Did you know that Northbrook Court, the upscale shopping mall on Lake County’s southern border, not only has such posh shops as Coach leather goods and Bigsby & Kruthers clothing but also has a posh co-owner?
That’s right. England’s Duke of Westminster co-owns the mall, and his main office in the United States, Grosvenor International (Atlantic) Limited in Washington, D.C., supplied the following information:
– The 45-year-old duke is chairman of his family’s Grosvenor Estate Holdings (commonly known as GEH), a company that has properties in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, continental Europe, southeast Asia and North America.
– Grosvenor (the “s” is silent) International has been using The Wilder Companies of Illinois Inc. to manage and lease Northbrook Court since 1995. But don’t count on catching the duke making a public appearance. “He comes by at least once a year, but he does not usually tell us when he is coming. And we don’t always know when he has come,” said Wilder marketing director Dianne Bischoff.
– The duke’s real name is Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster (the dukedom was created by Queen Victoria in 1874), but he signs Duke of Westminster OBE DL on papers. OBE is the Order of the British Empire (he is a senior colonel in the Territorial Army). DL is the deputy lieutenant position he holds in the County of Cheshire, where he lives at Eaton Hall.
– Grosvenor International, a division of GEH, owns interest in commercial properties in the United States from Tampa to Honolulu, including a partnership with other British investors as Westcoast Estates, which owns Northbrook Court in Northbrook and 830 N. Michigan Ave. in Chicago.
– GEH’s holdings in the United Kingdom include 200 acres of Belgravia and 100 acres of Mayfair, both in London. The Mayfair properties include the land under the U.S. Embassy in Grosvenor Square that is leased to the United States for a token “peppercorn,” or rent free. Grosvenor officials note, however, that U.S. ambassadors have been known to present the duke with boxes of peppercorns over a friendly lunch.