Gold Coast mansion sells well below ask, extending area slump

A Gold Coast mansion originally listed at $10.2 million sold for a little less than two-thirds of that price, extending the trend of big price chops for super high-end homes in Chicago and the North Side neighborhood in particular.

A buyer whose identity hasn’t yet been disclosed purchased the 10,400-square-foot home at 54 East Scott Street for $6.5 million, and the asking price had been cut to $7.95 million when it went under contract in March, Crain’s reported. Engel & Voelkers broker Jenny Ames represented the seller, which was an LLC registered to Mark J. Ladd and his wife Christiane Ebsworth Ladd, while Compass agent Mark Icuss represented the buyer.

Mark Ladd founded interactive augmented reality gaming platform LyteShot, and his wife Ebsworth Ladd is the only child of the late Barney A. Ebsworth, who founded the vacation cruise companies Royal Cruise Line and Clipper Cruise Line.

The five-bedroom, seven-bathroom estate first went on the market in October 2021. The big price shop has become the norm in Chicago’s super-luxury market. In February, another Gold Coast mansion at 1421 North Astor Street sold for $3.94 million. That’s less than half of its initial $8.95 million listing price when it hit the market five years prior. 

Last month, a nearly 8,000-square-foot home at 21 East Cedar Street in Gold Coast closed at $5.1 million, marking a 15 percent cut from its previous listing of $5.9 million. Chicago’s most expensive listing on record — a 25,000-square-foot Lincoln Park estate that hit the market at $50 million — was reduced by 60 percent in January and is now priced at just under $30 million. 

Despite the price slash of the 54 East Scott property, the deal marked the fourth-highest Chicago-area home sale so far in 2023.

The house stands out for its sustainability features, including a rooftop rain collector,  a geothermal system that draws on the steady temperatures underground for heat in winter and cooling in summer and insulation made from low-toxicity soy. Built in 2010,  it was the first newly-constructed single-family home in Illinois to be certified LEED Gold — a badge for sustainability achievement.

— Quinn Donoghue

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