Highland Park Lakefront Mansion Goes Under Contract

A lakefront Highland Park mansion with a preserved private beach went under contract Friday, after listing for $8.8 million.

The home at 55 South Deere Park Drive in Highland Park spans 9,750 square feet and has five bedrooms and eight bathrooms, according to listing information.

The listing, which has been on the market since July, switched to “contingent” on listing services on Friday, indicating a preliminary deal has been struck with a buyer. The sale is not final, but if it brings in anywhere near its $8.8 million asking price, it would be the most expensive home sold in Highland Park since Michael Jordan’s former home at 2700 Point Lane sold for $9.5 million last year.

The sellers are Jerrold Senser, former CEO of Chicago investment firm Institutional Capital, and his wife, Naomi Ragins Senser. The pair run the philanthropic organization the Senser Foundation.

The Sensers bought the home, built in 1978, for $6.5 million in 2006, property records show. They did extensive renovations to the interior between 2006 and 2008, the listing says. The three-story house includes a 4,400-square-foot finished basement, pushing the total usable space over 14,000 square feet.

The major draw, though, is its more than 200 feet of protected private beachfront, said listing agent Stephanie Hofman of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate. The property includes metal stairs and a tram going down the bluff to the beach, along with a deck and a boathouse.

The Sensers built a retaining wall and undertook rehab projects on the bluff to protect it from erosion in 2009 and 2015, the listing says. Hofman said the sellers overhauled the property’s drainage and installed breakwaters to preserve the shoreline.

“They did these very specific and intentional improvements to maintain the integrity of the property and to ensure that the next owners would really not have to have any concern going forward for a long time,” Hofman said.

Hofman has the listing alongside Erin Smith, also of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate.

Securing permits and executing construction on lakefront bluffs is often difficult and expensive, so the well-maintained beachfront and amenities may have been a draw for the buyer. The listing stated the home’s deck and boathouse were “grandfathered in,” meaning the structures would be impossible to build under current regulations.

“You can do more than just sit and look at the lake,” Hofman said. “You have storage for your jet skis, your kayaks, your sailboats, and you can really enjoy the lake as it’s meant to be enjoyed.”

The deal is the latest action in the high-end North Shore lakefront market, which has seen a huge surge in demand in recent years for the relatively few lakefront properties. Only one other home with private beach frontage is currently listed for sale in Highland Park. That 10,800-square-foot mansion at 2441 Woodbridge Lane has been on the market since 2019, and is currently asking $6 million.