Rare Property in Chicago’s Gold Coast Listed for $21 Million

Chicago luxury real estate buyers have a chance to buy a massive Gold Coast spread for the first time in nearly four decades.

Paul Episcope, a longtime Chicago personal injury attorney, is seeking $21 million for the one-of-a-kind Astor Court property, a palatial, 25,000-square-foot estate at 1355 North Astor Street with a large courtyard. It includes six income-producing rental units in addition to the main home that spreads more than 10,000 square feet, according to public records and people familiar with the property.

The asking price is the highest of any other property currently for sale in Chicago. It trails the listing of late business magnate Jim Crown’s Gold Coast condo for $17.5 million.

The rental units are occupied, some with long-term residential tenants. They lease for $4,000 to $8,000 per month and generate a little more than $30,000 per month in revenue, according to listing agent Natasha Motev of Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty. Motev declined to comment on the ownership.

Rare Property in Chicago’s Gold Coast Listed for $21 Million — 1355 North Astor Street in Chicago (VHT Studios)

“There is nothing else like it in the Gold Coast. Everyone who walks on Astor Street stops to look at the house; everyone has always wanted to see what’s behind the doors. So I’ve already had several showings just from listing it this morning,” she said.

Astor Court’s advantage over other Gold Coast luxury properties on the market — such as a couple massive units available in the 65 East Goethe Street co-op — is that it’s a single-family home with no condo association dues, Motev said. Units in the Goethe Street property can cost their owners five figures a month in such costs.

“Someone can live in this amazing house and have their taxes paid with the rental income,” Motev said.

Altogether, the property includes 45 rooms, with 16 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms and 18 fireplaces.

Astor Court has been owned by Episcope or his family since the late 1980s, public records show. It was originally built in 1914 and designed by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw for lumber tycoon William O. Goodman, for whom Chicago’s Goodman theater is named.

Its listing follows a slew of ultra-high-end single-family homes hitting the market in Chicago and the suburban North Shore, where multiple homes in Winnetka and Lake Forest this year have sought more than $10 million, a rarely crossed price threshold in the region.

The priciest single-family home sale ever in Chicago, at 1932 North Burling Street in Lincoln Park, closed recently for a little over $15 million — a massive loss for the sellers who built the home for $65 million and had it on the market for years before making a deal.Another ultra-luxury Lincoln Park home flew off the shelf: a Dickens Avenue home sold for $14 million this month, weeks after hitting the market.