Groupon co-founder and CEO Eric Lefkofsky recently bought a 15,800-square-foot mansion located on Lake Michigan in Glencoe. The vintage mansion located in the Chicago area was purchased for the hefty price of $19.5 million in cash, and has become the most expensive residential purchase in the Chicago-area, according to a report from the Chicago Tribune.
Big amount paid
The estate was purchased back in August by Lefkofsky through a Delaware corporation. The beneficiaries of the trust are Chicago-based Equity Group co-president David Helfand and his wife, philanthropist Leslie Bluhm.
The mansion was not listed in the real estate multiple listing services, therefore details about the interior of the mansion are not available. A pool and a tennis court both can be found on the property.
The amount paid by Groupon CEO is the biggest for a residential property in the Chicago-area. The second highest sale price was bagged by the federal government in 2006, when it sold a convicted insurance magnate Mickey Segal’s massive Highland Park estate for $19 million to a builder named Orren Pickell Designers & Builders.
Groupon CEO wants to expand the mansion
The mansion, built in 1917, is located on a private road, and architect Howard Van Doren Shaw designed it. In 2002, an attempt to demolish the French Normandy-style mansion were made by an earlier owner named Andrew Rosenthal. At that time, protests from preservationists prevented the demolition. In 2002, the estate was sold by Rosenthal to Helfand for $8 million. A combination of recomstruction and expansion efforts were undertaken by architect Marvin Herman, who was hired by Helfand.
The Groupon CEO wants the mansion to be expanded further. A building permit was submitted by Lefkofsky to Glencoe officials last month requesting the addition of an 800-square-foot, one story section that will include a gym and a spa (costing $697,000). For the expansion, he has hired Chicago-based Studio Gang Architects. According to the building permit, the mansion has two-car garage, and an interior renovation that will also be designed by the architect.
In 2001, billionaire entrepreneur Lefkovsky co-founded InnerWorkings, which is a Chicago-based marketing execution firm. Thereafter, he started few more companies, and in 2007, he co-founded ThePoint.com, which is now known as Groupon. In 2013, he was appointed as CEO of Groupon.
