After a hiatus of just three years, retired Chicago Cubs great Ryne Sandberg and his wife, Margaret, once again are Chicago-area homeowners, paying $1.1 million last week for a four-bedroom, 4,482-square-foot French country-style house in Lake Bluff.
A Hall of Fame second baseman who, after retiring in 1997, served as a manager in the Cubs minor-league system from 2007 until 2010, Sandberg, 56, rejoined the Cubs in January as an ambassador. He previously had managed the Philadelphia Phillies until abruptly resigning last June.
Although Sandberg has long made Phoenix his offseason home, he also has owned Chicago-area properties for all but five of the past 31 years.
Built in 2005, Sandberg’s new 14-room stone and stucco house sits on 4 acres and is just a stone’s throw from Lake Michigan. Features include five baths, travertine and hardwood flooring, 10-foot ceilings on the first and second floors, a kitchen with custom cabinetry, a cherry-paneled library and a finished lower level with a wine cellar.
“The key driver for him is that he wanted to be close to his grandkids in Lake Bluff,” said real estate agent Brad Andersen, who along with his son, Brady, represented Sandberg in the purchase. “When we found this house, it had everything they needed. He was very interested in finding a house with a finished lower level that would accommodate his trophy room. And for a house that was built in 2005 on 4 acres, we got a very good price at a million one.”
The Lake Bluff house is the fourth Chicago-area residence Sandberg has owned. From 1985 until 1993 he owned a house in Glenview, and he owned a 64th-floor unit in Lake Point Tower from 1993 until 1995. Then in 1998, he bought a 2,500-square-foot vintage co-op unit in Streeterville that he sold in 2013 for $580,000.
In Phoenix, Sandberg long has had his six-bedroom, 6,235-square-foot house on the market. Its current asking price is $2.65 million. He listed it last year for $3.8 million.
Crain’s Chicago Business first reported on the Lake Bluff purchase.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
