'You feel like you're at a resort': Naperville home sells for DuPage County record $8.07 million

The sale of a Naperville mansion for $8.07 million Monday set a record for home sales in DuPage County.

Though the new owner's identity has not been made public, listing agent Kimberly Marino confirmed the buyer has lived in Naperville for some time.

“They're so excited to live in that home,” Marino, of @properties' The Kim and Katie Group, said.

The 15,451-square-foot luxury mansion first hit the market with a $15 million price tag in September of 2021. The home was relisted at $12.75 million in February with The Kim and Katie Group, who turned to New York-based Concierge Luxury Auctions and took the property to auction in October.

While unusual in the United States, selling luxury properties through auction is not an uncommon practice overseas, Marino said. In the United States, property auctions often carry the stigma of foreclosure, which was not the case with this property, she said.

“Internationally, this is how luxury property is sold,” said Katie Minott, of The Kim and Katie Group, who compared taking a luxury property to auction to selling other items, like fine art or wine, at auction.

The property, located in the 200 block of West Van Buren Avenue, sits on about an acre of land near the western edge of downtown Naperville. The house, which drew multiple bids during the auction, has five bedrooms, 7½ bathrooms, a gym, a wine cellar, a sunroom, a screened porch and an outdoor oasis with an in-ground saltwater pool, fire pit and grilling area.

The seller of the home, Jane Kern Brooks, built the house in 2019 with her husband, the late Donald A. Brooks, who owned The McCrone Group in Westmont, a laboratory and supplier of microscopes and other scientific equipment.

Before Monday's sale, a home in Hinsdale that sold for $7.7 million held the record for the highest-priced home sale in DuPage County, Marino said.

The Naperville home was designed to evoke images of a stone manor set amid a large corner lot, according to an early listing of the home. Design features include limestone and white oak floors, white oak beams and a slate and steel galvanized roof. The house sits on three lots and takes nearly an entire city block.

Marino said her favorite feature of the home is the backyard.

“It's like a private oasis in the middle of downtown Naperville,” she said. “You feel like you're at a resort.”

The sale of the home not only shows Naperville can command the ultraluxury home market but affirms the draw of the city, Minot and Marino said.

“It really continues to solidify the draw of our downtown, and that's good for all of us,” Minott said. “We want to be a destination where people want to live and come visit. A property that sells at this price tag in the heart of our downtown just confirms for everybody that value and that other people are seeing it as well.”