Empire Mansion Sold for $6.5M After 12 Years and Huge Price Cuts

Acclaim didn’t bring a fast sale for a sprawling Barrington Hills estate frequently featured on the Fox TV series “Empire.” But after more than a decade on the market, it finally sold.

The 17,600-square-foot French Provincial-style mansion at 45 Lakeview Lane in Barrington Hills closed for $6.5 million on Friday, far below the original $15.9 million asking price set in 2013, the Chicago Tribune reported.

That difference pencils out to a sale price of just under $370 per square foot compared to the initial ask for over $900 per square foot.

Michael LaFido of LPT Realty had the listing. John Morrison was the buyers’ agent, with @properties Christie’s International Real Estate. Cook County records have not yet revealed the identity of the buyers.

The deal also closed as Chicagoland’s broader luxury market shows unexpected strength: 45 homes priced at $4 million or more have sold so far in the region in 2025, up from 27 at this time last year, according to Crain’s. If the pace holds, the market could rival the record-breaking 2022 total of 136 homes over that price point. Last year, 106 homes crossed the threshold.

Seller Salvatore “Sam” Cecola, a longtime Chicago businessman who co-owns the Admiral Theatre strip club, first listed the property shortly after its 2008 completion. Despite multiple price cuts — to $12.5 million in 2016 and $7.5 million in 2020 — and a marketing boost from its “Empire” renown, the property lingered without a successful sale until last week.

The Barrington Hills sale price represents about 41 percent of the original list price, but still ranks as the second-highest home sale in Barrington Hills history, trailing only a $7.5 million sale in 2012 for a larger English-style mansion.

The home played a starring role as the Lyon family’s mansion on “Empire,” which aired from 2015 to 2020. It was named Illinois’ most beautiful home for sale by Architectural Digest in 2017.

Situated on 8.5 acres, the three-story home features six bedrooms, floor-to-ceiling windows, a walnut-paneled library, barreled and coffered ceilings, a walk-out lower level with a home theater, billiards and poker rooms, a full bar and kitchen and an elevator. Outdoor amenities include a swimming pool, fire pit, private dock and a porte cochere.

— Judah Duke