Billionaire Riley Bechtel pays record $89.5 million for Californian ranch

The COVID-19 pandemic may have hit the US hard but in the rolling hills of one Californian neighbourhood, the jaw-dropping real estate deals carry on regardless.

Variety reported this week that Montecito, a rather sleepy but searingly expensive neighbourhood east of Santa Barbara, has seen an unprecedented number of eight-figure property sales closed in quick succession.

The steady stream of headline-grabbing deals began in August when Meghan Markle and Prince Harry paid $US14.7 million ($20.9 million)  for a large Montecito compound, and has yet to slow.

The latest – and largest – deal so far was brokered last week when one of the county’s largest parcels of land, a 95.9-hectare property known as Rancho San Carlos, sold for $89.5 million to Riley Bechtel, a low-profile but extremely wealthy Forbes-listed businessman.

According to Variety, Rancho San Carlos was originally listed for $US125 million – that’s $177.7 million – when it first hit the market in 2014. Six years later, despite its heavily discounted sale price, it is still one of the priciest residential deals in Santa Barbara County history, eclipsing the record $71 million that Oprah paid for her compound back in 2001.

And what does $89.5 million buy you in Montecito?

Quite a lot, as it turns out. Rancho San Carlos is comprised of at least 10 land parcels that sweep from the north side of a main Montecito thoroughfare to the scenic foothills above town.

At the northern end of the property lies a 2787-square-metre main mansion with dozens of rooms, including 12 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. The sprawling house, built in a Monterey Colonial style, was completed in 1931 by noted architect Reginald Johnson.

The property also includes 10 guest cottages, an office building, and extensive equestrian facilities. The majority of the land is dedicated to orchards, boasting avocado and citrus groves.

Bechtel and his longtime wife Susan maintain a primary residence in California’s affluent Silicon Valley town of Woodside, though he also owns two huge Montecito mansions – one acquired in 2011 for $22.7 million, the other in 2015 for $9.67 million.