A five-bedroom, 8,400-square-foot brick house in Lakeview that disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly owned from 1994 until 2002 sold on Friday for $2.9 million.

Once used as a cigarette vending machine business, the mansion was converted to a single-family residence by a commodities trader in the 1980s. It had been on the market for almost two years, and it has had several owners since Kelly — who paid $1.10 million for it in 1994 and sold it in 2002 for $2.25 million. Kelly, who is currently facing federal child pornography and obstruction of justice charges, sold it in 2002 to Peak6 Capital founder Matthew Hulsizer, who then sold it in 2005 for $2.4 million. The home sold again for $3 million in 2006, and then it sold for just $1 million in 2008 after a foreclosure.

The sellers paid $2.74 million for it in 2011. They first listed it for $3.99 million in October 2020, and they cut their asking price to $3.49 million in January, followed by subsequent price cuts to $3.25 million and $2.99 million.

Built in 1905, the house was renovated between 2017 and 2019 and has 5½ bathrooms, a 50-foot-wide interior, a nearly 30-foot ceiling on the main level, an indoor swimming pool, a 3,000-square-foot roof deck, an elevator serving all levels, a theater, an exercise center with a steam room and a sauna, and a kitchen with Wolf, Miele and Gaggenau appliances. The primary bedroom suite has a nearly 300-square-foot walk-in closet and a bathroom with an oversize steam shower and heated floors, while the roof level has a Kalamazoo grill, a pizza oven, bar seating and a covered seating area for 10.

“It’s a rare combination of raw square footage and unique detail, including an indoor pool right off the living room,” listing agent Mario Greco of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago told Elite Street. “Houses like this are uncommon. It’s singular in every respect.”

During Kelly’s ownership of the house, it had a 1,500-gallon shark-filled aquarium and a marble chessboard embedded in the floor. Those features have been removed.

Kelly was convicted last year in Brooklyn of racketeering and violations of the Mann Act and was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison, and he currently is on trial in Chicago federal court on charges of producing child pornography, conspiracy to produce child pornography and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

After Kelly sold the Lakeview house, he moved to a 20,000-square-foot mansion that he built on 7 acres in Olympia Fields. He sold the Olympia Fields mansion in 2013 to R&B singer-songwriter Rudolph Isley.

The Lakeview house had a $56,939 property tax bill in the 2020 tax year. Public records do not yet identify the buyers.

Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

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