Irvine mansion in Shady Canyon fetches $17M

A 15,100-square-foot mansion in Irvine has sold for $17 million, tying its own record for the highest price for a single-family estate in the Orange County city.

The seven-bedroom, 11-bathroom home traded hands at 60 Golden Eagle in the gated Shady Canyon neighborhood, the Orange County Business Journal reported. The sellers and buyers were not disclosed.

The sellers sold the 1.4-acre estate for the same amount they paid for it in 2019, which then set a new price benchmark for Irvine.

“People are willing to pay more for larger homes in gated communities,” a trend that has only grown more prevalent in the wake of the pandemic, according to Tim Smith of Coldwell Banker Realty, who represented the sellers.

The international buyers will upgrade the home, which was first built in 2003, and use it as a vacation property, unidentified sources told the Business Journal.

KW Silicon City, a San Francisco-based affiliate of Keller Williams, represented the buyers.

Shady Canyon, with 300 homes on nearly 1,100 acres, is the only community in Irvine that offers many custom homes for sale, with above-average lots and more space between homes than other communities in OC.

That, coupled with its sense of privacy, has prompted athletes, executives and others to call Shady Canyon home, including best-selling author Dean Koontz and Alteryx Executive Chairman Dean Stoecker.

As Orange County’s inventory of luxury homes for sale continues to diminish, specifically along the coast, buyers move to inland markets such as Irvine and Laguna Niguel. These markets are seeing an added boost in interest from buyers coming from outside of OC, who are in the market for larger lots and privacy.

“Our market is sitting at under 2,400 total active listings,” Smith told the Business Journal. “That’s far below the 5,000 listings in a typical year.”

There are now three active listings, the priciest being a 13,000-square-foot estate on a 0.9-acre lot at 76 Golden Eagle.

The home’s sellers are Ben Kante and Joni Rogers-Kante, founder and CEO of SeneGence, a cosmetics firm based in Foothill Ranch. It was initially listed in 2021 for $50 million and is now on the market for $30 million.

Former Los Angeles Angel slugger Albert Pujols just sold his 9,200-square-foot Shady Canyon home for nearly $10 million.

— Dana Bartholomew