After selling her Malibu mountain home for $18 mιllιon a year ago, chef and cookbook author Geraldine Gilliland has handed over the keys. According to public documents, former collegiate and professional basketball player Drederick Irving, father of Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, paid $10.7 mιllιon for the home, $7.4 mιllιon less than the initial asking price.
Since Gilliland, owner of Santa Monica’s Lula Cocina Mexicana restaurant, bought “Rancho Chiquita,” the 40-acre property has been used as a wedding and party venue, a filming location for “The Voice,” and a non-profit dog rescue. The gated compound has a hacienda-style main house and a detached residence on 225 acres with ocean and mountain vistas.
The stucco and terracotta-roof main house has 6,700 square feet of two-story living space with wood-beam ceilings, Saltillo tile and parquet floors, arched entrances, and clerestory windows. The main level features a living room and formal dining room with fireplaces, a gourmet kitchen with granite countertops, an eat-in island with built-in wine storage, high-end stainless appliances, a walk-in pantry, and a breakfast nook.
All of the bedrooms are secluded in two wings of the house, one with an ocean-view master retreat with a custom fireplace, private patio, spacious cedar-lined walk-in closet, separate fireside sitting room, loft space, and luxe bath that opens to a terrace with a spa, and the other with two main-level bedrooms with access to an outdoor palapa and a lower-level staff/guest suite with two bedrooms, an office, living room, and kitchen.
The palatial grounds include a pool and spa with an infinity edge, a kitchen and bar, and many outdoor spaces for relaxing and socializing, including a grassy area that can hold 250 guests. A gated service entry leads to a big automotive court and an event staging space.