Widow of Chicago developer sells waterfront Fort Lauderdale home for $9M

Property last sold in 1990 for $650K, house was completed in 1992

The widow of a Chicago real estate developer sold a waterfront Fort Lauderdale home for $8.5 million to a local investor of commercial properties.

Property records show Donna Krilich sold the house at 851 Flamingo Drive to Aiton and Donna Yaari. The Yaaris financed their purchase with a $6.25 million mortgage from Krilich, records show.

Kirilich is the widow of Robert R. Krilich, a homebuilder and developer who constructed thousands of single-family homes, townhomes and apartments in Chicago, according to published reports. He died in March of last year at age 90.

He served two stints in federal prison. In 1971 he received an 18-month sentence for income tax evasion, and he later served nine years after he was found guilty in 1995 for repeatedly bribing Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois officials for support of his unbuilt, 91.8-acre project, according to an obituary in the Chicago Tribune. In recent years, he split his time between homes in Fort Lauderdale and Oakbrook Terrace, the obituary states.

Yaari is a Fort Lauderdale investor who paid $32 million for an assemblage of commercial properties on Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard in 2017, and sold a retail building for $18.7 million, also in 2017.

The 6,795-square-foot Fort Lauderdale house has six bedrooms, five full bathrooms and one half-bathroom, and sits on a quarter-acre, according to Realtor.com.

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It was listed in August for $10.5 million, according to Realtor.com. Rory Vanucchi with Florida Luxurious Properties had the listing. Evie Fortney with Compass represented the buyer.

The Krilichs bought the property in 1990 for $650,000, and completed the house in 1992, records show.

This is the latest in a series of Fort Lauderdale luxury sales, amid continuing demand.

Last month, the president of a drone manufacturer and his wife paid $6.8 million for a waterfront Fort Lauderdale home, after selling a Coconut Grove mansion for $19 million several months earlier. Also in February, a Québec real estate guru bought a waterfront spec house for $9 million.

In December, a billionaire car auction magnate paid $15.5 million for a waterfront teardown in Fort Lauderdale.

And in October, Los Angeles Chargers’ Joey Bosa bought a waterfront home in Fort Lauderdale for $5.8 million.