Kinka Usher, a director of TV commercials, built 848 Hot Springs Road in 2014 as a passion project, and it sure showed. The 11,947-square-foot house, on a 2.45-acre lot at the corner of E. Mountain Drive, was “inspired by a childhood trip to Spain, where he was impressed by a Ferrari Dino sports car and the Alhambra” (per the Wall Street Journal). It was over-the-top-and-back-around-again, and that’s a compliment.
But when Usher put his Villa Tragara on the market for $29 million in October 2019, it likely proved too idiosyncratic. The price was cut twice till it was $19.95 million, then raised to $21.5 million once pandemic-related demand surged. And that’s when Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi pounced, purchasing the property for $20.95 million in February of this year.
Trucks showed up on day one, but we don’t know exactly what was done, beyond a new gate and a stripping of the name, because 848 Hot Springs was offered as a pocket listing. And DeGeneres and de Rossi proved they still have the golden touch: an unknown buyer just paid $36 million for it. The deal matches the couple’s most successful known flip: in 2014, “they paid almost $40 million for an A. Quincy Jones–designed Holmby Hills home […] and then sold the lavish property for $55 million just six months later,” according to Architectural Digest.
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Funny about a week ago there was a picture of Ellen and Portia on Coast Village Road she was supposed to be downcast over the death of Anne but about two steps behind her was Robert Riskin her personal real estate guy. We knew that 848 had to be in play…
How can I get Ellen & Portia to adopt me???