Construction is nearly complete on former Chicago Blackhawk and present team assistant Denis Savard’s estimated $350,000 home in southwest suburban Willow Springs.
Savard’s 17-year National Hockey League career ended when he retired in the summer of 1997. The longtime star center and future Hall of Famer’s No. 18 jersey is scheduled to be retired on Thursday at the United Center, when the Hawks host the Montreal Canadiens, the team to which he was traded in 1990. He will be the fifth Blackhawk so immortalized.
Savard and his wife, Mona, bought the lot in the Willowshire Estates subdivision, which is just east of Hinsdale, last July for $87,000, according to public records. Although a purchase price for the home itself has not been made public, newly constructed houses in the established neighborhood fall in the $290,000 to $400,000 range, according to a local real estate agent. The white, two-story home and two-car garage has an eclectic architectural style. It has few standout features other than a three-sided front room and some minor window treatment on the second floor.
According to a Willow Springs building department official, the home has more than 3,000 square feet and has not yet been approved for occupation. While the exterior has been completed, some minor interior work remains, and no landscaping work has been performed.
A Montreal native, Savard owned a two-story home in the Stonehedge neighborhood in west suburban Wheaton in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In January 1992, he sold that home–which was the site of a July 1990 press conference he held after the Blackhawks had traded him to the Canadiens–for $287,000. Since then, Savard has lived in Montreal full-time.
Before becoming an assistant Hawks coach, Savard worked as the club’s community relations liaison and as coach of prospects in the minor and junior leagues.
– A Eurodollar broker has paid $2.15 million for a 22-room Georgian mansion in Glencoe that sat on the market for an extended period, according to public records.
The massive stone manor, which was billed last year in real estate ads as “Gatsby in Glencoe,” at one time was listed for $3.8 million and reduced last summer to $2.8 million. A local real estate agent who had not listed the home said the nine-bedroom home easily could use $1 million in upgrades.
The home’s location–and lot size–probably stand out most. The mansion sits on three professionally landscaped acres on Sheridan Road and borders a ravine, making it a rare estate property in Glencoe. Other noteworthy features include a pool, a tennis court, a sun-filled garden room, and a living room that boasts an inlaid teak wood floor, a marble fireplace and art deco moldings.
The buyer, Steven Mendes, is founder of SRG Trading Co., one of the largest broker groups in the Eurodollar pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He purchased the property from Lois Teinowitz, according to public records.
– A prominent surgeon from St. Louis has purchased a single-family home on North Astor Street for $1.725 million, according to public records.
Samuel A. Wells Jr., who came to Chicago when he took the job as executive director of the American College of Surgeons, bought the home from a bank trust, according to public records. The property was listed last year for $1.995 million.
Wells resigned as chairman of the Washington University School of Medicine’s surgery department, although he remains on staff at the school as a professor.
– Around the U.S.: Actor Marlon Brando has sold one of his Southern California properties to a restaurateur couple for $265,000, according to public records.
Brando, 73, sold the single-family home in the Studio City area to Michele and Elena Diona, who have owned several eateries in the San Fernando Valley. In addition to his Hollywood Hills mansion on Mulholland Drive, which Brando has owned for many years, the Academy Award-winning actor also owns homes or property in Newport Beach and just outside Beverly Hills. He also bought actress Kristy McNichol’s home in 1992 for $810,000, reportedly for a friend. Brando had owned the Studio City home for at least six years, according to public records.
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Have a tip about a home sale or a piece of property being put on the market that involved a well-known Chicagoan or a well-known piece of Chicago real estate? Write to Upper Bracket, c/o Chicago Tribune, Real Estate section, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill., 60611. E-mail: rgoldsbo@enteract.com
