Ultraluxury Listing in Chicago’s North Shore Takes Price Cut

A lakefront mansion on Sheridan Road in Winnetka became one of the first ultraluxury listings on Chicago’s North Shore to take a major price cut, amid a slow market for ultra high-end homes.

There are at least nine homes listed on the North Shore, or originally listed, at $10 million and above, most of them on the lakefront in Lake Forest, Lake Bluff and Winnetka, according to public listing information.

And yet, sellers have yet to close on a residential sale over $10 million on the North Shore this year, @properties Christie’s International Real Estate broker Sharon Friedman said.

The closest North Shore sellers have gotten was Michael Jordan’s Highland Park home, which went under contract for $14.85 million in September but has yet to close. That property sat on the market for 12 years and was originally listed for $29 million.

This is part of what informed Friedman’s conversations with her sellers about their listing at 765 Sheridan Road, which led to them lowering their ask this week to $14.9 million, or $944 per square foot. Friedman is representing the sellers along with Courtney Cook, also of @properties.

“We decided that we should be more competitively positioned, given that there are so many properties on the market — there’s a lot to choose from,” Friedman said. “We weren’t getting as many showings as we had hoped, and we felt that the only thing that we could change, because the house is so beautiful, is to get more competitively positioned on pricing.”

But the absence of sales over $10 million on the North Shore this year does not mean that it’s been a bad year for luxury home sales. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

The top of the Chicagoland market has been faring markedly better than overall home sales in the region. There have been 81 sales of homes over $4 million this year, and three of the four most recent sales (which all closed in one day, Monday) were on the North Shore, Crain’s reported. That is a 17 percent increase over last year, whereas overall sales are down about 12.5 percent.

Luxury buyers are active, but ultraluxury sellers asking over $10 million may want to adjust, if they are hoping to sell soon, Friedman said.

The seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom home at 765 Sheridan Road spans over 15,700 square feet. It was originally listed at $18 million, or $1,140 per square foot, putting it at the top of the Chicagoland market, but it was not alone at the top.

Illinois’ most expensive residential listing is also on Sheridan Road in Winnetka, and it is asking a whopping $35 million, or $2,519 per square foot. Jena Radnay of @properties has the listing.

A few other motivated sellers have chosen to reduce their ask to be more competitive, as Friedman’s sellers did.

Over in Lake Bluff, for example, a 9,990-square-foot mansion was listed for $22.9 million, or $2,292 per square foot, last year. The ask came down to $19.9 million this March.

It all depends on the seller, Friedman said. The home at 765 Sheridan Road is owned by a trust of Morris Silverman, and the family is ready to sell and move into a smaller house on the North Shore now that their children are out of the house, she said.

But they may end up selling at a loss if they reduce their ask much further.

The family purchased the property in 2003 for $5.78 million and tore down the home to build the mansion listed today, Friedman said. It is not clear how much the family spent to build the home, but Friedman said they spent “over a quarter of a million dollars” to restore their property’s lakefront area.

Other North Shore sellers are holding out for buyers willing to pay the full asking price.

An 11,400-square-foot home on Bluffs Edge Drive in Lake Forest, for example, was listed for $11.9 million over the summer, and the price has yet to come down. Two other Lake Forest listings — a $13 million home on Lake Road and a $15 million estate on East Rosemary Road — have also maintained their asking prices.

The Rosemary Road home, which has a storied history of ownership by Chicago’s elite, spans nearly 12,000 square feet for a price per square foot of $1,270. The Lake Road home has been on the market since April, but remains priced at $822 per square foot.