The two-story Classical Revival-style mansion in Hinsdale that the late Frederick Krehbiel, who co-led Lisle-based Molex, owned until his death sold on May 18 for $7.5 million. The sale of the mansion and the 3.14-acre estate it sits on was just short of a record sale price for Hinsdale.
A nephew of former Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck, Krehbiel, who died in June 2021 at age 80, was co-CEO of Molex until retiring in 2001. The electronics components company was sold for $7.2 billion to Koch Industries in 2013.
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In Hinsdale, Krehbiel long owned the 10,966-square-foot mansion on South County Line Road, which was built in the first decade of the 20th century for early Hinsdale settler Lemuel Freer and is said to have been designed by architect David Adler. Coal magnate Stuyvesant Peabody purchased the mansion in the 1910s, and it later was owned by Charles D. Duncan, who co-founded the Old Spinning Wheel restaurant in Hinsdale.
During his ownership, Krehbiel expanded the property with the $900,000 purchase in 1996 of a property to the south. In 2002, he bought a 2,290-square-foot ranch-style house to the northeast — which still stands and which was included in the May 18 sale — from a McDonald’s executive for $1.05 million. With those purchases, the Krehbiel estate grew to a total of 3.14 acres.
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Last year, a representative of the Krehbiel family proposed subdividing the estate to create two additional buildable lots. The Hinsdale Zoning Board recommended against the change, however, and the Village Board never took up the request.
Now, an unidentified buyer has paid $7.5 million in an off-market deal for the entire 3.14-acre property. Records show that the buyer is an Illinois limited liability company whose manager is an opaque Colorado limited liability company.
In an email, Krehbiel’s son, Liam, confirmed to Elite Street that the property had sold but declined to comment further.
Hinsdale’s highest residential sale price on record is the $7.67 million purchase in January 2021 of a five-bedroom, 17,581-square-foot mansion by former Information Resources CEO Andrew Appel.
The former Krehbiel estate had a $108,545 property tax bill in the 2020 tax year.
The Real Deal first reported on the Krehbiel sale.
Goldsborough is a freelance writer.
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