The Montecito Tea Gardens, also known as Mar y Cel, has been bought by the family foundation of Eric and Wendy Schmidt. The price has yet to come out; the property (698 E. Mountain Drive) had been listed various times, often in partial increments, over the past decade, most recently for $50 million. As you can see in the announcement, the Schmidts have no intention of developing it. (UPDATE: KCRW ran a long piece on the history of the place a while back.) UPDATE 3/10: The price was $26 million.
Santa Barbara residents Eric and Wendy Schmidt’s family foundation has purchased the 350-acre parcel of land known as Mar y Cel, the largest contiguous undeveloped property in Montecito, in a transaction that closed today. In keeping with their philanthropic focus on the environment, and in recognition of the value of Mar y Cel to the community and to the region, the Schmidts plan to protect these historic and important lands as open space and will spend the coming months determining how best to do that. The Schmidts’ foundation purchased the property from the estate of Dr. Keith Schofield and his wife, Kay Robinson Schofield, stewards of the property for the past 24 years.
Eric and Wendy Schmidt have been active philanthropists since 2006, when they started the Schmidt Family Foundation to address challenges facing communities around the world, working for clean renewable energy, healthy food systems, healthy oceans and the protection of human rights. They also founded Schmidt Ocean Institute to advance oceanographic research by offering scientists free access to the world’s first year-round philanthropic research vessel in exchange for making their findings publicly available. In 2024, Eric and Wendy founded Schmidt Sciences, a nonprofit organization working to advance science and technology that deepens human understanding of the natural world and develops solutions to global issues. Through their philanthropy, the couple are working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all.
Eric Schmidt led Google as CEO for a decade and as executive chairman for four years. He also served as executive chairman of Alphabet for three years and as technical advisor. A journalist early in her career, Wendy Schmidt also worked in marketing communications in Silicon Valley and since 2006 has led the couple’s philanthropy as president of the Schmidt Family Foundation and Schmidt Ocean Institute. Wendy also sits on the board of Lotusland.
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I hope they do nothing. I spent a lot of time up there in the ’80’s and I’m sure others would say I missed it in it’s heyday. Truly magical in it’s wildness.
Edit – it’s mar y cel – not ciel –
Thanks! Fixed it.
Bring back the skate bowls, use to love skating that place in the 80’s.
My husband and I had our first date here in 1967. We have now been married for 57 years! It is magical.
My wife and I had our first date there as well – about to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. Enjoyed some tea & lemon bread at the arches. Magical spot indeed!
Restore. The. Land. Back. The. Amazing. Plan. It. Was don’t. Allow. This. Rot. Away. If only. Knew. The. Love. That. Put. Into. This. History ❤️
Lion’s Tail….where is it?
Can’t you just Google it?
At the very top of the tea gardens (3 arches) there was a shed in the back. Anyone open that or know what could be in there? Also when looking down from the top of the tea gardens I saw a greenish/gray flat building to the right of the tea gardens that seemed almost abandoned. Has anyone explored this or know what I am talking about?
The shed used to contain gardening/maintenance equipment like ladders and wheelbarrows, but has recently been emptied. The flat greenish structure is simply a canopy covering a reservoir.