Chicago Blackhawks forward Tony Amonte and his wife, Laurie, have sold their luxury, two-story condominium in the DePaul area for $290,000.
Amonte, 27, played on the U.S. Olympic team last winter and was named to his second NHL All-Star team. Last summer, he signed a five-year contract with the Hawks worth $14.5 million to $16.5 million that will pay $2.8 million a year through 2001.
The two-story, five-bedroom loft, which Amonte bought for about $250,000 last year, originally was listed for $289,900 but later was increased to $295,000. The unit, in the Altgeld Court development, contains a fireplace, bleached hardwood floors, surround sound, a master suite with a marble bath, a whirlpool, new halogen track lights and granite countertops, according to listing information.
The Amontes have moved west to the Embassy Club townhouse development in Lincoln Park, where teammate Serge Krivokrasov bought a condo last year for $383,000.
Altgeld Court, a former production factory whose exterior walls were left intact, was completed in 1991.
Marsha Lazar of Rubloff Residential Properties had the listing.
– Harpo Entertainment Group President Jeffrey Jacobs and his wife have sold a 16-room, East Lake View mansion for $3 million.
Jacobs, who heads up Oprah Winfrey’s production company, had listed the 73-year-old, totally renovated mansion at 330 W. Wellington St. for $3.975 million. It also had been offered as a rental for $15,000 a month.
The French neo-classical home has seven bedrooms, inlaid hardwood floors and “handsome fireplaces,” according to listing information.
“It’s common knowledge that the house sold for $3 million,” said listing agent Patricia MacFarland of Rubloff Residential Properties, who confirmed that Jacobs was the seller.
According to public records, the buyer was James Malackowski, a principal with IPC Group, which consults in issues related to intellectual property and trademarks.
Jacobs continues to own and live in his principal Chicago residence, occupying an entire floor of a historic North Lakeview Avenue co-op, which he bought in 1995 for $2.4 million, according to the multiple listing service. That 15-room, eight-bedroom unit has four wood-burning fireplaces, a spa with sauna and Jacuzzi, and original wood paneling in the library and dining room. Neighbors in the building include movie critic Gene Siskel, who occupies an entire floor, and architect Helmut Jahn, who lays claim to all of another floor.
– A three-story, Tudor-style home overlooking the Skokie Country Club in Glencoe has been sold for $900,000 in cash to a buyer who plans to tear down the home and build a new one.
The home, which sits on 1.43 acres at 750 Prairie Rd., once was owned by Bruce Sears, who recently was charged with hiring a hit man to try to kill a business associate in order to collect a $1.9 million life insurance policy. Sears lived in the home until his arrest last April, but reportedly was strapped for cash and had almost $144,000 in liens on his property by the IRS for back taxes. FBI agents who searched the home after his arrest said he had not been evicted from his house because of financial help from friends.
In 1996, Sears’ north suburban mail-order company was shut down by the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly defrauding customers. He later agreed to be permanently banned from the mail-order industry.
The seller, a local lender, was represented by David Kaufman & Co., while the buyer was represented by Sue Apter of Coldwell Banker Kahn Realty.
– Around the U.S.: The July issue of In Style tells us singer Mariah Carey has moved to Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where she’s renting three floors of a town home where some scenes of the film “The First Wives Club” were filmed.
The unit, which In Style says is in “one of the city’s most elegant enclaves,” is owned by a thirtysomething investment banker. The location definitely is more convenient for Carey to date her latest beau, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.
While the interior of Carey’s town home is heavily photographed by In Style, Carey, 28, probably won’t be buying the unit anytime soon, and likely won’t be there long, because it lacks space for a workout facility and closet space.
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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
