Former WMAQ-Channel 5 reporter and fill-in anchor Robin George has sold her 10-room single-family house in south Wilmette for $949,000.
George, a 10-year veteran of “NBC-5,” recently left Channel 5 to be with her husband, William George, who had been transferred with his job to California.
The Georges had purchased the house, at 519 Gregory Ave. in the suburb in 1997 for $430,000 at the same time that they sold a house at 3811 N. Hermitage Ave. in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood for $405,000, according to public records.
Since that time, they have significantly expanded and renovated the Wilmette house, prompting a major increase in value. The Georges listed the five-bedroom house earlier this year for $1.045 million. .
Features in the house include two fireplaces, an eat-in kitchen, a backyard patio, a wrap-around porch, a basement rec room and new furnaces, according to listing information.
The Georges recently paid $1.325 million for a single-amily house in the San Fernando Valley suburb of La Canada Flintridge, Calif., according to public records.
Christina Fawcett of Coldwell Banker’s Winnetka office was George’s listing agent for the house in Wilmette.
– In an update to an item here on March 21, a brand-new lakefront home in Highland Park that was one of the North Shore’s most expensive listings at the time it was on the market earlier this year has sold for $3.25 million.
The 12-room, 7,000-square-foot house, at 25 Oakmont Drive in Highland Park, originally was listed for $4.25 million, an asking price that has been far surpassed in recent months by five other North Shore properties, all of which has been listed for in excess of $11 million.
The house, with a DeGiulio kitchen, oak floors, walls of glass, soaring ceilings and all-new landscaping outside, sits on a two-acre property that includes 318 feet of private beach.
The buyer was Highland Park resident Judith Eiserman, while the seller was Albert Cheris, according to public records.
As reported here previously, the upper stratosphere of North Shore listings in recent months has included a mansion at 419 Sheridan Rd. in Winnetka, listed for $11.9 million; an estate home at 110 Maple Hill Rd. in Glencoe, on the market for $12 million; an 18-room mansion at 1249 Sheridan Rd. in Highland Park, for sale for $11.9 million; and a mansion at 1700 Meadow Ln. in western Highland Park, listed for $12 million.
In addition, an 11-room Colonial mansion at 595 Sheridan Rd. in Winnetka, which sold in July for $12 million, soon may have a date with the wrecking ball.
The seven-bedroom mansion, which sits on a more than three-acre lot, was sold by the estate of Hazel Brodie, who died last year, to a partnership known as Enterprise Entertainment that apparently is controlled by Internet mogul George Garrick, according to public records.
Brodie’s deceased first husband, candy company heir Edwin Brach, had owned the mansion since 1924. Now, Garrick and the partnership have submitted a demolition application for the mansion, and the future plans for the property are uncertain.
Garrick is a longtime entrepreneur and angel investor who as the chairman and chief executive officer of Flycast Communications grew the Internet company from a 30-person firm to a publicly traded corporation that was sold early this year to CMGI.
He has owned several properties in Winnetka over the years, beginning with his purchase in late 1997 of former Channel 2 weather forecaster Paul Douglas’ house at 98 Locust Rd. in Winnetka for $1.315 million.
Garrick’s other recent real estate transactions include paying $410,000 for a 23rd-floor condominium in the One Magnificent Mile building in downtown Chicago last December.
He sold that same unit last month for $430,000, purchasing a single-family house in Winnetka in May for $1.775 million and selling the Locust Road house in early 1999 for $1.38 million, according to public records.
Garrick is just the latest high-tech titan to be involved in buying a high-priced property in the Chicago area. Red Hat Software co-founder Marc Ewing paid $6.95 million late last year for a mansion at 443 Sheridan Rd. in Glencoe, while Inforte chairman, president and CEO Philip Bligh paid $4 million in May for a Gold Coast mansion at 1401 North Astor St.
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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
