Retired Chicago Cubs starting pitcher and Marquee Sports Network analyst and talk-show host Ryan Dempster and his wife on June 6 sold their six-bedroom, 5,650-square-foot Lakeview house for $2.45 million — just $50,000 below his asking price.
Dempster, 47, pitched for the Cubs from 2004 until 2012 and retired from baseball in 2014. He then took a job in the Cubs front office before signing on as an analyst for the MLB Network and hosting a late night-style talk show, “Off the Mound with Ryan Dempster,” on the Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network.
In Lakeview, Dempster paid $1.95 million in 2014 to a homebuilder for the house that he just sold. The two-story house has 6-1/2 bathrooms, four fireplaces, hardwood floors, high ceilings, custom millwork and cabinetry, a living room with moldings and a marble fireplace, a private office with a wall of built-in shelving, and a kitchen with a large center island, a butler’s pantry and Sub-Zero, Wolf and Miele appliances. It also has a great room with custom built-ins and coffered ceilings, a primary bedroom suite with an oversized steam shower and a dual vanity and a lower level with an oversized recreation room, a wet bar, a guest suite, an exercise space and a temperature-controlled wine cellar.
Outside on the extra-wide property are a landscaped yard, a brick patio, an outdoor fireplace, a deck and an oversized three-car garage with a full attic.
“(The house) was well-built, on a 37.5-foot lot, had a nice back yard and the Dempsters decorated it very nicely,” listing agent Jeffrey Lowe of Compass told Elite Street after the sale. Lowe also represented the buyers.
Lowe did not comment on where the Dempsters are off to, but Dempster briefly owned a French Provincial-style house in Wilmette in 2021, which he sold that year for $2.135 million. He previously has owned several other homes in Lakeview.
Regarding the Lakeview house that he just sold, Dempster tried listing it as a pocket listing in 2021 for $2.25 million before taking it off the market, and he then relisted it as a pocket listing on March 7 for $2.45 million before publicly placing it on the market the following day.
The house had a $36,382 property tax bill in the 2022 tax year.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
