An 18,000-square-foot lakefront parcel is being built in Winnetka by the Chicago attorney who led George W. Bush’s legal team in a dispute over Florida ballots in the 2000 U.S. presidential election
A prominent Chicago attorney and his wife, Philip and Janice Beck, are building a $15.6 million dollar lakefront home in Winnetka. Beck is the attorney who led George W. Bush’s legal team in a dispute over Florida ballots in the 2000 U.S. presidential election, turning the Presidency over to Bush. The couple originally purchased the home for $10mm in January 2019, and they have set-out to re-construct the 20-room mansion, an original colonial revival. Construction costs are estimated to exceed $5.43 million in remodeling and replacement. Beck and his wife are tearing down the 112-year-old home on the site and replacing it with an 18,000-square-foot mansion nearly three times its size, according to Crain’s.
An overall investment of $15.43 million by the couple is a record-breaking number for a home purchase and investment for Winnetka. The final cost of the project is likely to be higher than $15.5 million since building permit estimates generally cover only construction of the shell and interior finishes covered by building codes, such as plumbing and utilities, according to Crain’s. While other homes have been built for a greater value, custom-built homes typically don’t appear in public records.
The largest Winnetka home of notable record in the past several years was the Crown property, which transferred for a record $28mm. While the value of the Beck’s property cannot be estimated at this time, their property, with conservative estimates, is justly higher than $15.43 million, as the figure that applications put on permits is a conservative estimate that covers only construction of the shell and interior finishes that are covered by building codes, such as plumbing and utilities. The home sits in a corridor of North Shore suburbs with a number of pricey listings.