Steven Crown revealed as buyer of $17.4M Gold Coast condo

It’s no longer a mystery of who picked up a $17.4 million Gold Coast condo back in March.

A. Steven Crown, general partner at Henry Crown & Company and a member of one of the wealthiest families in Chicago, has been identified as the buyer of the full-floor condo at 9 West Walton Street, the Chicago Tribune reported. The sale of the 34th floor unit is one of the priciest condo purchases on record.

Susan Miner of Premier Relocation was the listing agent, while Jeffrey Lowe of Compass represented Crown.

Crown bought the property, which wasn’t publicly listed, through an opaque land trust. The unidentified sellers spent $9.91 million on the unit in 2018 when it was raw, unfinished space.

In addition to the typical luxury amenities, the building also features a house car and driver, private wine storage, a covered dog run and two guest suites available to all homeowners. Crown’s new condo had a property tax bill of $208,000 in 2020.

A notable billionaire is looking to unload his condo upstairs from Crown’s new digs. Ken Griffin is seeking a buyer for his 7,100-square-foot unfinished 35th-floor condo. Ahead of his move to Miami, the hedge fund manager listed four luxury condos for sale, including the No. 9 Walton unit, which he spent $58.75 million on in 2017.

Crown’s purchase is eclipsed by only a few other luxury home purchases in and around Chicago. In 2015, George Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson, spent $18.75 million for a penthouse in Park Tower; Eric Lefkofsky, co-founder of Groupon, paid $19.5 million for a Glencoe mansion in 2014. Earlier this year, private equity executive Bryan Cressey and his wife, Iliana Sweis, bought the penthouse on the 89th floor of the Trump International Hotel & Tower. And Mexican billionaire German Larrea spent $20.56 million on a 71st-floor duplex in the Residences at the St. Regis Tower.

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— Victoria Pruitt