Scooter Braun Gets $28 Million for Historic Montecito Estate

Just as he was finalizing the $65 million acquisition of an all-new Brentwood mansion, Scooter Braun quietly began working on replenishing his coffers. Records now reveal the media mogul has sold a prime property in Montecito, Calif., where he often spent weekends. The off-market transaction closed at a whopping $28 million, and deeds indicate the buyers are a married couple from Northern Calfifornia — Bryan and Eve Schreier, he an early Google employee who is now a partner at Silicon Valley-based Sequoia Capital, one of the world’s top venture capital firms.

Ever the man with the Midas touch, Braun appears to have raked in fistfuls of profit from the sale. The 40-year-old bought the place only seven years ago for “just” $10.9 million; ironically, he and his estranged wife — South African mining heiress Yael Cohen — hadn’t even been planning to buy in Montecito at the time. To hear them tell it, the purchase was a trap laid for them by Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, who back in 2014 invited them to spend the day at their Montecito estate. The couple pushed the Cohen-Brauns to spend more time in the area and even introduced them to a realtor against their will, and despite their lack of interest. The rest, of course, is $28 million worth of history.

But Braun and Cohen were wowed by this estate, which features a grand driveway meandering through a canopy of ancient oaks, winding its way up to the home. They also liked the 1916 mansion’s history — it was built by Bay Area architect Bernard Maybeck, includes a separate two-bedroom guesthouse, and its Arts and Crafts architecture is atypical for the area. Or rather, they liked the home’s “fantastic bones” but were not enthralled with the “dark, old-fashioned interiors,” and somewhat gingerbread-colored paint scheme.

So with the help of veteran architect Marc Appleton and acclaimed mother-son interior designers Kathy and Tommy Clements, Cohen and Braun painted every inch of the interiors and replaced all the lighting. (They also redid the butterfly-shaped rose gardens and several outdoor stone terraces, and built a small poolhouse on the premises.) Much of the home is now white, although most period details remain. The resulting product was photographed for Architectural Digest in 2018.

Today, the estate’s new interior spaces are far lighter and brighter than before, though the changes may disappoint some design purists. There’s also a new kitchen with custom cabinetry and top-end appliances. The birch walls remain, as do the silk damask ceilings. But the real star of the real estate show are the estate’s 4.6 acres of park-like grounds, which include an oversized swimming pool, vast lawns, formal gardens and a lighted tennis court. Views take in the majestic peaks of the Santa Ynez Mountains.

Other neighboring estates include the $49 million compound of Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, another historical property owned by Ariana Grande, and the $14.7 million main residence of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

And besides his new $65 million Brentwood house, Braun also continues to own a $31 million compound elsewhere in Brentwood — currently occupied by Cohen — and a family vacation mansion in Palm Desert, within the guarded gates of La Quinta’s Madison Club.

(The below photos show how the Montecito house appeared in 2014, before Braun purchased the place. Current photos of the renovated property can be found on Architectural Digest.)