Former Illinois House Speaker Cashes Out of New Buffalo Home

The longtime Southwest Michigan getaway of Lee Daniels, a former Illinois House Speaker and one of the state’s most influential Republican leaders of the last half-century, sold for just under $7 million.

Daniels and his wife, Pamela, closed Tuesday on the sale of their five-bedroom, roughly 5,000-square-foot lakefront home at 11869 Marquette Drive in New Buffalo, according to Crain’s. The deal wrapped up exactly two months after the property hit the market, a quick turn for a luxury listing heading into winter in a market that typically cools after summer.

The sellers also appear to have timed their exit well. Just months earlier, the Daniels had tested the waters at $6.75 million before removing the listing temporarily, about $250,000 less than the price they ultimately achieved.

The house sits on a wooded lot along Marquette Drive, a narrow strip of homes between Lake Michigan and the Galien River. Agents for the buyers said privacy, panoramic lake views and a cabana built midway down the dune to the beach helped seal the deal, along with a glass heavy lake-facing side that blurs the line between indoors and out. The property is also a short walk from Whittaker Street’s restaurants and shops, offering seclusion without isolation.

The buyer’s identity has not yet surfaced in Berrien County records, and it’s unclear whether the buyer hails from the Chicago area, roughly 70 miles away.

The sale fits neatly into a broader pattern. New Buffalo and nearby Union Pier have seen a string of multimillion-dollar listings snap up this year, with several homes at about $6 million quickly going under contract, and at least one Union Pier lakefront deal closing above asking price. Even as winter approaches, agents say calls from would-be buyers keep coming.

An inland home on Prospect Drive overlooking the Galien River — a green-roofed retreat owned by Malört-maker Tremaine Atkinson — listed at about $6 million in late August and was under contract within two weeks. A lakefront property a few doors down, also on Marquette Drive, listed at just below $7 million and went under contract in three days.

Daniels spent 32 years in the Illinois House, serving as minority leader for nearly two decades and as speaker in the mid-1990s, before leaving Springfield in 2007. Records show he and his wife have owned the New Buffalo property since at least 2015, holding it in a trust, though the original purchase price is unclear.

— Eric Weilbacher