Huge new Ishbia estate to cost $44M 

UPDATED April 13, 8:15 p.m.

Billionaire Justin Ishbia and his wife Kristen’s future Winnetka estate will shatter records for Illinois’ priciest home if their grand plans come to fruition following the demolitions of three lakefront homes to clear land for the project.

The new mansion, measuring at a whopping 68,300 square feet on 3.7 acres, has a price tag of $43.7 million, the Chicago Tribune reported, citing construction permit records released filed with the North Shore suburb’s government. The project’s total cost amounts to $77.7 million, including what the Ishbias paid for the three homes that were torn down in preparation for the epic estate, located on Lake Michigan’s shore.

That price point would far surpass the current record for the most anyone has ever paid for a single residence in the Chicago metro, held by Ken Griffin’s $58.75 million acquisition of four floors at the No. 9 Walton condo building in the Near North Side.

The $77 million amount doesn’t even include a $6.2 million house on a nearby property that the couple bought in 2020, which is currently in the process of a potential land swap between the Ishbias and the Winnetka Park District. The latest negotiations entail the house being given to the district to fulfill its goal of bringing together two lakefront parks now separated by the residential parcel, while the couple receives a half acre of Centennial Park to add to its development site.

Village officials have yet to approve the application, and many details of the new mansion remain to be seen, but tentative plans include both an indoor and outdoor swimming pool. The Ishbias have hired New York architectural firm Ferguson & Shamamian to build the estate, the outlet reported.

Justin Ishbia is the co-founder of Shore Capital and recently attained an ownership stake in the professional basketball teams the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury, alongside his brother Mat. The couple also owns a $12.5 million, 8,229-square-foot Lincoln Park mansion and a 30th-floor condo at 9 West Walton Street that they purchased for $5.6 million in 2018.

— Quinn Donoghue 

This story was updated to correct the spelling of Justin Ishbia’s surname.