Billionaire Lukas Walton, the low-profile Chicagoan who is Illinois’ richest person, and his wife, Samantha, in February sold their five-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot contemporary-style house in Lincoln Park in a private transaction for $1.7 million.
The grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton, Walton, 35, runs Chicago-based Builders Vision, a foundation he formed aimed at funding improvements to the climate — including supporting clean energy — the food system, oceans and certain social issues.
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Since moving to Chicago after graduating from Colorado College, Walton has maintained a very low profile, rarely appearing in the news media.
That effort has become more difficult as Forbes magazine has highlighted his wealth — the Forbes 400 list in 2021 identified Lukas Walton as the 41st richest American, with a net worth of $17.2 billion. The 2021 list actually places Walton ahead of Citadel founder Ken Griffin, who is 47th on that list with a net worth of $16.1 billion. The different public profiles between the two are all the more stark, given that Walton has little to no public presence, while Griffin frequently is in the spotlight, owing to Citadel, philanthropy and the recent announcement that Griffin is moving Citadel and his family from Chicago to Miami.
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In Lincoln Park, Lukas and Samantha Walton paid $1.65 million through a land trust in 2013 for the three-story house, which was built in 1997. The couple did not publicly list the house in February, instead selling it in a private transaction. As a result, information on details inside the house was not available.
A representative for the Waltons declined to comment on the transaction.
The house had a $27,780 property tax bill in the 2020 tax year.
Goldsborough is a freelance writer.
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