A 55-acre property close to the south shore of Geneva Lake in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin — and which once was used as a ski hill — was listed March 20 for $5.75 million.
The land has had many uses over the years, but it is probably best remembered for being the site of the Majestic Hills ski area, which operated from 1957 until 1988. The land previously had been a golf course for William Grunow Sr.’s lakefront estate. The Grunow family converted the land to a chicken farm, and in the 1950s, Grunow’s son, William Grunow Jr., converted the site into a ski hill by moving 600,000 yards of earth, he told the Tribune in 1966, to add 80 feet of vertical drop for an intermediate hill and 100 feet for an expert hill.
The property had an A-frame chalet structure — a rebuilt henhouse — and the younger Grunow added a driving range and a nine-hole, par-three golf course in 1960, and he brought major bands such as The Who, The Beach Boys and the Monkees to perform on the property in the 1960s.
In 1988, the chalet burned to the ground, and because it was uninsured, the Grunow family decided not to rebuild.
In October 2020, the Grunow family sold the land to Majestic Hill Inc., an entity owned by listing agent Wendy Murphy of D’Aprile Properties and her husband, Martin, for $625,000. The couple considered subdividing the land into 10 to 12 lots, Wendy Murphy told EliteStreet, but they also are open to selling the site as-is.
“It is an iconic part of Lake Geneva,” Murphy said. “The view is just the most amazing thing. Standing at the top, you can look to your right and see downtown Lake Geneva and you see sunrises to your left, and then you look straight and you see right into the mouth of Williams Bay. You can see all points of the lake from one stance.”
Murphy and her husband bought the property with no contingencies, not knowing if the land was even buildable. They conducted soil borings after the closing and found that the soil is clean and indeed buildable.
“When we bought it, we didn’t know what the land was even made of. There was all this speculation when (we) bought it that it was all fill and one could never build on it. So it’s exciting to find out that it’s just a good, solid, buildable hill,” she said.
Murphy said the couple also is considering constructing several amenities on the property, including possibly a toboggan run and platform tennis. However, “the market is so strong,” so she said she and her husband wanted to see if anyone would be interested.
“We love the project, but it’s just a big project,” she said. “And while it doesn’t have lake access, it’s so close to the Lake Geneva Yacht Club, so the people who would buy (on the property) would have their boats in the yacht club, and that’s how they’d get their lake access.”
Goldsborough is a freelance writer.
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