Ellen DeGeneres and mining billionaire trade mansions in $130M deal

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have traded mansions with billionaire mining magnate Robert Friedland in a deal approaching $130 million.

An entity tied to the founder of Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Mines paid the TV personality and her companion $96 million for a blufftop estate at 2781 Padaro Lane in Carpinteria, which they bought less than two years ago for $70 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In return, DeGeneres and de Rossi paid Friedland $32 million to buy back an 8-acre estate at 319 San Ysidro Road in Montecito they’d sold him in March for the same price.

DeGeneres and de Rossi are prolific real estate traders, whose portfolio last fall included the 10-acre Carpinteria estate, the 9,000-square-foot Montecito estate and a Neutra-designed Bel-Air home they bought in 2022 for $29 million.

Friedlander and his wife, Darlene, are running neck-and-neck. 

In February, they were identified as the mystery buyers of a 9,400-square-foot mansion on 2 acres they’d bought last fall at 3165 Padaro Lane in Carpinteria for $46.9 million. They just sold it for $49.6 million, according to the WSJ.

The Singapore-based Friedlands also own two side-by-side estates in Beverly Hills they bought in 2021 for $26 million. In late 2020, they paid $16 million for Zsa Zsa Gabor’s longtime Bel-Air mansion — then bulldozed it. They also own a blufftop villa in Phuket, Thailand, with three infinity pools, while their main residence is a luxury flat in Singapore.

In 2015, the couple sold a hilltop estate in Belvedere overlooking San Francisco Bay for a record-breaking $47.5 million.

Their latest purchase in Carpinteria includes an 8,000-square-foot Tuscan farmhouse-style mansion with five bedrooms and eight bathrooms on 3.4 acres that DeGeneres and de Rossi bought in late 2022 for $41.7 million. The house has exposed wood beams, a cabana and a guest cottage

The acquisition also includes 6.6 acres next door with lawns and a lake that DeGeneres and de Rossi bought at the same time for $28.2 million.

DeGeneres and de Rossi will return to their 105-year-old “Pompeiian Court,” the Roman-style estate in Montecito they’d once listed for $46.5 million. 

The 8-acre property includes a 7,800-square-foot manor, built in 1919, that lies behind an iron gate at the end of a quarter-mile long driveway lined with olive trees.

DeGeneres and de Rossi bought the five-bedroom, 10-bathroom villa in June last year for $22.5 million.

The couple just paid $6 million to buy a vacant, 3-acre property next door from another seller.

Prices and sales for single-family homes in Santa Barbara, Montecito and Carpinteria rose during the first five months of the year, compared to a year ago, according to Village Properties. The number of single-family home sales in South Santa Barbara County rose 19 percent year-over-year, while the typical price was $2.265 million, up 8 percent year-over-year. 

— Dana Bartholomew

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