Cubs Chairman Sells Wilmette House For $2.5 Million

WILMETTE, IL — Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts and his wife, Cecelia, closed a $2.5 million sale on their former Wilmette residence with construction complete on their new nearby lakefront home. The estimated cost to build the recently-constructed mansion beside Gillson Beach is more than $17 million.

The former Ricketts home was a 1924 Colonial-style with eight bedrooms and nearly 3,500 square feet in the 500 block of Laurel Avenue. They purchased it in 2004 for $1 million, according to public records.

The listing and the sale were placed into public real estate listings simultaneously Thursday, suggesting a deal had been worked out off-market ahead of time, according to the Chicago Tribune's Elite Street column. The buyers have not been identified.

The new Ricketts home was built at an estimated cost of more than $10 million on land purchased in 2013 by a Delaware-based LLC bearing the name of its address in the 1000 block of Michigan Avenue. Demolition of the 5,400-square-foot 1917 home formerly on the 0.67-acre site was completed in 2016, Crain's reported.

In July 2017, the Rickettses' representatives requested an exception to village zoning code to allow for a 6 1/2 foot fence in their front yard. It said the larger fence was needed to prevent illegal access to the beach and swimming pool, noting the needs of its famous owners.

"The owners are people of national prominence, and without proper security features will not be able to reasonably enjoy their property," it said. The Wilmette Zoning Board of Appeals recommended their request be denied, but it was later granted by the full village board.

According to the Cook County assessor's office, the new home is over 10,000 square feet, with eight bedrooms, 8 full baths and 3 half baths and four fireplaces. It has an estimated 2018 market value of $8,243,630.

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