Financier and former Fruit of the Loom President and CEO William F. Farley and his wife, Shelley, on Wednesday sold their seven-bedroom apartment on the 14th floor of the cooperative building at 209 E. Lake Shore Drive for $7.5 million — less than half of the original asking price when the Farleys first listed the unit in 2023.
A self-made Rhode Island native who at one time co-owned the Chicago White Sox, Farley acquired Chicago conglomerate Northwest Industries, which had owned underwear maker Fruit of the Loom, in 1985 and took the firm public two years later. He was at the helm of Fruit of the Loom until 1999, when a reorganization concluded with its sale to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway holding company. He now runs Liam Ventures, a private-equity firm.
In 1986, Farley bought one, 6,000-square-foot half-floor unit in the building. About six years later, he bought the other apartment, and he then hired noted Chicago architect Laurence Booth to combine them into a modernist-stye, 12,000-square-foot full-floor spread with 360-degree views.
In 2023, Farley told Elite Street that he had hosted “probably three” U.S. presidents in the apartment over the years, along with numerous U.S. senators, governors and mayors. The 18-story building was constructed in the mid-1920s and designed by architect Benjamin Marshall, who himself lived in a sixth-floor apartment during the building’s first decade or so.
The co-op has seven full bathrooms, two half bathrooms, six wood-burning fireplaces, a 1,200-square-foot primary bedroom suite with a sitting room, a custom-paneled library, an office, a wine cellar, a family/media room and a home gym. The deal includes two guest apartments located on lower levels of the building, as well as four garage spaces.
The couple first listed the co-op for $15.9 million in 2023, lowering it to $13.9 million later that year. Last year, the couple cut the price to $11.9 million, $9.9 million and $9.5 million, and then earlier this year, they reduced the apartment’s asking price further, to $8.45 million and finally to $7.9 million.
Listing agent Jeffrey Lowe of Compass told Elite Street that Farley’s now-former spread is “a wonderful apartment and we found a great buyer for it.” He declined to identify the buyers, whom he did not represent. Public records do not yet identify the buyers.
“The Gold Coast is coming back,” Lowe said. “It’s just a matter of sellers understanding the valuation these days.”
Farley did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sale although he previously had told Elite Street that some of the unit’s best features are the 360-degree views, the 11-foot ceilings, the large windows and two 45-foot-long galleries that are ideal for displaying art.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
