Oakley Buys Burr Ridge Equestrian Estate Below Asking Price

A Downers Grove-based developer acquired a Burr Ridge horse property for $6 million, taking a 40 percent discount from the original asking price to plot a new active-adult subdivision.

Jacqueline Laase Parrillo sold Saddle Hill Farm, a 7.6-acre estate on County Line Road, to Oakley Home Builders. The property hit the market in August asking $10 million. Megan McCleary of Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty represented the seller. She declined to comment to Crain’s, which first reported the closing price. No broker was listed for the buyer.

The deal extends Burr Ridge’s run of increased developer appetite for the few available multi-acre estates. In February, a 4.7-acre property on Madison Street sold for $3.5 million. Tower Real Estate Development is preparing that site, located a mile from Saddle Hill Farm, for eight single-family homes priced between $2.1 million and $2.7 million.

Oakley went under contract for the Saddle Hill property earlier this year, and plans to demolish Saddle Hill’s 1940s-era main house, barn and paddocks. In an April presentation to the Burr Ridge Plan Commission, the developer pitched a 16-home community geared toward buyers aged 55 and older. Plans call for 3,700-square-foot homes featuring first-floor primary suites, step-free access, and walk-in showers. A homeowners association will manage all exterior maintenance.

The proposal includes preserving 1.5 acres as green space, adding a pond, neighborhood pocket parks, and a walking path. The April pitch was informational. Oakley must secure a zoning change to build 16 homes, as current zoning caps density at eight. Oakley principals Steve Sobkowiak and Ryan Dunham didn’t return the publication’s requests for comment.

Parrillo and her ex-husband bought the original four-acre farm for $1.65 million in 2002, adding adjacent acreage in 2007. The property previously belonged to highway builder Irving Harbour in the 1960s. Oakley purchased Saddle Hill Farm strictly as a teardown for site redevelopment.

The $6 million closing marks the second-priciest Burr Ridge transaction in five years. The top sale remains the $6.9 million purchase of a Lee Court mansion in 2022 by the mother of late rapper Juice WRLD.

— Sam Lounsberry