Billionaire Silicon Valley developer and philanthropist Dave Dollinger, a principal in family-run Dollinger Properties, has amassed a humongous fortune building, buying and fixing up strip malls and office parks all across northern and southern California. He and his yogi/philanthropist/fashionista wife, Tara Dollinger, have now used some of that mountain of money to add to their already bulging property portfolio with the $17.5 million purchase of a sprawling, ultra-modern mansion inside the guarded gates of the prestigious Madison Club in California’s wealthy Coachella Valley desert resort community of La Quinta.
Designed to eradicate any visible definition between indoors and out, the unabashedly austere yet deeply luxurious single-story pavilion was built on speculation by noted megamansion developer Gala Asher who, high-end property watchers will recall, sold a remarkably similarly home almost directly across the street about 2.5 years ago for $12 million to reality television supernova Kris Jenner. (Last year Asher also sold a lavishly rehabbed, fortress-like mansion in L.A.’s hoity-toity Holmby Hills neighborhood for a mouth-drying $37 million to Jenner’s wildly rich social media powerhouse and makeup mogul daughter Kylie Jenner.)
One of the most expensive single-family homes ever to be sold in the Coachella Valley, the Dollinger’s new five-bedroom and eight-bathroom trophy estate sits on close to an acre with nearly 12,000 square feet of air-conditioned space and another 4,000 square feet (or so) of covered al fresco living, dining and lounging space. Concrete floors and exposed concrete walls lend the minimalist structure the feeling of a heavily fortified bunker, but vast walls of disappearing glass, premium-quality designer finishes and state-of-the-art technology, which includes a comprehensive home automation system, ensure it is both sumptuous and comfortable.
Plenty roomy enough to roller skate or ride a bike around, the massive open-plan living area is divided by a double-sided linear fireplace, each side with a flush-mounted flat-screen television. There’s a professional bar at one end of the room and a sleek kitchen at the other.
All by itself the homeowner’s suite spans about 3,000 square feet, while two ample secondary suites pamper guests with fireplaces and kitchenettes. Described in marketing materials as the “Coachella suite,” a bunkroom sleeps eight, while an approximately 1,200-square-foot guest apartment offers a private entrance, kitchenette and patio.
At the front of the house, a secured courtyard includes a lounging area with fire pit, and out back there’s a 100-foot-long lake-sized infinity-edge swimming pool with a panoramic mountain view over the Madison Club’s meticulously manicured greens and fairways.
The property was listed with Ginger Glass if Compass, while the Dollingers worked with Hideaway Properties.
The Dollingers, who met through a VIP matchmaking service, live a by-any-standard extravagant lifestyle. Their 2017 wedding, hosted at the Coachella Valley’s posh Zenyara estate, included performances by John Legend and Ludacris — the bride wore a Ralph & Russo designed dress with more than 3,000 hours of handwork in it, and for Mrs. Dollingers birthday last year her deep-pocketed husband rented out the exclusive Amangiri Resort in Utah and flew her family in on a couple of private jets.
Accordingly, the couple maintain a handful of homes commensurate with that lifestyle. Tax records show that since at least the late 1990s Dollinger has owned the same 10,000-square-foot mansion in Silicon Valley’s ritzy Atherton community, where he can easily send his kitchen staff over to Steph Curry’s place for a cup of sugar, and in early 2019 the newlyweds shelled out $29 million for a city-view fixer-upper on almost 1.5 acres in a particularly plummy pocket of Bel Air. They also keep a vacation getaway in the hair-raisingly expensive Yellowstone Club in Montana where other members include Justin Timberlake, Bill Gates and Google’s Eric Schmidt.