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SATURDAY JULY 30 | SUNDAY JULY 31 2016
DailyNorthShore.com
SUNDAY BREAKFAST ILLUSTRATION BY BARRY BLITT
How one North Shore resident is helping fuel the growth of lacrosse. P30
SPORTS
Loyola Academy grad Conor Dwyer will be aiming to win more gold at the Rio Olympics. P23
SOCIAL SCENE
Royal Travel & Tours invited clients and guests to a presentation on luxury travel by Abercrombie & Kent at Soho House. P16 FOLLOW US:
NO. 198 | A JWC MEDIA PUBLICATION
NEWS
Lawyer Seeks Truth in Unsolved Murder BY EMILY SPECTRE DAILYNORTHSHORE.COM
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high-profile lawyer from New York hopes to uncover new information about the murder of U.S. Senator Charles Percy’s daughter Valerie, who was stabbed to death by an intruder while she slept in her family’s Kenilworth home 50 years ago this September. It was the first murder in Kenilworth and the brutality of the crime shocked people on the North Shore and beyond. John Q. Kelly is a personal injury lawyer who represents families in high-profile wrongful death cases, including the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson against O.J. Simpson; the parents of teenager Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba, and the estate of Kathleen Savio, ex-wife of former police officer Continued on PG 13
Upsides to Downsizing BY BILL MCLEAN
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he woman is 86 years old. She has called her North Shore house “home” for 53 years. Realities settled in recently, forcing her to consider downsizing. The house was put on the market. It was sold. “She needs to be out of the house by mid-August,” says the woman’s broker, Patti Skirving of Coldwell Banker-Winnetka. “It was overwhelming. It was difficult for her, stressful. There’s a lot of emotion involved, for many, when they downsize.” A North Shore couple in their 50s attend their son’s college graduation. The son lands a job in another state. The parents, fresh empty nesters, realize they use a little more than half of their 6,000 square-foot house. Maintenance costs mount. Keeping the home’s lush landscape lush suddenly becomes a challenge. They, too, consider downsizing. “We’re working with a lot of empty nesters who are ready to sell large homes on the North Shore and get into something that requires less maintenance,” Mike Golden, co-founder of @ properties, says. “There wasn’t a lot of movement in the market a few years ago because it hadn’t recovered to the point where some longtime owners were ready to put their homes up for sale. Now, more and more sellers are feeling comfortable with values, and they’re also recognizing the value on the buy side with low interest rates. They’re deciding it’s time.”
A kitchen in a condo. Homeowners don't have to give up luxuriousness when the opt to downsize.
There are plenty of upsides to downsizing, perhaps none bigger than living on a smaller footprint without giving up the luxuries and amenities of a mansion. Kelmscott Park — a new maintenance-free community of condominiums and luxury single-family home in east Lake Forest, created by Northfieldbased Focus Development and represented by @properties — is an enticing option to sensible
homeowners looking to scale down and maintain roots in an attractive setting. Lake Bluff homeowner Larry Booth, of Booth Hansen, is the principal architect, and the development’s landscape firm is Lake Bluffbased Mariani. “We are still seeing empty nesters, retirees and seniors,” Tim Anderson, Focus Development President, says of the prime candidates for moving to
smaller abodes. “However, these buyers aren’t looking for the condos of a decade ago, which featured downsized spaces everywhere. These buyers are looking for homes that offer entertaining spaces similar to the spaces in their homes now. The condominiums and homes at Kelmscott Park are designed with very gracious entertaining spaces that are made for family gatherings.
“I want each single family home and condominium to feel like a slightly smaller, more efficient version of the highquality, thoughtfully designed homes our buyers [are in now].” Call Peter Childs, principal at Childs Development in Lake Forest and a 2006 Lake Forest High School graduate, a “transition guide.” The son of Jamie Continued on PG 12
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