Gov. Gavin Newsom just snapped up a new Bay Area home: a hidden mansion in the Marin County town of Kentfield, fitted with outdoor sculptures, a guest house, a handful of walk-in closets, and a swimming pool and spa.
The governor paid around $9 million — 7% more than the asking price — for the house on less than an acre, in a deal that closed Thursday.
The house has six bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms across 5,609 square feet. A prime example of California modernism, it has numerous floor-to-ceiling windows with views of Mount Tamalpais.
Sources confirmed that Newsom bought the home through an LLC. The address is being withheld due to security concerns.
In June, news broke that Newsom’s children were moving from Sacramento back to Marin to continue their education.
The home’s previous owner, Hyatt Hotels billionaire heir Daniel Pritzker, did not respond to requests for comment.
The deal comes just two months after Marin’s biggest sale of 2024: a $14.4 million home in Sausalito, the Real Deal reported.
Newsom previously owned a home in Kentfield that he bought in 2011 for $2.2 million and sold in May 2021 for $5.9 million.
Jef Leh, president of the Kentfield homeowners association, said he was unaware of the purchase but noted that Newsom will be welcomed among the neighborhood’s bevy of celebrities.
“He’ll probably fit right in,” he said. “We’ve got a ton of people of that kind of stature. I would never divulge individuals, but you could probably put the math together — Belvedere, Ross, Tiburon — you’re familiar with Billionaire’s Row?”
Not everyone was as excited as Leh. When told of her new neighbor, Christie Colladay said, “Oh, bummer.”
Asked to elaborate on her disdain for the governor, Colladay responded: “Well, because I don’t like him. Ah, shit. I just don’t think he has run the state well between the pandemic and the homeless. I will be cordial, but he’s not getting a pie from me.”
The median price for a home in Marin in September was $1.76 million, according to the most recent data from the county assessor’s office — a 17% increase from the previous month and a year-over-year increase of nearly 7%. Ross, near Kentfield, accounted for 1.6% of home sales in Marin last year, the least of any town in the county.
“Kentfield is no longer just the divorced stepchild of Ross,” said William Barrett, a real estate agent in West Marin. “It’s awesome that he’s bought a house down here. I’m glad that he’s found a place in Marin County that he likes.”
Celebrities, techies, and venture capitalists have long gravitated to Ross Valley, where the school district is considered one of the best in the country.
“It’s widely publicized that there are great schools throughout Marin, but Kentfield and Ross have really great schools,” Leh told The Standard.
First Partner Jennifer Siebel-Newsom attended the nearby Branson School. The institution was once described by The New York Times as an “enclave within an enclave within an enclave: The 320-student school is in Ross, Calif., a hamlet of about 2,000 people that is 95 percent white and among the wealthiest towns in Marin County. Marin, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, is itself among the richest counties in the country.”
The late Phil Lesh, bassist for the Grateful Dead, lived in Ross Valley, as well as stars such as George Lucas and Sean Penn.
Newsom’s representatives declined to comment on the sale directly. “The family continues to split their time between Sacramento and Marin counties,” a statement from the governor’s office said, adding that Newsom works seven days a week throughout the state, at home, and in the office.
Newsom is the third governor to split time between Sacramento and another part of the state. Jerry Brown commuted from Oakland, and Arnold Schwarzenegger traveled from Los Angeles.
Caroline Nelson, a realtor with Compass, said she had not heard about the sale but was not surprised.
“We all knew this was coming,” she said, noting that the Newsom family previously lived with his in-laws in Ross.