Chicago attorney Philip Beck and his wife, Janice, bought a lakefront property in Winnetka for $10 million and plan to spend at least another $5.5 million to build a sprawling mansion there.
He and his wife are tearing down the 112-year-old home on the site and replacing it with an 18,000-square-foot mansion nearly three times its size, according to Crain’s.
Demolition began recently on the 20-room, 6,900-square-foot Colonial Revival mansion at 735 Sheridan Road that the couple bought in January. The property covers 2.7 acres and features 160 feet of private Lake Michigan beach. Early building permit documents said the couple didn’t plan to demolish a coach house or pool houses on the property.
The final cost of the project is likely to be higher than $15.5 million since building permit estimates generally cover only construction of the shell and interior finishes covered by building codes, such as plumbing and utilities, according to Crain’s.
Beck led George W. Bush’s legal team in the disputed Florida vote-count case in the 2000 presidential election, which went to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The home sits in a corridor of North Shore suburbs with a number of pricey listings. Only a few blocks away another lakefront Winnetka home hit the market recently at $9.6 million.
Farther north in Lake Bluff another lakefront mansion hit the market this week for $19.5 million, while the Wyldwoode estate in Lake Forest is listed for $15 million. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien