R. Kelly’s former Chicago home sells after several price cuts

Five-bedroom house with 3,000-sf roof deck found buyer for $2.9M

A photo illustration of R. Kelly and 1010 West George Street in Lakeview, Illinois (Getty Images, Redfin)
A photo illustration of R. Kelly and 1010 West George Street in Lakeview, Illinois (Getty Images, Redfin)

After two years on the market and several price cuts, a Chicago home that once belonged to disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly sold for $2.9 million.

Built in 1905, the five-bedroom, 8,400-square-foot house at 1010 West George Street in the city’s Lakeview neighborhood was once home to a cigarette vending machine business before its conversion to a single-family residence in the 1980s, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Kelly, who is serving a 30-year prison sentence on racketeering and sex-trafficking charges, paid $1.1 million for the home in 1994 and sold it in 2002 for $2.25 million.

It’s changed hands several times since. Investor Matt Hulsizer, who bought it from Kelly, sold it three years later for $2.4 million. It traded again in 2006 for $3 million, then was foreclosed upon and sold for $1 million in 2008.

The most recent owners paid $2.74 million for it in 2011. After renovations, it hit the market for $4 million in October 2020, before being slashed to $3.5 million, $3.25 million and $3 million then finally selling for $2.9 million this week.

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The three-story home comes equipped with an elevator and features an indoor swimming pool, theater, gym and sauna as well as a primary bedroom with a 300-square-foot walk-in closet.

Its 3,000-square-foot rooftop deck includes a pizza oven, a bar and seating for 10.

When Kelly owned the home, it also included a 1,500-gallon, shark-filled aquarium. That feature has since been removed.

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— Victoria Pruitt