Philanthropist, hedge fund manager sell Lincoln Park Italianate at a loss

Tim and Jennifer Hurd sold the 5-bedroom house for slightly less than what they paid in 2006

2140 North Kenmore Avenue, Tim Hurd and Jennifer Jacoby Hurd (Credit: @properties)
2140 North Kenmore Avenue, Tim Hurd and Jennifer Jacoby Hurd (Credit: @properties)

An Italianate townhouse in Lincoln Park sold after a bidding war, but the final price was still below what the owners had paid more than a decade ago.

Tim Hurd and Jennifer Jacoby Hurd closed last month on a $3.1 million sale of their 5,600-square-foot house at 2140 North Kenmore Avenue, according to Cook County property records. They had paid about $3.5 million for the property 13 years earlier.

Tim Hurd, the longtime managing director of the private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, is now president and CIO at BlueSpruce Investments. Jennifer Hurd was director of the Crown Family Philanthropies from 2001 to 2008, and in 2005 she was included in the Crain’s 40 under 40. The Hurds did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The buyers were Harbor Capital Advisors president Kristof Gleich and his wife Elizabeth.

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Laura England of @Properties represented the Gleiches in their purchase of the home, according to Redfin.

The five-bedroom home features an elevator, heated floors and an Italianate-style limestone facade, according to listings. It was listed just under $3 million, but benefited from the bidding war between two buyers who both “appreciated the timeless aesthetics” of the home, according to @Properties broker Emily Sachs-Wong, who represented the Hurds in the sale.

Despite the strong bidding that boosted the eventual sale, the home today did not hold the same interest it had in 2006. “The style of what people were looking for cosmetically in a house changed,” Sachs-Wong wrote. She added, “A modern vibe is what people really have been wanting today, and the classic houses have been less in demand.”

The city has seen a steep drop in luxury home sales this year, forcing sellers to mark down their prices or risk the albatross of long market time.

Even as buyers line up for multimillion-dollar condos in newly-built complexes like No. 9 Walton and One Bennett Park, luxury brokers say demand has fallen off for high-end homes that haven’t been updated in five or more years.