R. Kelly’s former estate hits market

Olympia Fields house that “I Believe I Can Fly” built asks $3.5 million

R. Kelly’s Former Olympia Fields Estate Hits the Market
R. Kelly and 1 Maros Lane (Photo Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal with Getty, Keller Williams)

A mansion that once belonged to disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly is for sale.

The gated Olympia Fields estate is listed at just under $3.5 million, which comes to about $167 per square foot for the 21,000-square-foot mansion, Crain’s reported.

The estate at 1 Moros Lane is owned by Elaine Isley, the widow of Rudolph Isley of the Isley Brothers. Alex Wolking of Keller Williams OneChicago has the listing.

Kelly, who is in prison for sex-trafficking and racketeering, bought the 3.7-acre property for $1.5 million in 1997, right after his song “I Believe I can Fly,” became a hit, the outlet said. He demolished the previous home to build this mansion.

It has seven bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a river-rock fireplace hearth and a two-story indoor pool space “designed to look like a jungle oasis,” the outlet said. It also has an elevator, an eight-car garage with a bathroom and kitchen, a glass-walled exercise room, a full-sized outdoor basketball court and a pond.

JPMorgan Chase foreclosed on the property in 2011, and the Isleys bought it for $585,000 in 2013.

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The Isleys renovated the kitchen and movie theater, replaced the light fixtures and resurfaced the basketball court. The basement had been flooded, so they ripped it all out and replaced it.

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The home had one of suburban Cook County’s most-expensive tax bills — $247,000 — in 2022, the outlet reported. It was the only six-figure residential tax bill in southern Cook County.

The average home price in Olympia Fields is about $325,000, according to Redfin, but the village does have some high-end sales. An Olympia Fields house sold for $10.5 million at the height of the post-pandemic housing boom, in September 2021.

R. Kelly’s former home in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood sold in 2022 for $2.9 million.

— Rachel Stone