Billionaire Pat Ryan Sells Chicago Condo For Below 1994 price

Pat Ryan, the insurance titan behind Aon and Ryan Specialty Group, joined the growing list of sellers offloading condos in the Bloomingdale’s building for prices ripped from the 1990s.

Ryan and his wife, Shirley — namesake of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab research hospital — sold their three-bedroom unit on the 62nd floor of the North Michigan Avenue tower for $1.75 million this month, Crain’s reported. That’s a 60 percent haircut from the $4.4 million they paid in 2018. The condo traded for less than it did in 1994, when it sold for about $1.85 million, which would be about $4 million today, adjusted for inflation. The home’s square-footage wasn’t reported.

It’s not the first time the billionaire couple has taken a bath in the building. Last December, they sold a unit on the same floor for $1.3 million — well below the $1.9 million they paid in 1989. The fire-sale pricing underscores a broader trend in the 900 North Michigan Avenue tower, where several recent deals have closed at or below their ’90s numbers.

Agents say many longtime owners aren’t investing in updates that could boost resale value. Pam Miles of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices told the outlet that some residents, many of whom split time between multiple homes, are reluctant to endure the hassles of rehabbing, from material deliveries to elevator scheduling. Listing photos of the Ryans’ condo suggested it hadn’t been renovated in years.

For Ryan — whose net worth Forbes pegs at nearly $12 billion — the loss is a rounding error. The 87-year-old mogul built his fortune by founding Ryan Insurance in 1964, growing it into Aon, and later launching Ryan Specialty, now a $10 billion firm. He’s also Northwestern University’s biggest benefactor, funding the school’s $860 million Ryan Field in Evanston.

But for Chicago’s luxury condo market, the Ryans’ sales reinforce an uncomfortable reality: marquee addresses aren’t immune to depreciation, especially when units don’t keep pace with buyers’ expectations. Recent sales recorded during the last few days showed losses in value in the millions, such as a three-bedroom condo in the Bloomingdale’s tower that sold for $2.62 million. In 2009, the sellers of the property paid $5 million for it, or nearly twice the recent sale price.

In a city where trophy towers once promised bulletproof appreciation, the Bloomingdale’s building is proving that even billionaire sellers can’t rewrite market math.

— Eric Weilbacher