Ex-Senate Candidate's Winnetka Mansion Gets $1 Million Price Cut

WINNETKA, IL — A longtime personal injury lawyer and former political candidate last month cut the price on his massive French Regency-style mansion in Winnetka to $4.9 million, almost half of its asking price when it was first listed seven years ago.

The 10,500-square-foot property was built in 1964 on 1.45 acres a few blocks south of downtown Winnetka off Willow Road. It includes 18 rooms, with eight bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, a three room master suite with dual baths and a housekeeper suite on the first floor.

Al Hofeld purchased the property in 1987 for $2.3 million. He and his late wife, Freeda, replaced the swimming pool and added a pool house, a cabana, an indoor basketball court and rebuilt the 2,000 solarium, Chicago Magazine reported when they first listed the house for $9.4 million in 2012.

The lower level includes a theater, a billiards room, yoga and exercise rooms, a recreation room, a bar and a sauna, according to its listing. Outside there is a pool, hot tub, roof deck, patio, guest house, tennis court and attached four-car heated garage. The "incomparable" property "represents the ultimate in beauty and lifestyle."

Hofeld, 82, was born in Hyde Park, grew up in Evanston and graduated Evanston Township High School, Harvard and the University of Chicago Law School, according to a 1992 interview with the Chicago Reader. He was president of the Young Democrats in Evanston in the mid-1960s, ran Paul Simon's unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1972 in Evanston, and was on an advisory committee supporting former Mayor Richard M. Daley's run for Cook County state's attorney in 1984.

With the help of prominent political adviser David Axelrod, Hofeld spent more than $3 million of his own money in an attempt to win the Democratic Party primary for U.S. Senate in 1992, a race that was eventually won by Carol Mosely Braun. He ran again for Illinois Attorney General in 1994, losing to Republican Jim Ryan by 10 points. In 1995, fellow personal injury attorney Susan Loggans filed an abortive lawsuit on behalf of one of Hofeld's family members containing allegations of abuse. Loggans withdrew from the case in 2003 and in 2005 an Illinois appellate court affirmed a judge's ruling against her client, according to court records.

Earlier: Former U.S. Senate Candidate's Winnetka Mansion Gets Another Price Cut

The property was last on the market during the summer of 2016, asking for $5.9 million before its listing was removed. It was re-listed on July 29 with its asking price reduced by $1 million.

According to the Cook County Assessor's Office, the home's estimated 2019 market value for taxing purposes is $3.2 million. Its most recent annual property tax bill was nearly $84,000.

Only five houses in Winnetka are listed with higher prices, the most expensive of which is Deborah and Sherwin Jarol's estate — built for more than $41 million and now listed for $9.5 million.

The most expensive suburban home sale of 2019 so far was the $5.15 million purchase of a Tony Grunsfeld-designed lakefront home on Shoreline Court in Glencoe.

• Address: 300 Birch St., Winnetka
• Built: 1964
• Lot Size: 1.45 acres
• Asking Price: $4.9 million in July 2019
• Square Feet: 10,474
• Bedrooms: 8
• Bathrooms: 10 full, 2 half
• Last Sold: $2.3 million in June 1987
• First Listed: $9.4 million in July 2012

Listing information originally appeared on realtor.com. For more information and photos, click here.