Cubs’ Darvish sued over fence that blocks lake views

The pitcher and his neighbors are in a legal spat over his 6-foot-tall wooden privacy fence in Evanston

From left: images of the blocked view, Yu Darvish, and 90 Kedzie Street 
From left: images of the blocked view, Yu Darvish, and 90 Kedzie Street

Good fences may make for good neighbors, but the people living next to Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish want to break down those barriers.

Darvish and his wife, Seiko, are being sued by neighbors who say the Darvishes’ new fence violates an agreement between the couples, according to the Chicago Tribune. Craig and Alexis Eyler say the Darvish’s Evanston home blocks the Eylers’ view of Lake Michigan, according to the report.

The Darvishes paid $4.6 million in May for the six-bedroom lakefront home at 90 Kedzie Street, the second-most expensive home sale ever recorded in Evanston. When they sought to build a fence around their yard, the Eylers agreed not to object, as long as the fence was made of wrought iron, according to the suit.

Instead, the Darvishes built a solid, 6-foot-tall cedar fence that violates an easement from the 1940s guaranteeing the Eylers unobstructed views of the lake, according to the suit.

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The suit seeks unspecified damages from the pitcher and his wife.

His 5,400-square-foot home, on a third of an acre, went on the market last October 2017 for $4.2 million, but Darvish added an adjoining lot. The property includes 150 feet of lake frontage and Evanston’s only private deep-water dock, Crain’s reported last year.

Darvish signed to a six-year, $126 million contract in February 2018 but missed most of last season with an arm injury. [Chicago Tribune] — John O’Brien