sale since December 2021, when a nearby mansion fetched nearly $8.7 million.

Chicago’s suburban luxury market has broken records this year, with notable transactions such as a $5.3 million mansion in South Barrington and a $3.1 million home in Arlington Heights setting price records for those towns.

— Andrew Terrell