Billionaire Reyes revealed as buyer of Driehaus mansion in Lake Geneva

Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes and his wife, Anne, have been revealed as the buyers of a Lake Geneva mansion once owned by late financial executive Richard Driehaus.

Walworth County deed records show the stately Georgian-style mansion was bought on Jan. 14 through an opaque Delaware limited liability company, according to the Chicago Tribune. Reyes was confirmed as the buyer through county records and people familiar with the matter, the newspaper reported

The 12-bedroom, 14,145-square-foot mansion went under contract in less than three weeks and sold for a Wisconsin state record of $36 million, more than the sum of the second and third priciest homes in the area. The lakefront estate set on 40 acres is known as Glanworth Gardens.

Reyes, who has an estimated net worth of $7.1 billion, is co-chairman of Rosemont-based beer and food distribution firm Reyes Holdings, and is the 128th wealthiest American, according to the Tribune, which cited Forbes.

The mansion was built in 1906 for Norman Harris, founder of a banking firm that bore his name and grew into Harris Trust, now BMO Harris Banks. After Harris died in 1916, Yellow Taxi Cab Company founder Walden W. Shaw bought the estate, and he passed it down to his son-in-law Daniel F. Peterin, who was the president of Morton Salt.

The previous record in Lake Geneva was set in April when Thomas Tisbo spent $12.75 million on a 12-year-old, 13,000-square-foot, 10-bedroom lakefront mansion. The home next door to Glanworth Gardens is for sale with the area’s second-highest list price. That’s the 12,396-square-foot, six-bedroom Villa Hortensia, which sits on 20.5 acres and was listed for $20.75 million in February.

[Chicago Tribune] – Harrison Connery