Wrigley family’s former Gold Coast co-op unit sells for $4.5M 

After nearly eight years on the market and $9 million in price cuts, a lavish two-story residence in one of the city’s most esteemed co-op buildings has sold. 

The nine-bedroom unit on the 14th and part of the 15th floors at 1500 North Lake Shore Drive, which was owned by the Wrigley family for over 50 years, fetched $4.5 million, Crain’s reported. The price comes to $450 per square foot.

The buyers’ identities have not been revealed. Listing agent Millie Rosenbloom of Baird & Warner represented the sellers, David and Catherine Hamilton, who asked $13.5 million when they listed their Gold Coast residence in February 2016.

The couple purchased the 10,000-square-foot unit in the early 1980s from the Wrigley family, known for its chewing gum brand and former ownership of the Chicago Cubs. The Hamiltons intermittently listed the property starting in 2016. It was listed in in April with an asking price of $4.9 million.

The opulent interiors of the co-op feature 18th-century wood paneling and fireplace mantels, and a limestone staircase imported from France. After acquiring the unit, the Hamiltons “gutted the dark interior evocative of Vincent Price and completely redid the apartment to fit their collection of 18th century French paneled rooms, down to the last centimeter, finishing them off with parquet de Versailles on the floors,” the New York Times reported in 1999. 

In the late 1920s, a group of wealthy Chicagoans, which included William Wrigley Jr. and his wife, Ada, hired New York architect Rosario Candela to design the 23-story building. It was completed in 1927.

Cooperative ownership entails residents owning shares of the building rather than individual units, resulting in high homeowners association fees. The unit’s monthly bill amounts to $14,330, the outlet reported. 

Few co-op units have changed hands in recent years, partly because of affluent buyers’ preferences for new construction and modern designs.

Another unit that’s for sale in the building has undergone an even more dramatic price chop since it hit the market in July 2020, dropping from $24.5 million to $8.5 million. 

—Quinn Donoghue 

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