The lavish Barrington Hills mansion that for six seasons appeared on the hit Fox TV series “Empire” sold for $6.5 million Friday, far below its original asking price.
Salvatore “Sam” Cecola, who built the 17,597-square-foot, French Provincial-style home at 45 Lakeview Lane in 2008, first tried to sell it for $15.9 million in 2013. He knocked the price down to $12.5 million in 2016 and to $7.5 million in 2020.
The three-story, six-bedroom mansion was under contract in 2021 and 2022, but the deals fell through.
Michael LaFido, the listing broker of the LUXE Group, couldn’t be reached for comment, and the buyer’s identity is not yet known.
It’s not unusual for opulent suburban homes to go unsold for extended periods. Retired Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan tried to sell his massive Highland Park mansion for about 12 years, once asking $29 million, before selling it last year to John Cooper, a general partner with Lincolnwood-based HAN Capital, for $9.5 million.
The sale of 45 Lakeview Lane is the second most expensive in Barrington Hills history, just below the $7.5 million paid in 2012 for 7 Fox Hunt Road, a 30,500-square foot, English-style mansion on a 70-acre estate.
On “Empire,” which aired from 2015 to 2020, Cecola’s mansion was the home of record mogul Lucious Lyon, played by Terrence Howard.
In 2017 the mansion was named by Architectural Digest as the most beautiful home for sale in the state of Illinois. It has 11 baths, floor-to-ceiling windows, barreled and coffered ceilings, detailed millwork, a porte-cochere, a walnut-paneled library, an elevator and a walk-out lower level with a home theater, a poker and billiard room and a full bar and kitchen. The 8.5-acre property includes an outdoor pool, a fire pit and a private dock.
Cecola has co-owned the Admiral Theatre strip club on Chicago’s Northwest Side.
