Homecoming for Munger with oceanfront mansion in Montecito

Berkshire Hathaway exec Charlie Munger is returning to the oceanfront Montecito community he helped develop more than 30 years ago.

Munger purchased a 4,657-square-foot home for $11 million, according to Dirt. The four-bedroom home sits on about a quarter of an acre in the gated Sea Meadow community, about a five minute drive west of downtown Santa Barbara. Because of Munger’s involvement in developing Sea Meadow, the 22-acre community is sometimes called “Mungerville.”

The Nebraska native has owned property in Sea Meadow before, and also owns an estate in Pasadena estate and a relatively modest home in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. He found his way to the Los Angeles area from his native state during a stint in the U.S. Army Air Corp in the 1940s.

Munger’s newest property was built in 1992 and designed by architect Jock Sewall. It was recently renovated with blonde hardwood floors and new light fixtures, among other features.

The quarter-acre property packs in a full-size tennis court, a dining terrace and some gardens. There is also access to the community’s private beach and swimming pool. The gated community is privately guarded.

The Berkshire Hathaway senior vice president is something of an self-taught architect and he recently touched off some controversy over his design for a dorm at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Munger is financially backing the project with $200 million on the condition his design is realized. The school so far has committed to building the edifice.

Munger’s design for the 11-story dorm complex omits windows from nearly all dorm rooms. Munger argues this was necessary to allow for individual bedrooms and better common spaces.

In October, a 15-year member of the school’s design committee resigned over the university’s plan to follow through with the design.

Munger told The Real Deal shortly after that there was “no real controversy” and that a “couple of nutcases… went off half-cocked,” over the project.

[Dirt] ­— Dennis Lynch