A real estate brokerage firm affiliated with London’s historic Christie’s auction house is expected to soon become the new kid on the block in Winnetka’s East Elm business district, village officials said recently.
As the first North Shore location for Conlon & Co, a Chicago-based brokerage firm in the luxury real estate market, and an affiliate with Christie’s International Real Estate, company officials said the Winnetka venue also is expected to bring a collection of fine arts exhibits and lectures to the community.
“We’d like to offer a series of events. For example, the company had a recent showing of a Picasso collection,” said Benjamin Burford, chief executive officer of Conlon & Co. “We have a lot of clients who live in Winnetka and the North Shore who we could talk to about their wine collections … We can also tutor residents who would like to learn how to do an auction. The village of Winnetka is a jewel, and we’d like to start hosting these events soon.”
Village officials said the firm will bring a sophisticated level of expertise to the area.
“Having a representative from Christie’s showing art and teaching residents how to participate in an auction is different from what you’d find at a standard real estate office,” said Michael D’Onofrio, Winnetka’s director of community development.
Conlon’s Winnetka office is expected to occupy a 1,500-square-foot unit at 565 Lincoln Ave., which was formerly a men’s clothing store.
The company was required to seek a special-use permit allowing a real estate office, rather than another retailer, at the site.
Before considering the special-use permit request, village officials had asked that Conlon hire a consultant to conduct a parking study to gauge the impact of the business on street parking.
The results of the study found that a combination of street parking and nearby public parking lots offered enough space for both Conlon employees and anticipated clients, D’Onofrio said.
While the company received unanimous support for their special-use permit request from both the village’s plan commission and zoning board of appeals in November, Trustee Patrick Corrigan cast the sole vote against Conlon’s request to bypass the introduction of the ordinance prior to its final approval, which is now slated to take place at the Jan. 14 village council meeting.
“We were very happy to receive a positive vote from the council and look forward to having the ordinance adopted in two weeks so we can move ahead with the build out,” said Burford. “(We’re) very much looking forward to opening our office in Winnetka and joining this wonderful community very soon.”
kcullotta@tribune.com