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Chicago

Waterfront Lake Geneva estate sold for $14M in priciest deal this year

Deal in resort town tops priciest sales in Chicago-area this year, and all Lake Geneva deals since October

Geneva Lakefront Realty's David Curry; Lake Geneva mansion (Mike Schwartz/Morgante Wilson, Geneva Lakefront Realty, Getty)
Geneva Lakefront Realty's David Curry; Lake Geneva mansion (Mike Schwartz/Morgante Wilson, Geneva Lakefront Realty, Getty)

A Lake Genevison mansion recently sold for more than any Chicago-area home this year.

Buyers, whose identities have not been revealed, paid $14 million for the 8,700-square-foot house on Loramoor Drive in an off-market deal, Crain’s reported. David Curry of Geneva Lakefront Realty represented the buyer and seller.

The sale price was more than any Chicago-area transaction this year and the highest in Lake Geneva since October 2022, when a 12,280-square-foot home at W3415 Snake Road sold for $17 million. The priciest Chicago-area sale so far this year had been Ken Griffin’s condo on Michigan Avenue that traded for $11.2 million in January.

The recent Lake Geneva sale marked an example of buyers paying the full asking price, which has been rare for waterfront homes on Lake Michigan closer to Chicago’s North Shore and downtown. Last month, a Gold Coast mansion originally listed at $10.2 million sold for $6.5 million, for instance.

In vacation towns nearby the city, though, prices have kept rising despite the overall slowdown in transactions, because sellers have leverage over buyers due to a lack of listings.

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The Lake Geneva home hit the market in April. The sellers of the estate were John and Sarah Cobb, who bought the 1.4-acre site for about $2.15 million in 2016, the outlet reported, citing Walworth County records. The couple later tapped Morgante Wilson Architects to design the six-bedroom home. John Cobb is a former executive at Ventas, a real estate investment trust company that specializes in health care-related assets.

The mansion rises three stories, with the first floor wrapped in stone. One of its unique features is a catwalk that runs through the roof trusses. Outside there’s a pool, large terrace and a pier with two boat slips.

The last Lake Geneva sale to eclipse the $14 million mark occurred in October, though the home no longer exists. James Conlon, the previous owner of Elite Manufacturing Technologies, purchased a 20-acre lakefront estate off Snake road for $17 million, and demolished the existing mansion to make way for a rebuild.

That home, known as Villa Hortenstein, originally belonged to members of the Swift meat-packing family dating back to 1906, when the 12,400-square-foot main structure was first built.

— Quinn Donoghue 

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Geneva Lakefront RealtyDavid CurryJohn CobbSarah Cobb
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LakefrontMansionSaleSuburban ChicagoWaterfront