Mario Tricoci selling Streeterville penthouse

Apr 21, 2023

Dennis Rodkin is a senior reporter covering residential real estate for Crain's Chicago Business. He joined Crain's in 2014 and has been covering real estate in Chicago since 1991.

Mario Tricoci, who opened his first of what's now 13 Chicago-area hair salons six decades ago, put his Streeterville penthouse that overlooks the mouth of the Chicago River up for sale.

Tricoci, whose firm reportedly now has 13 salons and 1,300 employees, is asking $4.5 million. The three-bedroom, 7,000-square foot North Water Street condo has a 3,000-square-foot outdoor terrace that faces east with a now-unobstructed view above DuSable Lake Shore Drive to Lake Michigan.

A wall of glass 50 feet wide brings that view to the interior.

Around the corner from the main terrace is a unique feature: an outdoor bocce court. At 27 stories above ground, it's surely one of the highest bocce courts in the world, and it may be the only one with a direct view of the Navy Pier ferris wheel and fireworks.

The interior, two stories high, is a sleek mix of wood and crisp white finishes, with a floating staircase of marble and stainless steel and a single room with blue lacquered walls and ceiling.

Tricoci bought the condominium when it was newly built in 2000 along with his now-deceased wife and business partner, Cheryl Tricoci. They paid a little under $1.78 million, according to the Cook County Clerk. There's no record of what the couple spent to finish out the space.

Tricoci did not immediately respond to a request for comment placed with his firm. Listing agent Rachel Krueger of Jameson Sotheby's International Realty was not available to comment. The property came on the market Tuesday.

According to Krueger's listing, the interior design is by Dwayne MacEwen of DMAC Architecture & Interiors, in a "keen collaboration" with the Tricocis. MacEwen mixed acid-etched glass with clear glass, the listing says, allocating them strategically to protect both the occupants’ privacy and their views.

Mario Tricoci came to Chicago from Italy in 1960, according to an online biography, and in 1963 opened his first hair salon in Villa Park. In 1977, he opened a salon in Schaumburg's Woodfield Mall. In 1986, he launched a line of day spas, which merged with Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salons in 2001. In 2018, he bought back the salons and hair salons with his brand on them. Cheryl Tricoci, who died a year ago, was the business mind behind all the growth, their children told Sun-Times obituary writer Maureen O’Donnell. Among her initiatives were the day spas, having pedicure technicians trained by podiatrists, and establishing a beauty salon at Misericordia Home, a West Ridge home for people with developmental disabilities. In the salon, Mario Tricoci University students do the hair of Misericordia residents. The condo's east-facing terrace looks over the southern end of the long-empty site where the 150-story Chicago Spire was proposed in the early 2000s. It's now owned by Related Midwest, which has not yet begun construction on a pair of towers proposed in 2018 and revised in 2020. Should something get built on the site, views from the Tricoci terrace will likely be impacted.

Dennis Rodkin is a senior reporter covering residential real estate for Crain's Chicago Business. He joined Crain's in 2014 and has been covering real estate in Chicago since 1991.

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