Lake Michigan Mansion With Restored Beach Hits Market

A lakefront mansion with over 200 feet of private beach on Lake Michigan’s North Shore hit the market this week at just under $8.8 million.

The home at 55 South Deere Park Drive in Highland Park spans about 9,750 square feet for a list price of $898 per square foot. It has an additional 4,400 square feet of finished space in the home’s basement, and the private beach comes with a boathouse and deck, according to public listing information.

Inventory is low on Chicago’s North Shore. Luxury homes with access to the lakeshore are rare, and sometimes that access looks like a steep bluff or a rocky shoreline, making the sandy beach the biggest factor in pricing the Highland Park home, said listing broker Stephanie Hofman of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate.

“The work that our clients did to ensure that this beach is protected and maintained is bar none,” she said. Hofman has the listing along with Erin Smith, also of @properties.

The sellers of the home are Jerrold Senser, former CEO of Chicago investment advisory firm Institutional Capital LLC, and wife Naomi Ragins Senser, according to property records. The couple run the Senser Foundation.

The home sits on 1.18 acres and has five bedrooms, 6 bathrooms and 3 half-bathrooms, according to public listing information.

The Sensers bought the home for $6.5 million in 2006, records show. They updated much of the home, which was built in 1978, over the first two years they owned it, according to listing information.

Extensive restoration work was done on the property’s beach and bluff in 2009 and 2015, and a retaining wall system was built to protect the shoreline from future erosion, Hofman said. They also renovated the deck and boathouse. It is unclear how much the Sensers spent on renovations to the property.

“All of this was done with the end goal in mind that whoever owns the property, whether it was our clients or another homeowner, would not have to worry about the integrity of the home and the beach and the bluff,” Hofman said. “There are many homes out there that might have lake views or might have some sort of lake access but don’t have the reinforcement of the property that really makes it usable and functional.”