Siri co-founder puts Aqua Tower penthouse condo up for sale 

The 81st-floor penthouse of Chicago’s iconic Aqua Tower is hitting the market with a splash. 

The 3,000-square-foot condo at 220 North Columbus Drive will soon be listed for sale by the co-founder of Siri, Dag Kittlaus, who has owned the home since 2018.

Kittlaus’ agent, Carrie McCormick of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate, will begin “privately marketing” the property this week, but it will not be listed publicly until early July, McCormick said. 

Kittlaus purchased the four-bedroom penthouse in 2018 after selling his home in North Barrington. Since then, he has invested in redesigning the condo, but now he is looking to sell and invest in another property in Chicago, McCormick said. 

Kittlaus also co-founded Viv, an intelligence interface platform similar to Siri, before selling it to Samsung in 2016 and serving as Samsung Mobile’s Vice President from 2016 to 2019, according to LinkedIn. 

He currently serves as CEO and co-founder of Riva Health, a digital platform for cardiovascular health care.

McCormick said she and her client are still working on pricing the property for the market. 

“Obviously the city has a little bit of challenges, but buyers always want something unique and one of a kind, and that’s what this is,” McCormick said.

Another penthouse condo at the Aqua Tower, owned by Vivify founder Satish Shah, was priced at $4.5 million in April of last year after the asking price was bumped up. Shah’s 3,600-square-foot unit, which he first put up for sale in 2015, features two balconies and spans the 81st and 82nd floors. 

A neighboring unit on the 81st floor sold for $2.35 million several months after Shah and his wife first put their unit on the market. The sale of the 2,100-square-foot space amounted to $1,138 per square foot.

Chicago’s Aqua Tower, built in 2009, was designed by a team of architects led by Jeanne Gang, and is known for its curved concrete balconies, which give the impression of rippling water along the exterior of the building. The design allowed balconies to be constructed on each floor all the way up to the penthouse safely, as the unique shape protects the patios from high winds. 

“It’s not windy up there. It’s really this calm, still balcony up there,” McCormick said. 

Kittlaus sought out the property because of his love for storm-watching, as his 90-foot-long balcony has an unobstructed view of Lake Michigan, she said. 

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Playing the long game: Shah’s Aqua penthouse seeks $4.5M after years on market