Historic Winnetka Site Owners Plan New $10M Mansion

A nearly 29,000-square-foot mansion is going up on the lakefront site of a historic Winnetka home after the owners received approval last year to demolish it and build a new house.

The mansion’s construction is expected to cost $10 million, according to a building permit application obtained by The Real Deal, making it one of the most expensive construction projects along the lakefront in Winnetka in recent years.

Shiraz and Vijay Kotte, both health care executives, won approval to build the new home at 445 Sheridan Road in Winnetka in June, according to the permit application. The permit application states the new house will be 28,690 square feet, making it among the largest lakefront homes in Winnetka.

The couple purchased the Winnetka property, known as the Clement Stone Mansion, in 2023 for $12.3 million, property records show. Design plans for the new home are not available in the permit application, but Vijay Kotte, CEO of Chicago-based GoHealth, told village officials in 2024 it would be a French-style home with a transitional interior, according to meeting records.

The new mansion is being designed by architect Michael Hershenson, the permit says. Heritage Luxury Homes, the North Shore builder run by Leo and Milena Birov, is handling general contracting. Neither Hershenson nor Birov responded to requests for comment.

It’s not clear how far along the home is in the construction process. The Kottes secured a demolition permit by January of last year, according to Winnetka meeting documents. An Instagram post by a historic preservation blog in August 2025 shows the empty lot after the home had been demolished. Vijay Kotte did not respond to requests for comment.

Built in 1912 by socialite and real estate investor Lena P. Gilmore, the original mansion was a rare example of the Spanish Revival style in Winnetka. The estate featured white stucco walls, a red clay tile roof, and a third-floor ballroom. Throughout its century-long history, the property underwent several renovations, including the addition of a coach house in 1936 and a modern restoration in 2006 that aimed to preserve its historic character.

The mansion had a long lineage of notable owners, including hotel magnate Albert Pick and James G. McMillan, president of the Wander Company, which manufactured Ovaltine. W. Stone Clement, an insurance executive and self-help author, purchased the home in 1966 and lived there until his death in 2005.

The teardown is part of a trend along the lakefront of homeowners scrapping older homes to make way for new mansions with modern styles and amenities, often to the dismay of preservation activists. The construction also ran up against Winnetka’s ordinance limiting construction on or near the bluffs along Lake Michigan. The rule, approved in 2024, was widely viewed as a response to billionaire Justin Ishbia’s plans for a sprawling $77 million megamansion on Sheridan Road.

The Kottes, through the LLC that owns the home, were previously among a group of homeowners who sued the city over that ordinance, arguing the rule cut millions of dollars from their property values. But the Kottes ended their involvement in the litigation in December, months after they won approval to build their home, according to court documents.

In the 2024 meeting when the village passed the ordinance, Kotte said he would have reconsidered purchasing the home, and the purchase price, had he known the building restrictions would be passed, TRD previously reported. The new home had to comply with the ordinance’s rules, but little conflict existed over the plans, based on the application materials.

The Kottes’ bid to build a new home faced fierce opposition from Winnetka preservation officials, prompting Laura Good, a member of Winnetka’s Historic Preservation Commission, to resign from the board, according to meeting records. The commission does not have authority to block demolition for most properties, but it can — and did, in this case — impose a 270-day delay.

In a series of meetings in 2024, members of the village’s Historic Preservation Commission said the home was one of the most iconic lakefront homes in Winnetka and asked Kotte to consider renovating or selling the home rather than demolishing it, meeting records show.

Kotte said during the meetings that he had initially planned to rehabilitate the house, but after inspection realized that renovation was not possible, according to meeting minutes. He also said the village’s bluff construction ordinance, adopted after the Kottes bought the home, made additions to it difficult.

The home’s “narrow footprint” and “inadequate floorplan” were other impediments to renovation, Kotte told the commissioners in 2024.

Good resigned from the commission after the June 17, 2024 meeting, saying her motivation was disappointment at “not being able to save 445 Sheridan Road from being demolished,” according to meeting minutes.