Pritzker land to go on auction block

One part in the division of a multibillion-dollar empire will play out in Lake County with the auction April 4 of land west of the Tri-State Tollway.

The two parcels -- totaling 600 acres with frontage on the tollway as well as O'Plaine, Hanlon and River roads -- are among the last large tracts in the tollway corridor.

Largely farmland, the properties have been held for decades by the Pritzker family. The rolling land comprises an enclave of open space peppered with exclusive subdivisions on large lots.

The land will be sold as two separate pieces.

The northern piece is 344 acres in Warren Township. Most of it fronts the tollway, although 62 acres border River Road. The starting bid for that parcel will be $8 million, according to Sheldon Good & Co. Auctions.

Minimum bid for the southern 256 acres, which is in Libertyville Township, is $4 million.

"Because property like this rarely becomes available, that makes it all the more desirable," Steven L. Good, chairman and CEO of the auction company, said in a statement.

The auction is part of a series of asset sales prompted by a family move to divide the Pritzker holdings among 11 adult cousins by 2011.

Late last year, the Pritzker family sold a controlling share of its industrial group, Marmon Holdings Inc., to billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway for $4.5 billion. Marmon makes a variety of products from railroad tank cars to plumbing pipes.

Neighbors who value their rural lifestyle and school districts that could see an influx of students are watching closely.

Much of the property is within the Waukegan city limits and is zoned for residential uses. The city's R-1 designation calls for a minimum lot size of 10,000 square feet, or about four homes an acre. That could translate to nearly 1,400 homes.

"It's raising eyebrows and interest," said David Young, president of Lake County Partners, the county's economic development arm.

"I've had a lot of inquiries from neighbors who are living there because they enjoy the open space and those aspects of the area," said Libertyville Township Supervisor Betty-Ann Moore.

The Libertyville Township portion is largely restricted by a conservation easement purchased by the township in 1987 for $2.5 million. A condition of the easement is that only five single-family residences with associated structures can be built on the property.