There’s likely just one place in Chicago where owners of MLB teams call each other neighbors and where their multimillion-dollar mansions are located just a few baseballs tosses away.
That pocket is located on the border of the Lincoln Park and Old Town neighborhoods. In the span of a quarter-mile are homes for owners of the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, and formerly, an owner of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Last week, the White Sox announced that principal owner Jerry Reinsdorf entered an agreement to potentially sell majority ownership to Justin Ishbia between 2029 and 2033.
When that happens, Ishbia, a current minority owner and head of private equity firm Shore Capital Partners, will be the newest MLB majority owner to call North Orchard Street home.
A few houses down, Dodgers majority owner Mark Walter (who claimed to be a Cubs fan as a child, according to a book chronicling his purchase of the Dodgers) resides, and a street over on North Burling Street, the Rays’ part-owner Timothy Mullen lived until 2019.
The small enclave of 1800 to 2000 North Burling Street, North Orchard, and North Howe is known by agents and residents as some of the Chicago's most prestigious streets, often touted as such in for-sale home listings.
“I work with people from all over the place, and everybody wants those streets,” said Lincoln Park resident and agent Jim Abbott with Baird & Warner.
Home plate for MLB owners
Ishbia also owns a majority of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury with his brother, Mat Ishbia, and has minority ownership of the MLS team Nashville SC. He paid $12.5 million in 2021 to purchase his North Orchard address, according to media reports. Two years later, he bought the adjacent 4,100-square-foot $5.7 million home, which he reportedly demolished.
But Ishbia is more well known for his under-construction mansion in the north Chicago suburb of Winnetka, Illinois, where he’s purchased three multimillion-dollar homes in order to demolish them and build a much larger home on the lakefront, according to plans approved by Winnetka in December 2022. Ishbia also purchased a nonadjacent fourth home with plans to work with the town to trade that parcel for a portion of the public park. That request failed in January after a resident sued.
It’s been reported that the total cost will exceed $70 million including construction, according to a building permit obtained by the Chicago Tribune, making it the most expensive home in the state.
Walter, CEO of financial firm Guggenheim Partners and owner of the Los Angeles Sparks WNBA team, has owned a property on the prestigious Lincoln Park block since 2004, according to public records.
In January 2024, he sold a 6,700-square-foot home on North Orchard for $4.2 million. In 2014, Walter built a 26,000-square-foot mansion on the same street, public records show.
The city’s priciest, record-breaking asking prices and sales often occur in this sliver of the city.
Rivaling Walter’s megamansion on Orchard Street was insurance executive Richard Parrillo’s 25,000-square-foot home on Burling, which was listed in 2016 for $50 million. It sold last year for $15.25 million, according to public records, making it the priciest single-family home sale in the city’s history.
Rays owner Mullen listed a 20,000-square-foot mansion with seven bedrooms and 13 bathrooms for $18.75 million in 2014. The Burling Street home sold eventually for $13.34 million in 2015, according to Homes.com data.
Culmination of proximity and prestige
There are more than just MLB owners on these blocks, with other billionaire names calling the streets home for the past several decades, such as members of the wealthy Pritzker family with ties to Illinois business and politics.
“People just want that address,” said Abbott, who likens the draw similarly to when the city’s elite home buyers were drawn to the No. 9 Walton condominium building in the Gold Coast and the lakefront tower at 2550 N. Lakeview Ave.
It should be noted that Ishbia also owns a condo at No. 9 Walton he purchased in 2018 for $5.57 million, according to public records.
The Burling-Orchard-Howe area is well positioned for easy access to some of the city’s most regarded amenities. Lincoln Park is located about 5 miles north of downtown and is within 3 miles of top-rated schools, according to Homes.com, such as Francis W. Parker School and Latin School of Chicago.
The blocks are also less than a mile from Halsted Street, which has popular restaurants, including the city’s three-Michelin-starred Alinea, and boutiques.
“In a five-block circumference, you’re going to have all that,” said Abbott.
The agent noted the lots are also larger than the city’s usual 25 feet, with many at 40 feet or more. There’s been a decadeslong trend of demolishing homes to make way for larger, newer ones, and at any given time, there’s likely a new construction project happening.
Currently, there’s an under-construction home for sale at 1867 N. Burling listed for $10 million. There’s also a 2010-built home at 1853 N. Burling for $9.45 million, and another 2010-built 7,800-square-foot home at 1970 N. Burling at $6.9 million.
The neighborhood overall has a more modest median sale price of $457,450, according to Homes.com data, with an average price per square foot of $464.