Winnetka Sale Lifts Bar for Year’s Priciest to $12.5M

A Winnetka mansion that just traded now holds the title for most expensive home sale in the Chicago area this year.

The recently renovated, 12,000-square-foot estate at 691 Sheridan Road sold Friday for $12.5 million, the Chicago Tribune reported. The identities of the buyer and seller have not been revealed. Jena Radnay of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate served as the listing agent.

The transaction set a new bar for 2023. For more than six months, the $11.2 million sale of Ken Griffin’s Park Tower condo stood as the priciest Chicago-area home sale this year. An 8,700-square-foot house on Lake Geneva traded for $14 million last week, but that was technically outside the Chicago metropolitan area despite the Wisconsin town’s popularity as a vacation destination with city dwellers.

The recent sale was also the highest in Winnetka since last July, when Justin Ishbia paid $16 million for a 9,900-square-foot mansion. That house and neighboring homes that Ishbia purchased are being demolished to make way for an epic $44 million estate, which has stirred up controversy and prompted officials to pass new ordinances to prevent such projects.

The home at 691 Sheridan hit the market just shy of $13 million in June. While the closing price was a little less than the initial ask, super high-end homes in the area often undergo an even larger price chop before landing a buyer. A 9,700-square-foot mansion at 35 Indian Hill Road in Winnetka, for example, was relisted at $5.5 million in May after initially being priced at $7 million.

Sitting on a little less than an acre, the Sheridan Road estate has five bedrooms and seven-and-half bathrooms. It was built in 2005 and underwent an extensive renovation in 2017.

Lavish features include a reception foyer with a bridal staircase, butler’s pantry with two wine refrigerators, primary bedroom suite with a private deck and screened porch with refinished bluestone floors. There’s a theater, recreation area, fitness room and a heated six-car garage.

Outside there’s a pool, hot tub, patios, dog run area and a staircase that leads to a 94-foot-wide beach.

— Quinn Donoghue