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Banker Takes $12.5 Million 'Church' Off Market
Jason Notte
11/11/09 - 05:00 AM EST
LAKE BLUFF, Ill. (TheStreet) -- To its adherents, a church is a place
of worship, a sanctuary and a second home. What it often isn't,
however, is a $12.5 million mansion on Lake Michigan.
Chicago banker and realtor George Michael says he was acting in good
faith when he built a 14-person chapel for his wife, who suffers from an
autonomic heart disorder and progressive multiple sclerosis, in their
five-acre estate. Michael and his wife, his third cousin, had attended
services at St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church on Diversey
Street in Chicago before her declining health prompted their move to
the waterfront home on 265 feet of private beach in 2004.
Banker George Michael of Lake Bluff, Ill., built a chapel in his
mansion on Lake Michigan so his ailing wife could continue to attend
services.
When she was no longer able to attend services, Michael built the
chapel and invited Armenian priests to hold services for his family
and guests. Before doing so, however, he applied for a church tax
exemption that state revenue officials initially approved, allowing
him to avoid $80,000 in property taxes. After neighbors told newspaper
reporters that they never saw services held on the property, and a
Department of Revenue judge reversed the initial ruling that he called
a "sham," Michael faced lawsuits, suspended sanitation service, nearly
$800,000 in proposed fines for services, visits from local law
enforcement and the press. The scrutiny led him to put the house on
the market through his own agency in September and October before
withdrawing it.
"We thought it would probably be best if we left Lake Bluff, because
we weren't wanted there," Michael says. "I put it on the market for a
few days, but I discussed it with my wife, and she doesn't want to
move."
When the house was listed, however, little about it resembled a house
of worship -- Armenian or otherwise. Photos of the chapel were absent
amid shots of five master bedrooms, a master suite with full wet bar
and air hockey table, balconies overlooking Lake Michigan, another
balcony overlooking an indoor pool with a hydraulic cover and
basketball hoop.
The chapel wasn't mentioned at all in descriptions of the 17 other
rooms -- which include a barbershop, home theater, multiple steam
rooms, a wine cellar and formal dining room with a butler's pantry and
ceiling painted -- or the guest house and 12-car heated garage. The
only church-like element displayed was the cathedral ceiling over the
mounted deer's head and pool table in the building's great hall.
Even if the nave were included among the offerings, its altar would be
considered artifice by church standards. To found a church in The
Armenian Church of America's Eastern Diocese, which includes Illinois,
an entire Armenian community must petition the diocese center in New
York for inclusion. Once the diocese makes its own inquiry into the
community and whether it can sustain an Armenian church "in
perpetuity," there is a full blessing process that must take place
before a church can be established, diocese spokesman Chris Zakian
said.
"When an altar is set up, there's an entire ceremony that consecrates,
first, the plot of land, then the cornerstones on which the altar will
be set upon and then the altar," he says. "It's not something that's
taken lightly and not something that can be done ad hoc by any
individual."
The diocese last completed this process in 2007 for an Orlando, Fla.,
parish. The Armenian Church recognizes only four parishes in Illinois
that were founded generations ago, and Michael's isn't one of
them. Zakian says the church is sympathetic toward Michael's wife's
illness, but notes that Armenian priests routinely visit private
homes, elder-care facilities and hospitals to administer communion.
"It does not require the establishment of an altar and does not
warrant tax-exempt status," Zakian says. "It would be an unusual
circumstance for a person to have a private chapel. Aside from kings
in Armenia, I haven't heard of people having private chapels."
Though Michael has delisted the home, he says it may return to the
market in the near future. He says both he and his children have been
held to ridicule over the incident, to the point where he opted not to
take them trick-or-treating this Halloween, but that he's left the
decision to his wife.
"I think it's probably best that the people of Lake Bluff are free of me,"
Michael says. "If I had it to do all over again, I probably would have
moved right next door to the church on Diversey."
-- Reported by Jason Notte in Boston.
http://www.thestreet.com/print/story/1062 4649.html
Jason Notte
11/11/09 - 05:00 AM EST
LAKE BLUFF, Ill. (TheStreet) -- To its adherents, a church is a place
of worship, a sanctuary and a second home. What it often isn't,
however, is a $12.5 million mansion on Lake Michigan.
Chicago banker and realtor George Michael says he was acting in good
faith when he built a 14-person chapel for his wife, who suffers from an
autonomic heart disorder and progressive multiple sclerosis, in their
five-acre estate. Michael and his wife, his third cousin, had attended
services at St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church on Diversey
Street in Chicago before her declining health prompted their move to
the waterfront home on 265 feet of private beach in 2004.
Banker George Michael of Lake Bluff, Ill., built a chapel in his
mansion on Lake Michigan so his ailing wife could continue to attend
services.
When she was no longer able to attend services, Michael built the
chapel and invited Armenian priests to hold services for his family
and guests. Before doing so, however, he applied for a church tax
exemption that state revenue officials initially approved, allowing
him to avoid $80,000 in property taxes. After neighbors told newspaper
reporters that they never saw services held on the property, and a
Department of Revenue judge reversed the initial ruling that he called
a "sham," Michael faced lawsuits, suspended sanitation service, nearly
$800,000 in proposed fines for services, visits from local law
enforcement and the press. The scrutiny led him to put the house on
the market through his own agency in September and October before
withdrawing it.
"We thought it would probably be best if we left Lake Bluff, because
we weren't wanted there," Michael says. "I put it on the market for a
few days, but I discussed it with my wife, and she doesn't want to
move."
When the house was listed, however, little about it resembled a house
of worship -- Armenian or otherwise. Photos of the chapel were absent
amid shots of five master bedrooms, a master suite with full wet bar
and air hockey table, balconies overlooking Lake Michigan, another
balcony overlooking an indoor pool with a hydraulic cover and
basketball hoop.
The chapel wasn't mentioned at all in descriptions of the 17 other
rooms -- which include a barbershop, home theater, multiple steam
rooms, a wine cellar and formal dining room with a butler's pantry and
ceiling painted -- or the guest house and 12-car heated garage. The
only church-like element displayed was the cathedral ceiling over the
mounted deer's head and pool table in the building's great hall.
Even if the nave were included among the offerings, its altar would be
considered artifice by church standards. To found a church in The
Armenian Church of America's Eastern Diocese, which includes Illinois,
an entire Armenian community must petition the diocese center in New
York for inclusion. Once the diocese makes its own inquiry into the
community and whether it can sustain an Armenian church "in
perpetuity," there is a full blessing process that must take place
before a church can be established, diocese spokesman Chris Zakian
said.
"When an altar is set up, there's an entire ceremony that consecrates,
first, the plot of land, then the cornerstones on which the altar will
be set upon and then the altar," he says. "It's not something that's
taken lightly and not something that can be done ad hoc by any
individual."
The diocese last completed this process in 2007 for an Orlando, Fla.,
parish. The Armenian Church recognizes only four parishes in Illinois
that were founded generations ago, and Michael's isn't one of
them. Zakian says the church is sympathetic toward Michael's wife's
illness, but notes that Armenian priests routinely visit private
homes, elder-care facilities and hospitals to administer communion.
"It does not require the establishment of an altar and does not
warrant tax-exempt status," Zakian says. "It would be an unusual
circumstance for a person to have a private chapel. Aside from kings
in Armenia, I haven't heard of people having private chapels."
Though Michael has delisted the home, he says it may return to the
market in the near future. He says both he and his children have been
held to ridicule over the incident, to the point where he opted not to
take them trick-or-treating this Halloween, but that he's left the
decision to his wife.
"I think it's probably best that the people of Lake Bluff are free of me,"
Michael says. "If I had it to do all over again, I probably would have
moved right next door to the church on Diversey."
-- Reported by Jason Notte in Boston.
http://www.thestreet.com/print/story/1062 4649.html