Here’s the homeowners behind Chicago’s priciest tax bills

Ken Griffin and Gov. J.B. Pritzker have some of the largest tabs

Governor J.B. Pritzker, Ken Griffin, and Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi (Illustration by The Real Deal with Getty, Cook County)
Governor J.B. Pritzker, Ken Griffin, and Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi (Illustration by The Real Deal with Getty, Cook County)

Bigger tax bills than last year are coming for Chicagoans, and that includes owners of the city’s 10 priciest properties, who owe more than $4 million collectively.

Among those paying the most expensive property tax bills are Citadel founder and former richest Illinois resident Ken Griffin, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mark Walter, Guggenheim Partners CEO and part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Crain’s reported.

The second-installment Cook County property tax bills, which were delayed for months, went out and residential owners owe a combined $3.83 billion. The amount is slightly higher than the $3.82 billion commercial property owners were billed for.

Here’s a look at the homeowners on tap to pay the four biggest tax bills in the city.

Griffin moved his family and hedge fund down to Miami this summer, but still hasn’t unloaded all of his Chicago luxury condo properties despite listing a flurry of them this summer. He received the largest bill out of everyone. Griffin still owns six condo units across three different buildings and his property tax bill was a little more than $1.96 million.

Walter, who is worth $5.3 billion according to Forbes, had the second-highest property tax bill. He and his wife, Kimbra, owe $562,853 on their Orchard Street home they built in the mid-2010s.

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Richard and Michaela Parrillo were the recipients of the third-highest tax bill. The couple tried to sell their Burling Street mansion for $50 million — and later $45 million — but took it off the market after failing to find a buyer. They owe $326,275 on the property.

The governor and Illinois first lady MK Pritzker had the fourth-largest property tax bill in Chicago. The couple owes $290,502 on the Astor Street mansion they bought for $14.5 million in 2007.

Rounding out the top five largest property tax bills are the owners of another No. 9 Walton condo who shielded their identities from public records by purchasing and keeping the property under an entity whose managers haven’t been uncovered. They owe more than $275,000 on the unit.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi warned Chicagoans that homeowners would bear more of the property tax brunt even after he lowered their burden in a previous reassessment cycle because of a political structure that’s allowed more big reductions of taxed values on commercial properties when their owners appeal. Kaegi’s office released a report that showed that the Board of Review reduced assessments of multiple commercial properties that had been raised by the assessor’s office, resulting in flat or higher tax bills for homeowners.

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Residential
Chicago
Chicagoans may pay more property taxes due to commercial assessments

— Victoria Pruitt

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