This Lincoln Park Mansion Is For Sale ... For $18.75 Million

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 27, 2015 9:30PM

According to a recently released S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, Chicago area home prices fell in November. It was the third consecutive month that home prices fell and put November home prices up only 2 percent from the previous year.

But there are still reasons to be bullish about the real estate market. Realty website Zillow regularly lists the most expensive home listings in Chicago, but the most expensive listing is missing.

This Lincoln Park mansion at 1955 N. Burling Place has been listed since last June for $18.75 million—the most expensive listing for a single family home in Chicago. And the asking price has not been slashed since, a sign the realtors believe they can sell it at that price, if not the owners being obstinate.

And who are the owners? Tim and Alicia Mullen. Tim Mullen is a private investor who is a part-owner of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays. Mullen frequently drops serious coin on Democratic Party candidates like President Obama and, most recently, Rahm Emanuel’s re-election campaign. He was also a member of Emanuel's inaugural team.

We called KoenigRubloff Realty Group for an update on their attempts to sell the home. We were told there have been several private showings of the 20,000 square-foot mansion with seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms and five half-baths, a six-car garage, an indoor pool, a private guest house and six fireplaces. Built in 1999, it takes up five city lots and was designed by architect Wayne Zediker for the late tech mogul Robert Bernard and wife Elisa. The Bernards sold the home to the Mullens in 2002 for a then-record $9.5 million. The current property taxes on this home are $165,480, which is a price in the range of what we would be looking for in a home if we were seriously looking.