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Winnetka Real Estate Inspires a Dream: Fifty Years Later, It's a Reality

Nearly fifty years ago, third generation Winnetka resident Richard Busscher and his wife Marilyn had a dream of building a beautiful condominium estate. "It might seem like a small dream, but downtown Winnetka is so pretty," Busscher explains. "We wanted to be the sort of people who added to that beauty instead of detracting from it."

They began modestly, buying one small house in the 700 block of Green Bay Road across from the railroad tracks. To the south, Grand Foods-a grocery store where, even today, bag boys and cashiers regularly greet patrons by name. To the North, Tower Road and the neighborhood residents call Hubbard Woods. After renting out this small house, the Busschers bought the house next door. A few years later, the neighboring house was listed and the Busschers snapped it up. As the real estate market exploded in the early nineties, older Winnetka houses were pulled down to build bigger and bigger McMansions. The streets were lined with concrete mixers, dumpsters and the pickup trucks of contractors and tradesmen. While the Busscher homes on Green Bay Road were quaint and had their charms, they were small and increasingly out of place in a village that prided itself on big, bigger and biggest.

Meanwhile, Busscher, a lifelong union carpenter, carved out a career remodeling kitchens and building a home every two or three years-a continuation of the business run by his father and grandfather before him. Busscher kept his eye on the fourth and final property.

Eight years ago, Mr. Busscher purchased the house he needed to create a stretch of land big enough to hold his dream. He assembled an impressive team--Mesirow Financial Real Estate, Myefski Cook Architects and Valenti Builders. They tore down all four homes this past September and by next September will unveil The Winngate. Prices start at $435.,000 for a single bedroom unit and top off at $895,000 for a palatial three bedroom with all the amenities the notoriously discerning North Shore real estate buyer could want. Units have already been snapped up by savvy buyers who understand that Winnetka has been largely untouched by the downturn in the real estate market.. Although Marilyn Busscher has not lived to see this dream realized, Busscher is justifiably proud of The Winngate. The architecture is the Tudor style so familiar to the village's residents that it might be called "Winnetka style". The landscaping is lush, with pear, lilac, maple and oak trees to shield Frances William hostas, Stella d'Oro day lilies and Russian sage-there is not a Winnetka matron who could fault the choices.

Busscher says that when the project is complete he hopes that The Winngate will blend so seamlessly into the fabric of Winnetka that someone will say "Dick, I drove up and down Green Bay Road and I didn't see it--where's that new building you put up?"

Buyers interested in seeing The Winngate may contact Michael Howell or any other broker with the Winnetka Baird & Warner real estate office. The phone number is (847) 446-1855.

by ArLynn Leiber Presser

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