Former University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer lists Near North Side condo for $3.6M

Former University of Chicago President and Chancellor Robert Zimmer and his wife, classics professor Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer, placed a three-bedroom, 4,350-square-foot duplex condominium on the Near North Side on the market Thursday for $3.6 million.

In 2016, the couple paid $3.25 million through an Illinois limited liability company to buy the unit, which is in a building where several prominent figures own condos, including retired TV news anchor Ron Magers and Chicago Cubs TV broadcaster Jim Deshaies.

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Zimmer retired as the U. of C.’s president in 2021, and he stepped down earlier this year as chancellor due to health issues. Bartsch-Zimmer remains a tenured professor at the university.

Listing agent Margaret Baczkowski of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate declined to comment on why the couple have placed the unit on the market. Bartsch recently sold several other homes that are close to downtown. She paid $3.15 million in late 2020 for a 42nd-floor condominium unit in the One Bennett Park development in Streeterville and sold that unit in January for $2.9 million.

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And, in February, Bartsch paid $2.6 million for a five-bedroom, four-story vintage Gold Coast mansion with a large bay window. She sold that house in July for $2.625 million.

The duplex condo that Zimmer and Bartsch-Zimmer just listed is newly remodeled and has 5½ bathrooms, new floors, a custom milled library, a floating staircase, a brand-new kitchen on the first floor with a Thor double oven and stainless steel appliances, and a second floor with a kitchenette and bar, along with custom bookcases and a walk-in laundry room.

Other features include a primary bedroom suite with a double vanity and a large soaking tub, two east-facing balconies and unobstructed views to the east, north and west.

The duplex is “the only one in the building,” Baczkowski told Elite Street. “It’s newly gutted and gorgeously remodeled, (with) 180 degrees of prime unobstructed city and lake views.”

For the past two years, Zimmer, 74, has been suffering from glioblastoma, which is an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

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