Developer sells $9M land for super pricey planned Lincoln Park mansion

A $9 million sale in Lincoln Park has closed — despite not having a home on the property.

The property is a combined four lots that were sold as part of a custom design project by BGD&C Homes, a high-end Chicago builder whose president is Rodger Owen. The sale is somewhat of a formality given a new home will be designed for the client, at a price likely exceeding the land cost to make it one of the city’s most expensive single-family residential properties.

The deal appears to be a record in Lincoln Park for the cost of land alone. Other properties in the area that have exceeded $9 million have included a home. It’s not yet clear from public records who purchased the lots.

Charles Grode with BGD&C previously told The Real Deal that the home will probably be one of the more specialized designs the company has done, given the amount of space. He expects to complete the project in two to three years. It’s not yet known how much the home itself will cost, but it’s likely that it will be at least equal to the land costs, totaling $18 million.

That matches what the property was originally listed for, which would have likely included the land price and the cost to build the home. It’s unclear why those transactions are being done separately, but infill custom new construction is a rarity in the city, and doesn’t follow traditional new construction patterns.

“As it is on a quadruple lot there are not too many homes with the luxury of so much land to work with,” Grode said earlier this year.

The company bought out all 11-unit condominiums in two buildings at the address in 2013, according to previous reporting. The firm also considered purchasing a fifth lot in 2019, but opted against it. Current zoning would allow a house up to 21,000 square feet.
The planned megamansion is part of a broader trend in Lincoln Park, where developers have been purchasing land and older homes since the recession, tearing them down and combining lots for ultra-luxury homes.

Only two sales in Chicago this year have exceeded the initial $18 million list price. And both were downtown condos: the sale of a penthouse at Trump Tower Chicago for $20 million and the sale of a penthouse at the St. Regis at $20.3 million. Both of those marked the priciest sale this year at the time they closed.

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