Ill. developer plans to build 11 homes on Segal estate

A developer’s preliminary plans for jailed insurance executive Michael Segal’s estate include building 11 new residences and turning the coach house into two homes.

Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Orren Pickell Designers & Builders closed on the $17.6 million suburban estate last month. A federal judge approved the sale in November after the buyers reached an agreement with preservationists on how to develop the historic 17-acre property.

The plans are still subject to public hearings and city approval.

CEO Orren Pickell said he would like to install gated entry to the sprawling development, but he intends to keep most of the land as open space.

“It’s an amazing piece of property,” Pickell said. “It will be our legacy, and it’s going to be hard to top.”

He said a buyer, whose identity he would not reveal, has purchased the main home for an undisclosed amount.

Highland Park preservationists have been worried that the lakeshore estate, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, could be subdivided and its character lost.

Segal forfeited the property as part of his conviction in 2004 for fraud, racketeering and embezzlement. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $30 million for looting a trust account at his Near North Insurance Brokerage.

The estate includes a garden designed by landscape architect Jens Jensen, a greenhouse, a pool and 500 feet of private beach. The Prairie-style Tudor Revival main home, designed by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, has seven bedrooms.

Source: AP