Ann Lurie Renews Efforts To Sell Chicago Homes

It looks like Ann Lurie is getting serious about selling her Chicago homes. She has two of them – a mansion at 1547 N Dearborn and a condo at 189 E Lake Shore Dr, unit 1 W – that she tried selling a little more than a year ago without much luck. Now they are going back on the market – the mansion with more aggressive pricing.
A little more than a year ago Ann put the mansion with a side lot on the market for $18.75 MM: Ann Lurie’s Mansion: Chicago’s Most Expensive House Ever Listed. As my post indicated it was the most expensive home ever listed for sale in Chicago at that time. After it had been on the market for almost a year without selling they split out the side lot and dropped the price of just the home to $15 MM. After a couple of more months the listing expired without a sale.
On Monday the mansion appeared back on the market at a reduced price of $13.75 MM and with a new celebrity realtor. Of course if a home doesn’t sell it must be the realtor’s fault so you should get a new realtor. I love it when they switch realtors and lower the price at the same time. So…if you believe a new realtor has better magic dust then why are you lowering the price? Conversely, if you think it was priced too high then how do you know there was something wrong with the original realtor?
But, hey, it’s entirely possible that Ann was not happy with the original realtor for all sorts of concrete reasons. Now we can’t be sure that this had anything to do with the selection of the new realtor but it is interesting to note that Ann Lurie’s daughter-in-law works for the new realtor.
I will say though that the new photos of the mansion are crisper and brighter than the original photos. See the slideshow below. And here is the new description from the MLS:

Spectacular Gold Coast home, impeccably maintained & restored from original 1891 estate. Original stained glass & woodwork w/elegant modern updates. Miele, Traulsen &Wolf appls & walk-in pantry. Expansive spaces w/custom lighting & frpl’s thruout. Elevator, walkway snow melt, coach hse, separate apt in LL, sprawling English garden, 5car gar. Opportunity for addtl 60′ land & pkg. Truly a home for today’s lifestyle.

The condo was listed in January 2013 one dollar shy of $6 MM but taken off the market by May. It has not been relisted yet but supposedly will still be priced at $6 MM. Obviously there are no photos of it yet but here are some of the particulars on it along with the MLS description:

  • 3 bedrooms
  • 4 1/2 bathrooms
  • 2 garage spaces
  • 5000 sq ft
  • Assessments of $3842/ month
  • With an county estimated market value under $2.2 MM the property taxes are only 38,799 per year.

Incredible zen-inspired renovation of tremendous duplex maisonette in premier East LSD location. Entertainer’s dream. Jaw-dropping living & dining rooms with oversized windows overlooking the lake. Soaring ceilings throughout. Unbelievable Bulthaup kitchen w/ La Cornue range. State-of-the-art lighting/sound/automation. Gorgeous custom built-ins. Lower level media room & wine cellar. Attached 2 car garage pkg included

Once the condo comes back on the market I’ll come back and edit this post rather than do a new post and include any update on the description and the slide show at that time.

#lifestyle
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