Michael Jordan's Highland Park Mansion Goes Up For Sale
UPDATED 02/29/12 9:32 p.m.
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- Michael Jordan's Highland Park mansion is up for sale for $29 million.
A news release announced that Baird & Warner placed Jordan's longtime home, at 2700 Point Dr. in Highland Park, on the market Wednesday. The compound includes 56,000 square feet of space on three levels, including nine bedrooms, five fireplaces, and more than 15 bathrooms, the release said.
The house was built between 1993 and 1995, in accordance with Jordan's exact specifications. Its surrounding estate also features a three-bedroom guest house, an indoor-outdoor pool and entertaining area, a tennis court, a putting green, a deep-water pond, and three multi-car garages, the release said.
The estate also features an indoor basketball complex with its own entrance, which was completed in 2001. The complex features a full-size basketball court, and a special sound system.
The estate is located just off Half Day Road, a short distance west of Skokie Valley Road.
Businessman Lou Weisbach used to live next door. He remembers the distinctive number 23 on the gate of the mansion.
"The purpose of it was not to show off that he was Michael Jordan, but so that people wouldn't beat down his fence and his gate, trying to meet him and see him," Weisbach said. "They could take photographs in front of his property and prove to people that they were."
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Weisbach says there was never any shortage of sight-seers.
"Every weekend there would be 1,500 to 2,000 cars that would drive in," he said. "In Japan, the number one place to visit in Chicago was Michael Jordan's house so we would get a lot of people from the Far East."
Weisbach was in the house several times and describes as very elegant and very modern. He also remembers the golf balls that used to come flying from Jordan's yard all the time.
While Highland Park is known as an affluent suburb, you won't find too many other houses with quite such steep asking prices.
"It's top of the heap. It's definitely top of the heap by a long-shot," said realtor Marisa Hopkins, of the Highland Park Coldwell banker office. "The next close is about $17.5 (million), and that's in Barrington Hills.
Hopkins also has the "Home Alone" house in Winnetka listed.
"I think the biggest factor a celebrity has on a home is giving it visibility," Hopkins said. "The world will know that Michael Jordan's home is for sale."
But whoever buys the house should expect to take a hit with the property taxes.
"According to the Lake County Assessor, what he is billed is $165,489.91," Hopkins said.
The assessor puts the fair market value of the estate at just under $8 million.
Michael Jordan and his ex-wife, Juanita, raised their sons, Jeffrey and Marcus, and their daughter, Jasmine, in the mansion. Michael and Juanita Jordan divorced in 2006.
Jordan fans near the home in Highland Park said they'd love to be able to take a stroll up the elaborate walkway and catch a glimpse of the full-sized basketball court inside, dreaming of all the treasures that would sit beyond it.
Matthew Agin said he would love to see "where he keeps his trophies and stuff."
You can just imagine Jordan kicking back in the massive den.
Samantha Agin said, "I wonder who's gonna buy it."
There's also the super-futuristic kitchen and its huge center island; a far cry from the Highland Park kitchen where Jordan fan, Jose Hernandez fills orders at Walker Brothers' The Original Pancake House.
Hernandez said the Jordan mansion would be the best thing a true fan could own.
"I would buy it. I mean, like, it's Michael Jordan," he said.
But he knows a winning lottery ticket would be the only way he'd ever come close.
"I could play the lottery, like, every day to see if I could win it," Hernandez said.
