After his divorce from wife Yael Cohen, manager-to-the-stars Scooter Braun went on a shopping spree and added two sprawling mansions to his real estate portfolio — worth almost $100 million!
And not just any mansions: a brand new, modern abode in Los Angeles’ Brentwood suburb (that set a new local sales record) and a unique Montecito house modeled after the Alhambra Palace.
Photo credit: The Agency
Back in 2021, Bran reportedly paid a whopping $65 million for a striking newly-built Los Angeles mansion designed by award-winning architect Noah Walker (property records show that the final sale was only $62,605,500), followed by a $36 million purchase of a Moorish-inspired Montecito estate that he bought from celebrity house flipper Ellen DeGeneres.
Image credit: Benny Chan courtesy of The Agency
Braun’s $62.6 million purchase of the sprawling contemporary home marked a new record for the area, solidifying the music mogul’s position as one of the wealthiest and most influential names in the industry.
The record executive shot to stardom after discovering Justin Bieber when he was only 12 years old. After seeing a YouTube video of the Canadian singer performing a cover of a Ne-Yo song, Braun flew Bieber and his mother to the U.S. and introduced him to top names in the music biz like Justin Timberlake and Usher.
Related: Where does Justin Bieber live? His many houses — both past and present
Within a few short years, Bieber became one of the biggest pop sensations in the world, skyrocketing Braun’s career.
He then went on to manage some of the biggest names in the music biz — including Kanye West and Taylor Swift (whom he had a very public fallout with in 2019, which kickstarted a year-long battle for the rights to Swift’s master recordings of her earlier works).
Scooter Braun on stage with Justin Bieber during a concert in Rosemont, Illinois. Lou Stejskal, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Scooter Braun’s talent roster later included names like Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, David Guetta, Hillary Duff, and the Black Eyed Peas.
This, coupled with a few wise business moves — in April 2021, Scooter sold his music investment firm, Ithaca Holdings, to a South Korean conglomerate for $1 billion — brought his net worth up to an estimated $400 million.
It then only makes sense that Braun’s first bachelor pad was an extravagant newly-built mansion in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood that came to market just a couple of months prior to the sale with a staggering $70 million asking price.
Image credit: Benny Chan courtesy of The Agency
Image credit: Benny Chan courtesy of The Agency
Image credit: Benny Chan courtesy of The Agency
Despite selling $7 million short of its ambitious asking price of $70 million, the sale marked a resounding success for celebrity brokerage The Agency (Blair Chang had the listing).
Properties in this price range can take years to sell and often go through several price cuts before landing a buyer. The sale also marked a new record for the celeb-heavy neighborhood, according to Architectural Digest.
It’s easy to see why Braun — whose full name is Scott Samuel Braun — was drawn to the contemporary home.
Image credit: Benny Chan courtesy of The Agency
With its clean, modern architecture, warm and inviting (yet still remarkable) interiors, and a never-ending list of amenities, the Brentwood property is a rare gem.
Credit for that goes to the powerhouse team behind the project, which consists of award-winning architect Noah Walker, AD 100 interior designer, Jamie Bush, and renowned landscape designer, Christine London LTD, who all worked together to bring this tour de force to life.
Set on a sprawling four-acre lot, Scooter Braun’s house has six bedrooms and 12 bathrooms alongside many recreation rooms — all spread across approx. 19,000 square feet of indoor space.
Image credit: Benny Chan courtesy of The Agency
Image credit: Benny Chan courtesy of The Agency
Image credit: Benny Chan courtesy of The Agency
The clean-yet-sophisticated interiors bear the signature of Jamie Bush, who is recognized for his ability to blur the lines between the architecture of a building and its interior design.
His design style, combined with Noah Walker’s approach to architecture — centered on creating modern structures that are warmly minimal with careful considerations of light, space, and the unique qualities of each project’s location — created a truly outstanding home.
The entire house has been envisioned as a relaxing oasis. But just in case that’s not enough, the primary suite has been contained in its own wing, to ensure maximum privacy.
Image credit: Benny Chan courtesy of The Agency
The bedroom suite has a sitting area separated by a double-sided fireplace and dual Poliform walk-in closets. Sliding doors open to balconies overlooking the large grassy yard, presenting views that extend across the canyon to the ocean.
It also has a downright impressive ensuite bathroom with dual vanities and a freestanding tub, a chaise lounge, and an outdoor lounge seating area.
Image credit: Benny Chan courtesy of The Agency
The $62.6 million property doesn’t disappoint when it comes to its amenities roster, providing plenty of spaces for both work and play.
There’s an upper-level home office whose views extend to the ocean and a main-level office with a dedicated outdoor seating area and a private entrance, giving Braun ample choices of where to set up shop, work-wise.
Related: Taylor Swift’s Holiday House — Home to “the Last Great American Dynasty”
Opportunities for entertainment and recreation abound with a nice home theater — which seats 12 and includes acoustical wall paneling and a commercial cinema-quality Sony projection system — a spacious family room, a 1,650-bottle wine room, and a bar/card room.
Image credit: Benny Chan courtesy of The Agency
Image credit: Benny Chan courtesy of The Agency
The Brentwood home comes with both an indoor and an outdoor pool, as well as a gym with a steam room.
There’s also a separate guest house on the property where Scooter Braun can welcome his famous friends for an extended stay. It’s a full-fledged house with a living area, dining area, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and washer/dryer.
The Moorish-inspired house he bought from Ellen DeGeneres for $36 million
While everyone expected Scooter Braun to settle into his massive Brentwood bachelor pad, the music mogul surprised us with an equally impressive (though slightly ‘cheaper’) purchase.
In August 2022, he spent another $36 million on a breathtaking mansion in the Santa Barbara area, one bought from serial house-flipper duo Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi.
Photo credit: The Agency, inset s_bukley / Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com
An imposing structure seemingly plucked out of the rolling hills of Spain, Villa Tragara — as the property is known — is a Moorish-style estate with Spanish and Italianate influences that was custom-built by TV commercials director Kinka Usher in 2014.
The custom-built house blends Spanish, Italianate, and Moorish architecture
At first glance, you’d think Scooter Braun’s house is located somewhere on a secluded hilltop in Spain.
Image credit: The Agency
And you wouldn’t be completely off base, as the villa was actually modeled after the mesmerizing Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.
Featuring 11,947 square feet of luxurious living space, Villa Tragara’s design seamlessly blends Spanish, Italianate, and Moorish architecture, resulting in a magnificent display of opulence and elegance.
Photo credit: The Agency
The estate was custom-built in 2014 by MG Partners for Kinka Usher, an acclaimed TV commercial director who has worked with clients like Nike, Pepsi and Taco Bell.
The exquisite mansion incorporates imported, antique, and time-honored materials, which blend perfectly with modern designs and features.
The living room connects the indoors with the outdoors through walls of double-height glass and steel doors and windows, offering extraordinary views of the property grounds and of the ocean.
The entire living room and dining area, which incorporates a top-class kitchen and plenty of lounging areas, is completely bathed in natural light, and is the focal point of this estate.
And if that particular living room isn’t really up your alley, there are plenty of other living areas to choose from — one more spectacular than the other.
Photo credit: The Agency
The dining room also overlooks a large koi pond and impeccably manicured grounds.
Speaking of the property grounds, the house lies on an expansive 2.45-acre lot, replete with olive orchard trees, numerous mature trees, and a 90,000-gallon swimming pond.
There’s also a heated pool, waterfalls, bocci and pickleball courts, a firepit, two large lawns for small events, and a grand lawn for formal parties and large events.
Photo credit: The Agency
Photo credit: The Agency
The estate also includes a floating Japanese pavilion above the koi pond, and a 16-seat covered pergola with an outdoor kitchen that features a pizza oven and barbecue, perfect for entertaining guests or enjoying the summer weekends.
The property comes with an attached guest house that features a living room, a kitchen, and a bedroom suite.
Two master suites are incorporated in the house, one boasting floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides, a large covered terrace, and a spa-like lavatory.
Photo credit: The Agency
State-of-the-art technology systems have been discreetly built into the property — which boasts Crestron automation, geo-thermal cooling and radiant heating, and a movie theater with surround sound and DLP cinema projector.
While the villa may seem incredibly secluded and remote, it’s actually located in the heart of Montecito, a popular destination for celebrities.
Oprah, Gwyneth Paltrow, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle all live in the area.
The location is conveniently close to beaches, shops, and restaurants in the Upper and Lower Villages, while the Four Seasons Biltmore, San Ysidro Ranch, and the Rosewood Miramar Beach Hotel are also nearby, and they offer a plethora of amenities via their membership clubs.
Photo credit: The Agency
We first covered the magnificent property when it was initially listed in August 2019 — please note that the photos and reporting below date back to that time. Since then, the property has seen some changes (after Ellen took ownership), and its representation changed as well.
DeGeneres sold it to Scooter Braun in an off-market deal, meaning little information is available on any changes Ellen made to the property during her brief ownership.
The media mogul’s real estate spending spree started soon after he filed for divorce from Yael Cohen, his wife of 7 years.
Yael and Scooter have three children together and will be co-parenting, which explains why Braun didn’t want to leave Brentwood (where, up until recently, they shared a home set across the street from Yael’s parents).