Retired NFL Star Offloading Carmel Valley Estate

A former National Football League player is searching for a buyer for his hilltop estate in Carmel Valley.

Retired linebacker Scott Fujita — who played for the Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints and Cleveland Browns — and his wife Jaclyn are listing their property known as The Ridge at Upper Forty for just shy of $10 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The property spans roughly 20 acres across two adjacent parcels on a private ridge at about 1,300 feet. The Fujitas’ spread includes a five-bedroom main house, a three-bedroom pool house and a converted barn for a total of more than 9,000 square feet of living space. Outside the buildings, the estate contains trails, orchards, a bocce court and multiple outdoor entertaining areas.

The main residence, originally built in 2007 and later renovated under Fujita’s ownership, features a glass-walled great room and a high-end kitchen. The pool house, completed in 2014, adds guest capacity and flexible entertaining space, while the barn has been repositioned as a fitness and training hub.

Fujita, who earned a Super Bowl ring during his time with the Saints, uses the barn to train a rotating group of young athletes, including football players. Those trainees, which Carmel Realty Company listing agent Shelly Mitchell Lynch called Fujita’s “dawn patrol,” include his daughters.

The Fujitas bought the main house in 2008 for $3.2 million, per property records cited by the Wall Street Journal. In 2010, they dropped $500,000 for additional land, and later built the roughly 3,400-square-foot guest house.

The couple made the estate their full-time residence when Fujita retired from the NFL in 2013. “It was the homecoming that we were searching for, and has been an amazing place to raise the kids,” the Super Bowl champion told the Wall Street Journal. The Fujitas plan to move to Texas to be closer to their oldest daughters who will attend college in Texas and Louisiana.

The listing lands as another compound in the area seeks a buyer. About 10 miles away in Carmel, a newly built home completed last year is asking $9.9 million, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported. The seven-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bath residence spans 4,925 square feet and is located on 12.3 acres in Carmel’s Teháma gated community, developed by Oscar-winning-actor-turned-developer Clint Eastwood.

Home prices in Carmel Valley are down year-over-year. The median sale price in the enclave was $1.7 million last month, down 14.1 percent from the same time last year, per Redfin data cited by the Wall Street Journal.

— Chris Malone Méndez