An 11,000-square-foot lakefront home in Kenilworth, Illinois, has sold for a fraction of its original listing price.
The suburban Chicago home was listed publicly in 2022 for $14 million before closing at $6.8 million Thursday. Listing agent Nancy Nugent of Jameson Sotheby's International Realty said the unidentified buyer plans to demolish the five-bedroom, nine-bathroom home and build a new one in its place, a common move for lakefront mansions in this area.
“We had a very astute buyer that understood the vagaries of going to the village to get permitting, et cetera,” said Nugent in an interview with Homes.com. “He had an excellent attorney with familiarity, and that was very attractive to us because several offers we had were from buyers who had a lofty idea and didn’t know how to go about it.”
The home sits on a double lot and 1.59 acres on Lake Michigan, an attractive draw for buyers looking for new development.
When listed in 2022, the home would have broken Kenilworth records for the highest sale.
Still, the $6.8 million price is the second-highest sale in the village in the past year, according to Homes.com data. Kenilworth’s highest sale ever was a newly constructed $11.75 million home on Sheridan Road in July 2020, according to media reports.
Nugent calls the original price “ambitious” but said at the time of the listing, there were few lakefront estates on the market, adding to demand. The sellers were also the children of the recently deceased homeowner, with no urgency to sell. The seller used the second lot for a sculpture garden, featuring contemporary works from artists such as John Henry, who has a towering blue steel sculpture on Chicago’s lakefront called “Chevron.”
Recent market moves
The sale comes a week after Chicago saw its most expensive resale ever at $31.25 million for a nearly 14,000-square-foot lakefront mansion in Winnetka, just 1 mile north of the Kenilworth sale and also on Sheridan Road.
Nugent, who specializes in the area called the North Shore, said her recent transactions have been half for teardown buyers and the other half for user buyers.
“The attraction of the lake, of course, is always paramount. And because these numbers are getting so high and you can see there’s so much value to it and long-term investment … buyers who may be doing a teardown feel a confidence in the lakefront market.”
Kenilworth might soon see its highest sale ever. A $15 million Sheridan Road mansion went pending last week and could break the $11.75 million record set in 2020.
The median sale price in Kenilworth is $1.89 million, according to Homes.com.