Hemingway house in Oak Park sold
Ernest Hemingway’s boyhood home in Oak Park was officially sold Tuesday to an Oak Park family for $525,000.
The home at 600 N. Kenilworth attracted international attention after news that it was on the market broke Feb. 21. By March 8, it was under contract for its asking price, said Steve Scheuring, the selling agent with Baird & Warner. He had inquiries from as far away as Japan and even had a couple fly in from Canada for a look.
The Ernest Hemingway Foundation received a total of three offers on the home, Scheuring said, but in the end the bid from Kurt and Mary Jane Neumann was the strongest in more ways than just price.
“I can tell the new owner and the foundation are going to have a very good relationship,” Scheuring said. “The foundation ever mindful of their privacy and owner- ship, and the new owner with an elevated understanding of what they have.”
Foundation chairman John Berry said the Neumanns intend to live in the house, which has been divided into three apartments since the 1930s. They intend to restore it to its 1906 glory as a single-family home and open it to the public occasionally for viewing and research purposes, he said.
CTA to offer fare passes on Groupon
The Chicago Transit Authority announced Wednesday it will make $1.8 million in a first-of-itskind deal to offer fare passes on Groupon, the Chicago-based daily deals website.
Groupon is paying the transit agency $1.8 million, or $7.53 apiece, up front for 250,000 3-day passes, which it will sell for $9, the CTA said in a statement.
The deal saves Groupon mem- bers $5 off the CTA’s current $14 price tag for the passes, and could be offered as soon as the end of this month.
No immigration facility for Crete
A proposed immigrant detention center to be built in Crete would have brought jobs, tax revenue and more humane treatment of detainees, supporters said.
But there seemed to be a protest for every promise. So Crete officials this week voted to pull the plug and withdraw the village from consideration as a site for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.