Couple becomes repeat Wilmette customers in $4M deal

Traci and Brian Knudson have become reliable Wilmette clients of developer Dano Luxury Homes and broker Frank Capitanini.

The couple teamed up with the Coldwell Banker Realty broker again on at least its third deal for a high-end home in the North Shore suburb, bagging $4 million in an off-market sale of 808 Greenwood Road last week.

The home has six bedrooms and eight bathrooms. Its square footage wasn’t publicly listed. The private network deal didn’t have a public listing price. The home was built in 2018 by Dano Luxury and designed by New Space Architects, after the Knudsons paid $1.2 million for the lot in 2017, according to public records.

The couple founded a learning software firm, NogginLabs, that was bought by Ernst & Young in 2018, and previously sold a Wilmette home built by Dano Luxury: the spec property at 214 Fifth Street. They bought that home in 2013 for $1.68 million before selling in 2018 for $1.85 million, and had previously bought a Sixth Street property for $849,000 in 2004 and sold it for more than $1.04 million in 2013, records show.

Amenities at the Greenwood Road property include three front porches, a butler’s pantry, a 135-bottle wine cooler, and a 2.5-car garage addition that cost $30,000, according to the listing. All bedrooms include in-suite bathrooms, and the home has a balcony facing the backyard, an indoor pool, recreation room, a built-in full bar, home theater and home gym.

The one-third-acre property is a few blocks from Lake Michigan.

Frank Capitanini and Trish Capitanini with Coldwell Banker Realty represented the sellers, who have been parties in previous deals the agents have brokered. Sara Brahm with @properties Christie’s International Real Estate represented the buyers, who are not yet identified in public records.

North Shore homes continue to sell for high prices this year, despite taking price cuts to change hands.

The Knudsons sale is one of four in the affluent North Shore suburb to break $4 million this year, according to deals recorded by public listing sites. Another Wilmette home — whose price jumped thanks to a renovation — sold for $5.2 million just five days after hitting the market in August.

That property, an 8,400-square-foot home at 1222 Chestnut Avenue in East Wilmette, closed on Aug. 5 for $5.18 million. It was listed for sale on June 6 for $5.5 million, and went under on June 11, public records show. Just two Wilmette homes hit the $4 million mark in 2021, a banner year for residential real estate, and three hit it in 2020.

Also in August, a century-old lakefront Winnetka mansion sold for $12.75 million, though it was originally listed for 20 percent more at $16 million. At that seven-bedroom property on 645 Sheridan Road, the buyers plan to replace it with a new home. Built around 1902, it needed repairs and renovations, according to the buyer’s agent.

In August, the former Winnetka home of Arthur Nielsen, founder of the A.C. Nielsen Company, sold for $6.8 million after four months on the market and down from the $6.9 million listing price. Built in 1937, that 17,000-square-foot Tudor-style estate was designed by architect Benjamin Marshall, who designed other notable buildings in Chicago, including the Drake Hotel.

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