Solar Magnate Buys North Shore Parcel After Hillwood Balks

Anthony Donato is fast becoming the baron of Bannockburn through purchases of troubled real estate.

The resident of the wealthy suburban Chicago enclave in the North Shore paid $20 million this week to buy the 114-acre former Trinity International University campus, he confirmed to The Real Deal. It marks a significant discount from a previous deal Texas real estate titan Ross Perot Jr. eyed for the property before backing away.

Donato and his wife Anna’s nonprofit foundation acquired the sprawling North Shore site featuring 26 buildings just months after another of his ventures snapped up the nearby Bannockburn Lakes office park for $17 million. The office park’s price amounted to a painful haircut for the sellers, Chicago-based commercial real estate heavy hitters Walton Street Capital and Glenstar, after they spent $43 million between 2015 and last year buying and upgrading the property.

Perot Jr.’s Dallas-based firm, Hillwood, had considered buying the Trinity property for years, with plans to pay about $35 million for most of the land and embark upon commercial redevelopment that could have brought industrial, office, lab or other corporate uses to the campus.

Solar Magnate Buys North Shore Parcel After Hillwood Balks — Anthony and Anna Donato with the Trinity International University campus (Photo by Sam Lounsberry)

According to a person familiar with the deal, Hillwood was interested in redeveloping the land for Takeda Pharmaceuticals, which has a large office space in an adjacent Bannockburn property. But Hillwood walked away after sensing community resistance to the plan, and Takeda this month opted to expand a separate lease it has in a Libertyville corporate campus by about 80,000 square feet.

After shuttering its residential and in-person education operations in Bannockburn in recent years, Trinity was still in a rush to find a buyer. The school had a $16 million bridge loan against the property it took out in late 2024 from Connecticut-based lender JGB Management.

The Donatos leveraged their home field advantage to secure the site in a sprint, closing the deal in just seven weeks. They financed the purchase with a bank loan, they said, but declined to name the lender or the loan amount. Hillwood declined to comment.

Unlike Hillwood’s commercial ambitions, the Donatos pitch a vision that might be more well-received by village residents: a massive youth and amateur sports complex. The centerpiece will be a 300,000-square-foot to 400,000-square-foot indoor arena they are planning to build to replace the campus’ Meyer Sports Complex. It will feature multiple basketball courts, volleyball and indoor soccer facilities, and perhaps an ice arena for hockey and other skating-based competition. The property already includes full-size outdoor football, baseball and softball fields the Donatos intend to use as part of their programming. They said they expect the addition to cost another $40 million to $50 million and think they could break ground within 18 months, while preparing to gain village approval for the project.

They also want to bring other entertainment concepts to the property, such as golf simulators and perhaps mini-golf, arcades, escape rooms and more, and see opportunities to host summer camps and corporate retreats that could make use of the property’s commercial kitchen and cafeteria that can feed 1,000 people per meal.

They’re toying with the idea of building a higher-end hotel on the property, as well, and capitalizing on the property’s proximity to multiple major highways by adding retail uses, such as restaurants and shops that would be fueled by traffic from families and athletes attending sporting events.

“We could truly hold a tournament here every weekend,” Anna Donato said. Their oldest of three children, an 11-year-old daughter, has also given them a list with dozens of ideas for the property, they said. They hope to have sports leagues running at the property as soon as this spring.

The Donatos previously expressed interest in buying at least a portion of the Trinity campus for their vision, but were unable to make a deal while Hillwood was still in the mix. The couple purchased the Bannockburn Lakes office complex in July with plans to turn some of that five-building campus spanning 530,000 square feet of interior space into an athletics-focused complex. Now, one of the Bannockburn Lakes buildings will be converted into self-storage or temperature-controlled storage uses. The Donatos are also trying to lease up much of the vacant office space at the property, hiring JLL last year to market it to potential tenants.

“There’s endless things you could put here,” Anthony Donato said of the Trinity property. “All the sports-oriented stuff, I call that the anchor that drives its own version of traffic, where you’re going to have thousands of kids come every weekend.”

He found success in the solar power development field while also gaining some experience with multifamily and retail real estate. The Bannockburn Lakes and Trinity deals are his largest office and development plays, however.

The couple’s plan coincidentally could have some synergy with the Chicago Red Stars. The professional women’s soccer team earlier this month announced plans to build a $30 million-plus training performance center on an adjacent Bannockburn parcel, creating a de facto sports district in the suburb. The Donatos weren’t aware the Red Stars were keen on the area when they put out their offer for Trinity.

Trinity International confirmed the sale to a “private real estate investment entity” in a statement, but declined to comment on the religious school’s financial situation. Trinity controlled the property for over 60 years, but faced declining enrollment in suburban Chicago, and last year announced it was merging with Trinity Western University in British Columbia, Canada. Its shutdown of most of the campus — with several buildings that have stayed open, including its library and chapel — was originally planned in 2023.

For Donato, the deal cements a rapid accumulation of more than 150 acres of prime North Shore land at bargain-basement pricing. By targeting property that institutional capital has either fled or failed to unlock, he’s betting as a local operator, he can navigate the zoning and political dynamics that scared off out-of-towners.

“We’re working with the village to get permission to do everything,” Anthony Donato said. “Big goals to hit the ground running as fast as we can.”