Dick Wolf and the Hope Ranch home (Credit: Getty Images)
For his latest, production, “Law & Order’s” Dick Wolf didn’t create a new spinoff. He bought a new mansion outside Santa Barbara.
The celebrated television producer paid $14.8 million for a spec home in Hope Ranch for his wife, Noelle Lippman, according to Yolanda’s Little Black Book. The two are reportedly in divorce proceedings.
The home, built on 2.3 acres, was completed in 2017 and had initially been asking $17.5 million. The 11,200-square-foot home is in a modern style with Spanish influences. The grounds include a 75-foot-long backyard pool and a cactus garden.
Hope Ranch is an unincorporated community west of Santa Barbara, popular with equestrians for its more than two dozen miles of riding trails.
The area saw a surge in activity last year after Montecito was hit by mudslides caused by the Thomas Fire. The median sales price had jumped 21 percent year-over-year to $3.4 million by mid-2018.
Hope Ranch seems to be having a moment, but it’s unlikely to unseat Montecito as Santa Barbara County’s premier neighborhood. Both the mudslides and the Skirball Fire of late 2017 slowed the market there, but it recovered quickly.
Wolf himself lives in Montecito. [Yolanda] — Dennis Lynch