Lake Bluff Waterfront Estate Sells for $11M

A sprawling Lake Bluff waterfront estate finally traded after years of listings, closing a long and winding saga with a nearly $11.3 million deal.

The property at 700 Crab Tree Lane sold after seven years on and off the market, marking the eighth Chicago-area home to trade above $10 million this year, Crain’s reported. That tally trails only 2022, when nine homes crossed the $10 million mark — and 2025 could still match it, with a $12.5 million Michigan Avenue condo owned by Ken Griffin recently going under contract.

The sale caps a record year for high-end housing across the metro. It was the region’s 153rd home sale at $4 million or more, blowing past the previous record of 136 set in 2022. Before 2020, the average annual count at that price tier was just 52, showing how dramatically the top end of the market has reset with an increase in volume.

The deal is especially notable for Lake Bluff. It’s the village’s highest home sale since 2007, when the 21-acre Lansdowne estate sold to a developer that later subdivided it. In recent years, Lake Bluff’s top sale was $7.65 million, paid in 2022 for a newly built home on the former Lansdowne grounds.

The sellers, James and Lisa Zenni, first listed the roughly 10,000-square-foot mansion on 13 acres in 2018 for $19.5 million. In 2023, they expanded the offering to roughly 30 acres and raised the asking price to $22.9 million. The final sale, for $11.25 million, came with about 26 acres, according to the listing, at less than half the peak asking price.

Built in 1994, the Italian villa–style home sits on 690 feet of Lake Michigan frontage and includes a vineyard, stable, tennis court and swimming pool. The mansion occupies land once part of the historic Crab Tree Farm, a 370-acre dairy operation dating back to 1906.

— Eric Weilbacher