Source: Chicago Real Estate Daily
Author: David Lee Matthews

United Continental Holdings Inc. CEO Jeff Smisek has landed at a new Chicago home: a two-bedroom condominium in the Trump International Hotel & Tower.

County records show a Texas limited liability company established by the airline chief paid $2.38 million last month for the 3,437-square-foot condo on the building's 34th floor, which faces northeast and includes a den and media room, according to floor plans on developer Donald Trump's website. The company bought the unit from the developer.

Mr. Smisek is the latest among the growing list of prominent Chicagoans who keep a residence in Trump, including McDonald's Corp. CEO Don Thompson, Chicago Blackhawk Patrick Kane, and Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose. Comic Steve Harvey, who debuted a Chicago-based talk show last year, rents a 6,850-square-foot condo near the top of the riverfront skyscraper at 401 N. Wabash Ave.

Though Mr. Smisek lacks the celebrity of those other owners, his purchase still will enhance the building's cachet amid an improving high-end residential market. Mr. Trump's development venture had sold 387, or nearly 80 percent, of the project's residential condos at the end of 2012, according to Chicago-based residential consulting firm Appraisal Research Counselors. The developer had also sold 161, or about 47 percent, of the building's 339 hotel condo units.

Though many Chicago buildings offer five-star amenities, Trump's security stands out to many high-profile buyers here, said Baird & Warner Inc. broker Robert Shearer, who is marketing a three-bedroom Trump condo owned by NBA player Juwan Howard that's listed for nearly $3.3 million. Mr. Shearer estimates 30 security staff are on duty at all times at the tower.

“Owners (in Trump) are thrilled when anything sells, whether it's a celebrity or not,” Mr. Shearer said. “Any sale helps, period. I don't think it's really defined by a name.”

News of Mr. Smisek's purchase comes a few weeks after United disclosed it cut his compensation by 35 percent last year to $9.6 million. The company’s headquarters are in the Willis Tower, 233 S. Wacker Drive.

A Trump sales agent declined to comment, and a United Continental spokesperson did not return messages.