Now that he has some free time on his hands, Michael Jordan has decided to open up an office of sorts–to the tune of $3 million.
His Airness has purchased the 12-room, four-bedroom penthouse at 1100 N. Lake Shore Dr., which he intends to use as an office for his many Chicago-related business deals.
Contrary to reports elsewhere, Jordan spent $3 million and not $4 million on the 8,000-square-foot, 40th-floor penthouse, which was completely rehabbed in 1995. The penthouse first was listed in May 1997 for $3.95 million. Later, its price was lowered to $3.495 million, and again to $3.195 million, when Jordan submitted an offer.
The penthouse’s features include 5 1/2 bathrooms, limestone floors in the foyer, a mahogany library, a media room, landscaped roof garden, sun room and bleached hardwood floors.
According to public records, Jordan purchased the penthouse from Carma McClure, who already has moved out. Public records indicate that the property’s last recorded sale was in 1991, when two bank trusts swapped it for $1.5375 million.
“My clients owned the roof, and that made it a very rare piece of property in the city, since there aren’t many places in the city where the seller owns the roof,” said listing agent Barbara Hammer of Rubloff’s Chicago office.
“Given that there were so few properties available over $2.7 million in the last two years, the fact that it was on the market for 18 months was a reasonable market time. The number of clients who can afford a property of that size and magnitude can fit on the head of a pin.”
Hammer, who does not know if Jordan plans to renovate the penthouse, said its deck has “extraordinary views” to the south, north and partially to the east.
In looking for a new “office,” Jordan reportedly never considered another penthouse that is available, two blocks to the north at 1300 N. Lake Shore. Commercial real estate broker Van Argiris, whose 8,000-square-foot penthouse was featured here on Jan. 17, recently adjusted the price of his property from $5.5 million to $4.4 million in hopes of attracting a buyer.
“(Jordan) just didn’t hear about my penthouse,” Argiris said.
In the Chicago area, Jordan continues to own the mansion he built in 1994 on seven acres in the Architecture Point area of Highland Park.
Jordan’s former coach, Phil Jackson, has lowered the price of his house in north suburban Bannockburn to $749,000 from $799,000. Jackson still owns a vacation home in Montana and also has a house and property in Bearsville, N.Y., which he purchased in December 1997 for $607,000, according to public records.
– A duplexed apartment on the Gold Coast that was designed by noted Chicago architect Stanley Tigerman is on the market for $1.3 million.
The 3,500-square-foot, two-bedroom duplex, located at 1450 N. Dearborn St., is carved out of a mansion that dates to 1877. Features in the duplex, which was renovated in 1990, include 14-foot ceilings, three fireplaces, a circular staircase, a media room and a spacious deck that overlooks a garden.
Nancy Joyce of Baird & Warner’s North Michigan Avenue office is the listing agent.
– Last week, this column covered several high-end listings in Water Tower Place. Another important listing is the six-room condo owned by Marilynn Alsdorf, the art collector and trustee of the Art Institute of Chicago.
It first was listed for $1.699 million, but was lowered to $1.6 million and recently went under contract. Its features include marble floors, halogen track lighting, a revised floor plan, and “superb views” from the tower’s northeast corner, according to listing information.
Marie Campbell of Rubloff had the listing.
– The rest of the story: There’s a certain appropriateness to the name of the street in Fountain Hills, Arizona, on which Chicago Cub pitcher Kerry Wood has just purchased a $276,000 house, which was profiled here last week.
The 21-year-old phenom’s new street is named Richwood Avenue. And the timing couldn’t be better.
Although Wood is not yet eligible for free agency or salary arbitration, Cubs general manager Ed Lynch has said he is working on a multiyear contract extension to keep Wood in Chicago.
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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
