WGN-Channel 9 midday news anchor Dina Bair and her husband, John Maher, sold their six-bedroom, vintage brick Georgian-style house in Wilmette for $2.002 million.
Bair, 57, has been with WGN for 30 years and also is the station’s medical reporter.
In Wilmette, Bair paid $750,000 in 2011 for the three-story house and then began a significant, 18-month renovation that included installing a new roof, a new attached garage and all-new mechanicals. Built in 1929 and located in Wilmette’s “CAGE” neighborhood just two blocks from Lake Michigan, the 3,664-square-foot house has 5-1/2 bathrooms, hardwood floors throughout, two fireplaces and a kitchen with Thermador appliances, an island, custom cabinetry and granite countertops.
Other features include a living room with arched windows, a family room with a fireplace, a first-floor mudroom, a primary bedroom suite with a private deck and a dressing table area and a lower level with a recreational and bar area. The house also has a newer, two-car attached garage.
Bair told Elite Street that she and her husband sold the home because they are empty nesters. In fact, she said, two of her sons now own homes of their own.
“It was our dream house, but we are empty-nesters and it made sense to move on,” she said. “It’s a wonderful house — I raised my kids there and absolutely loved it. But the kids are all gone.”
Bair first listed the home in 2017 for $1.695 million. She reduced its asking price to $1.625 million and then $1.499 million before taking it off the market later that year. She then relisted it in 2018 for $1.475 million and then cut her asking price to $1.395 million and $1.345 million before removing it from the market in 2019. In a very different housing market almost five years later, Bair placed the house back on the market in February for $1.895 million and she wound up selling it a month later for well above its asking price.
Trish and Frank Capitanini of Coldwell Banker were the listing agents.
The house had a $28,512 property tax bill in the 2023 tax year.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
