Chicago Celebrities and Homes 4/18/10

Every Sunday, the Chicago Tribune's "Money and Real Estate" section has a column called "Elite Street", which covers Chicago celebrity home buys and sells.

In the 4/18/10 column, they covered new Chicago Bears player Julius Peppers and former Bears quarterback Rex Grossman.

Peppers

Peppers, who is now the highest paid defensive player in the history of the NFL, signed with the Bears for six years and $91.5 million ($42 million guaranteed). He recently purchased a 5,923 square foot house in Highland Park.

He bought the house from former Chicago Bulls player B.J. Armstrong. Armstrong bought the house new in 1994 for $1.599 million. The two story house, designed by architect James Goldberg, has 6 1/2 baths, 4 fireplaces, and a three car garage. It sits on a wooded lot - about a block from Lake Michigan.

Peppers bought the house for $1.8 million. It was originally listed for $2.95 million in July 2008, and reduced 4 times: $2.8025 million, $2.499 million, $2.374 million, and finally just below $2 million.

Rex Grossman

The former Bears quarterback sold his last piece of Chicago real estate, a Lake Forest townhouse, for $750,000. He lost money, because he had bought the 2,714 square foot townhouse in 2005 for $797,275.

Grossman also lost money on his 3,437 square foot unit in the Chicago Trump International Hotel and Tower. He bought that unit for $2.681 million in 2008 and sold it last January for $2 million.