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From this week's Business of Life
By: Shia Kapos March 28, 2011
When Tom Pauly's neighbor practiced an important speech in their shared backyard, Mr. Pauly listened and offered a suggestion or two.
He was thrilled when the neighbor—then-Congressman Rahm Emanuel—included the edits in the speech, which he delivered at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Mr. Pauly, 51, doesn't expect to have such easy access to Mayor Emanuel when he reclaims his home on Hermitage Avenue in mid-June. (In case you missed it, he's been renting it out.) But he does like the idea of having the Emanuel family back on the block, notable for Victorian homes with expansive porches and decks. “Friends are more amazed than we are that the mayor is going to live next door,” says Mr. Pauly, an equestrian painter.
Broadcaster Phil Ponce and his portrait-painter wife, Ann Ponce, live a few doors down. (On the day of the big snowstorm last month, the Ponces invited a few neighbors over for a potluck dinner.) Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis and her husband, defense attorney John Theis (he represented mob hit man Nicholas Calabrese), also live on the block. So do jazz singer Spider Saloff and Chicago Symphony Orchestra musician Bill Buchman (he usually opens his home to the annual neighborhood holiday party).
“I remember another big snowstorm when Phil Ponce, Bill Buchman, Rahm and I were shoveling snow on our street,” Mr. Pauly says. “We're a close-knit neighborhood. A lot of us have lived here a long time. We knew Rahm before he was mayor or chief of staff. I don't see it as being much of a difference.”
Still, he does think “it will be kind of cool” to see a regular security presence.
Though Chicago doesn't have many full-time residents tailed by paparazzi—except, perhaps, when they're under indictment—some neighbors of famous folks relish their brushes with celebrity. A resident with a notable name brings a certain cachet, too—as long as it's not Mr. T trying to clear-cut trees. Bold-faced names and publicity can bolster a neighborhood's identity as a desirable place to live.
As for living right next door, luxury real estate broker Nancy Nugent says, buyers seem split on whether famous neighbors are a good thing. “People wonder, ‘How is it going to impact my life? Does it mean my right to quiet and enjoyment—the real term is living peacefully—will be impacted?' “ she says.
Stars in sports and entertainment draw special notice.
Tom Pauly's neighbors include Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel and broadcaster Phil Ponce. "We're a close-knit neighborhood," he says.
Photo by: John R. Boehm
Smashing Pumpkins rocker Billy Corgan paid $6.8 million in 2003 for his Highland Park home. Actress Joan Cusack paid $5.3 million in 2007 for a 125-year-old mansion in the Gold Coast (her brother, actor John Cusack, owns a condo in the area, too). Coincidentally, both Ms. Cusack and Mr. Corgan lived at different times on Greenview Avenue on the city's North Side, where neighbors enjoyed having celebrities next door but grumbled about gawkers. The griping is louder with athletes, agents say.
“Young ballplayers are known to have parties. When neighbors see a newly signed athlete move in, they worry about security and noise,” says Melinda Jakovich, a luxury residential consultant at Coldwell Banker.
Some buy homes nearby for their moms, too. Ms. Jakovich notes their entourage while looking at homes. “If they've got 16 people and an agent and girlfriends at a showing, you can tell they'll probably be an issue,” she says. “Athletes are like everyone else. If they're young, they're likely to have parties. But most live their lives quietly.”
That seems to be the case for those who move to places like Glencoe, an enclave for athletes (the Bulls' Kyle Korver), entertainers (actor and director Harold Ramis) and business executives (Groupon Inc.'s Brad Keywell).
HEY, THAT'S . . .
At Chicago's Trump Tower, Blackhawks star Patrick Kane is a resident, and the hotel expands the celebrity presence. “It's exciting. When you find out celebrities are open and nice, it's a feel-good thing,” says resident Tim Christen, 52.
Mr. Christen, CEO of Chicago-based accounting firm Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP, has run into Cubs legend Ernie Banks in the elevator (“He's the nicest guy!”) and seen Donald Trump and members of the hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas (“There were cameras everywhere!”) when they've stayed in the hotel.
Mr. Christen recently moved from a single-family brownstone and says the touch of glamour is just what he'd hoped for in moving to the city. “You expect that in a building like Trump,” he says.
Not every big name in town wants to be so noticeable.
Oprah Winfrey is seldom seen near her Water Tower Place condo. A few years ago, she purchased an apartment in 199 E. Lake Shore Drive but decided the building lacked the level of security she wanted, a resident says. Camille Grejczyk lives near chef Charlie Trotter, who classes up the block party.
Actor Vince Vaughn is reserved but friendly when neighbors run into him in the Palmolive Building—he purchased his penthouse for $12 million. But at the Palmolive, celebrity is relative. It's home to former Cubs Manager Lou Piniella and corporate stars Louis Gries, CEO of Washington, D.C.-based James Hardie Industries (manufacturing); Jeffrey Sprecher, CEO of Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange Inc., and Lauren Ukman, CEO of Chicago event-sponsorship company IEG LLC.
Peter Bynoe says he and his Palmolive neighbors make a point not to invade each other's privacy.
“I'm cordial to everyone I meet, and I give people space because I want space,” says Mr. Bynoe, 60, partner of Loop Capital Markets LLC and a former owner of the Denver Nuggets.
Still, Mr. Bynoe acknowledges a little excitement in spotting Mr. Vaughn. “I've seen him in the hallway, in the garage, on the street. He's always very friendly. My wife is a little irritated because she still hasn't had the pleasure.”
In Lincoln Park, chef Charlie Trotter adds a bit of class to the summertime block party. “He brings a staff and sets up tables with tablecloths and flowers and cooks for hours. He's served crepes, shish kabobs with gourmet meats. It's just amazing,” says Camille Grejczyk, 63.Come Halloween, “everyone knows if you go to Trotter's house, you get regular-size candy bars,” she adds.
Out walking his dogs, Mr. Trotter isn't one to stop and chat, Ms. Grejczyk says, and “that may be because of his line of work” (meaning that he's a busy guy).
“It's fun to talk about when people visit,” she says. “It's fun to say, ‘Charlie Trotter lives there.' “
A REGULAR GUY
Neighbors of Ryan Dempster marvel that he is a regular guy, along with being a star pitcher for the Cubs.
“He's a nice guy,” says a former, starstruck neighbor who recalls Mr. Dempster seeming to appreciate that he didn't bring up baseball in chance encounters in the neighborhood or taking out the trash. “Can you believe that?” he says. “A guy like that—taking out the garbage!”
' I've seen (Vince Vaughn) in the hallway, in the garage, on the street. He's always very friendly. My wife is a little irritated because she still hasn't had the pleasure.'
— Executive Peter Bynoe,
on life in the Palmolive Building
The Lincoln Park neighbors of Penny Pritzker, who hosts President Barack Obama and other Democratic dignitaries for large fundraising parties, bristle at the inconvenience of having traffic diverted in front of their $2-million to $3-million homes for such events but also brag about having the president hanging out nearby.
They might think differently if they had the president's security detail on hand 24-7. Jacky Grimshaw, who until recently was the president's Hyde Park neighbor—she and her husband moved because they needed a place without stairs—says living next to Mr. Obama's home had its downside.
“The challenge was getting people to my house,” says Ms. Grimshaw, vice-president of policy at Center for Neighborhood Technology, a Chicago-based think tank. When her mom and daughter stopped by every Sunday to pick up Ms. Grimshaw for church, they couldn't get through the gate unless she had called ahead of time. “People couldn't just stop by on a whim.”
It wasn't all inconvenience. “I never locked my car door or house the whole time they were there,” she says. “I didn't feel at all stressed about coming home late. And they looked after my cat, who likes to wander around outside because she thinks she's a dog.”
Being a neighbor to the president made it easy to get publicity when it came time to sell their home, too.
THE MEDIA'S WATCHING
Neighbors of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich say it was the media—not any security detail—that was most bothersome to them.
Tom Leo, 73, recalls pretending not to speak English when leaving his home during the drama surrounding Mr. Blagojevich's corruption trial. “They would yell out a question, and I would say something in Italian,” he remembers. (The tactic worked.)
Then there was the issue with the shredder.
Mr. Leo and his wife, Mary Leo, 69, were family counselors with an office in their Ravenswood Manor home. They regularly hired a document-shredding firm to eliminate files older than seven years.
“On one of those days, when there was a lot going on with the trial, the media crew saw the shredding company come in,” says Ms. Leo, who shares a sidewalk with the Blagojeviches near the back of her home. “Reporters rushed up and yelled, ‘He's shredding documents!' “ she recalls.
As for the Blagojeviches, “they're our neighbors. We wanted to treat them the same way we'd treat any neighbor,” Ms. Leo says. “I think we've succeeded in that. They're friendly and they say hello, and we do, too. It must be hard to always be in the spotlight.”
© 2011 by Crain Communications Inc.
Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20110326/ISSUE03/303269987/the-celebrity-next-door-famous-neighbors-mean-bragging-rights-extra-security#ixzz1HuNobfVU
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