The former home of Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon could break another sales record in the suburb of Northbrook, Illinois, if it sells at its asking price of $5.99 million.
The sellers, Yianny Caparos, CEO of food manufacturer Crown Bakeries, and his wife, Annette, are the second owners to live at the 10,286-square-foot estate. The Caparos purchased it in 2013 for $4.25 million from a neighbor who renovated the residence and owned it for three years, but never occupied it.
At the time, it was the most expensive home sale recorded in Northbrook.
McMahon and his wife purchased the land and an adjacent parcel to build the home in July 1986, six months after the Bears won Super Bowl XX, according to public documents. They lived in the Northbrook mansion until 2009, when it sold for $2.85 million.
The one-time home of McMahon, nicknamed the “Punky QB” for his rebellious personality and playing style, includes three levels with two laundry rooms, an office, a second-floor theater room, a bonus room, a recreation room, and a bonus loft accessible through a bedroom, which listing agent Jenny Lim-Spiggos of Coldwell Banker Realty said the sellers’ children would use as a hangout space.
And no athlete’s home is complete without an indoor convertible sports court that can be used for racquetball, soccer, pickleball, or basketball, plus a sauna, steam room, exercise room, and locker rooms.
“The sports court is pretty amazing,” said Lim-Spiggos. “You see a lot of people doing it now but back then, nobody did that.”
The sellers left the interior mostly untouched but funneled about $750,000 into backyard additions, said Lim-Spiggos. The backyard includes an outdoor kitchen, sun deck, rotating spit roaster, updated pool, deck, fire pit, hot tub, and putting green.
It sits on 3 acres off a private road on two separate parcels, one being mostly wooded, said the agent.
“It’s pretty secluded,” said Lim-Spiggos. “A lot of owners in that caliber like their privacy.”
The five-bedroom, 10-bathroom home is the most expensive listing in Northbrook.
Northbrook has an average home value of $825,514, with an average price per square foot of $302, according to Homes.com data. The second-priciest home in Northbrook is a newly built 9,652-square-foot home with six bedrooms and seven bathrooms listed for $3.5 million. It’s been on the market since March.
The current record-holding sale in Northbrook was 1812 Braeside Lane, a 16,671-square-foot home that sold for $4.325 million in 2017, according to Homes.com. The 1998-built home sits on 2.5 acres with an 11-seat movie theater, fitness center, game room, sauna, heated marble floors, and an outdoor sports court, according to the listing.
In the past year, the most expensive home to sell was a 14,500-square-foot home built in 2008 and priced at $207 per square foot, which sold for $2.99 million in January. It sat on the market for 164 days and ultimately closed 14% below the original asking price of $3.495, according to Homes.com.
Lim-Spiggos said most homes built in the area are 4,000 to 7,000 square feet, making McMahon’s former house's size rare. Those homes often sell between $1.5 million and $2 million.
“There’s no exact comparable with this house,” said Lim-Spiggos.
This story was updated June 9 to correct a mention of Jim McMahon living previously in Western Springs, Illinois.