Kenilworth mansion listing with lake views becomes one of Chicago’s most expensive at $10.5M

A seven-bedroom Kenilworth mansion owned by former Russell Investments chair and CEO Michelle Seitz is on the market for $10.5 million, placing the North Shore property among the Chicago area’s most expensive residential listings this year, according to The Real Deal. The 15,227-square-foot home sits on nearly an acre at 134 Melrose Avenue, about one block from Lake Michigan, per the Chicago Tribune.

If it sells at the asking price, the property would command roughly $700 per square foot and rank as the third-highest-priced Chicagoland mansion sale of 2026, The Real Deal confirmed. The home is currently being marketed through an agents-only private listing network.

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A renovated North Shore estate

According to the Chicago Tribune, Seitz bought the property in 2011 for $3.45 million through a land trust that concealed her identity at the time. She later overhauled the mansion, which includes nine full bathrooms and three half bathrooms.

The interior features a bright breakfast area, a double-sided fireplace linking the breakfast area and family room, a scullery, walnut cabinetry, and a custom stainless steel hood. The lower level has 11-foot ceilings, another family room, a full kitchen, a game area, and a bedroom suite with a fireplace, the Tribune reported.

Additional features include a sycamore dressing room, a vaulted marble bathroom, a terrace with a spa and a suede-paneled private office. Outside, the property has a heated four-car garage, a saltwater pool, a spa and a pool house.

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Seitz’s career and the luxury market

Seitz spent more than two decades at Chicago-based William Blair & Co., including 16 years as CEO of William Blair Investment Management, per the Tribune. She led Seattle-based Russell Investments from 2017 to 2022, the publication added, before leaving to launch her own firm. She remains based in Seattle.

The property’s two parcels carried a combined tax bill of $92,368 for the 2025 tax year. Listing agent Carrie McCormick declined to comment, the Tribune reported.

The asking price trails the Chicago area’s top publicly reported residential sale of 2026: a Glencoe mansion that sold for $17.5 million in July. That sale surpassed the previous high, a $10.5 million Lake Bluff mansion. A $10.5 million-plus closing would still place Seitz’s home among a small group of Chicago-area single-family properties reaching eight figures this year.