Trouble-plagued former Chicago Bears defensive end Alonzo Spellman has sold his nine-room, three-bedroom Buffalo Grove condominium for $325,000.
The Bears’ first-round draft choice in 1992, Spellman had disappointing on-field performances during his six-year career with the team and many emotional and legal problems that culminated in erratic off-field behavior — including a 10-hour standoff in 1998 while barricaded in the Tower Lakes home of his publicist and a subsequent stay in a psychiatric ward — that ultimately led to Spellman’s release.
Court records have shown that Spellman has little left of the millions he earned with the Bears. Last fall, he had a successful rebirth as a defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys, making the minimum $400,000 plus up to another $450,000 per year in incentives.
Originally listed for $329,000, Spellman’s former condo is in the Woodlands of Fiore development and was built in 1990.
Co-listing agent Sandy Limacher of Coldwell Banker said she knew of no recent financial problems related to Spellman’s ownership of the condo. In fact, she and co-listing agent Stephanie Absler got the listing through a random “floor call” by Spellman to their firm.
“(Spellman) had a lot of upgrades in the unit that were not standard,” Limacher said. “There were multiple offers on the unit, because it’s a hot market, but also because people like living over there.”
The unit, at 2352 Magnolia Ct., has a family room with a wet bar and a marble fireplace, a breakfast room that overlooks a golf course and new carpeting throughout. It was on the market for just nine days before going under contract.
– Microsoft founder Bill Gates recently got mail: a more than $1 million annual property-tax bill for his seven-bedroom, 48,000-square-foot mansion on the eastern shore of Lake Washington near Seattle.
According to reports, the five-acre estate at 1865 73rd Avenue N.E. in Medina, Wash., has shot up in value since its last assessment, primarily because of Seattle’s thriving real estate market.
The 20-room mansion itself was valued by King County assessors at $97.6 million, while they valued his land at an additional $11.8 million.
The result? The world’s richest man, whose estimated net worth is more than $100 billion, must pay considerably more in property taxes than the more than $600,000 tax bill he protested — but eventually paid — in 1997.
Features in Gates’ mansion, which was completed several years ago and is believed to be the highest-valued single-family residence in the U.S., include 52 miles of fiber optic cable, a trampoline room, a 20-seat theater, an arcade, a 24-screen video wall, a swimming pool with an underwater music system, and touch sensitive panels that control climate, lighting and music.
Outside, the property boasts a man-made trout stream with its own salmon run.
How does Gates’ tax bill compare to some of the Chicago area’s highest tax bills? Michael Jordan’s seven-acre Highland Park estate has an annual tax bill of $115,419. Frank Thomas’ three-acre Oak Brook property has an annual tax charge of $93,247, and Chip Beck’s former mansion in Lake Forest carries a $53,386-a-year tax bill.
Other area mansions that have been featured in this column have included the former Glencoe estate of Sequel Capital’s Harvey Kinzelberg, with an annual tax bill of $60,763; Clubhouse Restaurant chain co-founder Keith Rudman’s estate at 419 Sheridan Rd. in Winnetka — which is for sale for $11.5 million — with an annual tax bill of $60,019; and the mansion in unincorporated Wheaton of Michael Rice, CEO of Aon Services Group, with an annual tax bill of more than $64,000. The mansion of Land Investors Ltd.’s Steven Goldman at 110 Maple Hill Rd. in Winnetka, which is listed for $12 million, carries a lower tax bill, of $47,666, while condo developer Bob Starnes’ estate in Barrington Hills, which is available for $3.995 million, has a tax bill of $24,546.
Finally, Oprah Winfrey’s multimillion-dollar condominium in Water Tower Place has an annual tax bill of “only” $19,831, while the Lincoln Park penthouse of Christie Hefner, Playboy Enterprises chairman and CEO — purchased in 1995 from Susan Wexler for $1.5 million — has a similarly modest tax bill of $23,140.
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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
