Santa Barbara’s most notorious house flipper is at it again! Barely two years after Ellen DeGeneres dropped $70 million on two side-by-side properties in the exclusive seaside enclave of Carpinteria, the former talk show host and her wife Portia de Rossi have already sold the neighboring parcels of land, which rest atop a bluff overlooking the Pacific. As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, the clandestine off-market deal was inked for a whopping $96 million.
Records reveal the buyer is billionaire mining tycoon Robert Friedland—chairman of Ivanhoe Mines and a business mentor of the late Steve Jobs—who is widely reported to have an estimated net worth topping $3 billion. Avid real estate watchers will recall that this isn’t the first real estate transaction in the Santa Barbara area between DeGeneres and Friedland. Earlier this year Friedland and his longtime wife Darlene paid DeGeneres and de Rossi a lofty $32 million for a rebuilt 1919 estate in Montecito known as Pompeiian Court, only to repurchase the 8-acre spread a few short months later for the same exact amount.
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When DeGeneres and de Rossi paid retired hedge-fund manager and billionaire Bruce Kovner a speck under $70 million for the two neighboring parcels of land in Carpinteria in 2022, they doled out $41.7 million for a Tuscan farmhouse-style mansion set on 3.4 acres and concurrently paid another $28.2 million for the mostly vacant 6.6-acre plot of land right next door, which presently contains a small lake and vast lawns. Together, the two parcels create a 10-acre, fully contiguous compound with a private pathway leading to the beach below.
Though Friedland’s new Carpinteria complex makes quite an impressive estate, it’s actually less than half of the original 22-acre compound that was parceled together by Kovner and his spouse Suzie beginning in 2007. According to WSJ, Kovner cobbled together the massive site over several years, spending around $110 million to buy up adjoining properties as they became available.
After securing the land, it took another several years to obtain permission to build and complete the private compound, which came to be known as Sanctuary at Loon Point. The construction and other improvements cost an estimated $50 million, per Kovner himself, and when completed, the vast estate comprised two custom homes, each on their own parcels, plus three additional landscaped lots connected by a private, gated road with a guard house. Before DeGeneres and de Rossi bought the portion they just sold to Friedland, the Kovners’ entire spread was put up for sale in 2021 at a hefty $160 million. The remaining home and two additional parcels still owned by the Kovners are currently up for grabs at $75 million.
Friedland’s new compound boasts a five-bedroom, eight-bath home with just over 9,000 square feet of living space on three levels. The beige-hued and terracotta-roof structure is adorned throughout with high exposed wood-beam ceilings, hardwood floors, stone archways, and marble accents. There’s also a one-bedroom, one-bath guesthouse and an attached three-car garage flanked by a cobblestone motorcourt.
Especially standing out on the main level is a striking great room displaying a massive antique fireplace, along with a family room and dining area that connect to a gourmet kitchen outfitted with professional-grade appliances, a center island, and a duo of butler pantries. Five en-suite bedrooms can be found upstairs, including a primary suite that comes complete with a spa-equipped terrace and dual walk-in closets and baths; and the lower level has a wine cellar and a movie theater with reclining leather seats.
Laced with olive trees, the picturesque grounds host a marble mosaic pool, two spas, an outdoor kitchen, several fireside lounge areas, raised herb and vegetable gardens, and numerous spots ideal for al fresco lounging and entertaining. A private beach area atop the bluff also has a fire pit, tiki torches, an antique row boat, and a large stone dining table with a custom umbrella wired for phone and Internet access.
In addition to his Santa Barbara-area properties—which also includes an oceanfront estate in Carpinteria that he paid TELUS president and CEO Darren Entwistle just under $47 million for this past February—Friedland also owns two side-by-side Beverly Hills estates, plus Zsa Zsa Gabor’s former Bel Air property, a luxury flat in Singapore, and an oceanfront home in Thailand. As for DeGeneres and de Rossi, they still have multiple properties in the Santa Barbara area, including several homes scattered around Montecito.
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