Prominent Chicago restaurateur Brendan Sodikoff appears to have unloaded or transferred three adjoining Lincoln Park lots he assembled over the last two years at a significant price jump.
An LLC with ties to Sodikoff’s Hogsalt Restaurant Group purchased the three homes next door to each other at 1954-1962 North Fremont for $6.7 million combined in three different deals made between December 2021 and September, though his plans for the lots were unclear at the time. Sodikoff was revealed as the buyer in news reports last month.
Now, a deed filed with Cook County shows the properties have changed hands again for $11 million altogether. The deed was executed in March and recorded this month. The properties were first transferred from Sodikoff’s LLC at no cost to a private land trust that obscures its beneficiary, and then again, to another trust company that also shields the identity of the new owner of the property from disclosure in public records.
If the property was indeed purchased by a new buyer, it would mark one of the most pricey deals for a preeminent land assemblage in Lincoln Park. Even though the homes were part of Sodikoff’s original purchases, the additional value in the recent deal beyond what he paid for the properties individually is likely derived from an owner’s chance to knock the structures down to build a megamansion on the cleared site.
Because of the lack of clarity surrounding the owners of the trusts, it’s uncertain whether the deal was an outright new purchase, or some sort of internal transfer between entities that were all connected to Sodikoff.
The properties were initially bought by Sodikoff with homes remaining on each of the three lots, though one, the southernmost at 1954 North Fremont, was recently demolished, a reporter observed.
The largest parcel spans 6,000 square feet at 1954 North Fremont, where there was a seven-bedroom multifamily home that Sodikoff bought for $3.4 million. City records show his LLC obtained a demolition permit for that property in August last year, in order to knock down a three-story residence holding multiple units as well as a coach house in the rear of the property.
The other two lots span 3,000 square feet each, and were purchased by Sodikoff’s LLC for a little more than $1.6 million apiece in April 2022 and September, records show.
Sodikoff has not applied to build a new home on the properties, which are just south of the Armitage Avenue commercial corridor, one of the city’s coveted retail strips.
Attempts to contact Sodikoff, including through his attorney and title company, were unsuccessful.
The price tag tops a similar deal that closed last year, when high-end developer BGD&C Homes sold four lots for $9 million in Lincoln Park.
That property is a combination of four adjoining parcels that were sold as part of a custom design project by BGD&C. The sale was 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.
It’s unclear what plans Sodikoff had for the three lots he purchased, which span a combined 12,000 square feet of land. If the restaurateur or their new owner demolished the structures to build a new estate, current zoning would allow for a maximum house size of roughly 24,000 square feet, which would likely cost somewhere between $17 million and $24 million, depending on construction materials, according to previous news reports.
The practice of purchasing multiple lots, demolishing the current homes and building megamansions has been increasingly common in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. So has buying the property next door and tearing it down to enlarge yard space. Thad Wong, co-CEO of @properties, recently stirred some controversy when he knocked down a Lincoln Park home next door to his residence.
In another project, Chicago-based Savane Properties is asking $10 million for the yet-to-be-built custom home on a double-lot at 1867 North Burling Street.
Sodikoff’s Hogsalt is one of the city’s top restaurant groups. It includes Au Cheval, Bavettes, Gilt Bar and Tivoli Tavern. Sodikoff himself has been featured in Restaurant Businesses’ Power 20 and Crain’s 40 under 40 lists.
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