Chicago Blackhawks star and newcomer Doug Gilmour has purchased a Lincoln Park brownstone for $920,000, according to public records.
A two-time All-Star center and a fiercely physical competitor, Gilmour, 35, last summer signed a three-year, $18 million contract to join the Hawks from the New Jersey Devils.
As evidence of the strong, high-end real estate market on Chicago’s North Side, Gilmour paid $1,000 more than the listing price of his town home, which was on the market for just two weeks.
The renovated, 10-room, four-bedroom home has three fireplaces, a three-car garage, bay windows, high ceilings and a “huge entertainment area,” according to listing information. One of the home’s principal attractions, however, is its kitchen, which features “cherry cabinets, violetta granite and a commercial stove,” according to its listing.
Gilmour bought the home from Barrie Dekker, who purchased the town home, presumably before its renovation, in June 1993 for $415,000, according to public records.
Gilmour’s brownstone is located on the same street and less than one block west of the town home that Channel 5’s Phil Walters and his wife, Paula Weiss, sold in 1994 for $545,000. The Walters subsequently moved to Northfield.
– In an update from the May 24 Upper Bracket, the 36-acre “Stenning” estate on Snake Road in Lake Geneva, Wis., has sold for $4.65 million, which is the highest selling price in history for a lakefront estate in that area.
Originally listed for $5.45 million, the Stenning was sold to an unidentified buyer, who purchased the property through a bank trust. While an agent at the listing firm, Keefe Real Estate in Lake Geneva, refused to name the buyer, she said the new owner plans to “fix up” the property, which features a classic, 14,000-square-foot Georgian mansion that was built in 1906.
The property has 630 feet of lake frontage, boasts an original landscape plan by Frederick Olmstead and can lay claim to being part of a rare, two-mile stretch of Lake Geneva in which estates have not been subdivided.
The Stenning was listed by the heirs of Daniel Peterkin Jr., former chairman and president of Morton Salt, who died at age 82 in 1988. The property had been in the family for almost 80 years.
“While there are definitely some estates up here that are worth more than that selling price, none of those has ever come on the market,” said an agent at Keefe.
– Have you ever wondered what kinds of homes people in the real estate world buy?
Top mortgage banker Kevin Rocio can provide you with one answer. Rocio, who works for First Home Mortgage Corp. and was the Illinois Association of Mortgage Brokers’ mortgage broker/banker of the year, has purchased one of the central garden town homes at the Kinzie Park development in downtown Chicago for $479,500.
Across the river from the East Bank Club, Kinzie Park eventually will comprise a 34-story and a 7-story building and 82 town homes. The two- and three-bedroom townhouses are priced from about $470,000 to $769,000, while the four-bedrooms can cost close to $1 million.
Rocio’s upward move appears to have been made possible at least in part by the recent sale of his River West loft for $299,900, or more than $100,000 more than he paid for it in December 1995. He called the sale “not a bad return on my investment.”
– Scottie Pippen’s dream house in Lake Forest is definitely on hold.
In an update to the Aug. 30 Upper Bracket, Lake Forest building officials have confirmed that the star forward never has taken out a building permit–and Pippen’s representatives haven’t communicated with them in more than a month–on the star forward’s planned $1.75 million house on 10 acres on Telegraph Road.
“They’ve never filed for a permit, and it’s been at least a month since we heard anything,” said Lake Forest planning official Peter Coutant. “The architect . . . mentioned to us that it was on hold.”
It’s a safe bet there will be no construction activity on that property until the NBA lockout ends, and likely until after Pippen signs a new contract. Whether that contract is with the Bulls likely will determine whether a future builder on that land is Pippen or someone else.
Pippen’s architect, Mark Downey, did not return phone calls.
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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, IL 60611. E-mail: rgoldsbo@enteract.com
