Tech entrepreneur’s sonoma ranch sells for record $38.5m after $33m restoration

A huge 1,100-acre estate high on the slopes of Sonoma Mountain has sold for $38.5 million (£29.2 million), setting a record for the highest residential property sale ever recorded in California's Sonoma County. The large agricultural property, known as The Summit and located at 3100 Sonoma Mountain Road, was bought in 2014 by tech entrepreneur Mark Leslie and his wife, Debra Leslie. According to property records and reporting by The Wall Street Journal, the couple paid $12 million for the undeveloped land and later spent another $33 million to redesign, restore and build a highly self-sufficient private estate. The sale broke the previous county record, set in 2023 when an estate in nearby Glen Ellen sold for $35 million.Transforming raw land into a self-sufficient compoundWhen the Leslies bought the land in 2014, the mountainous property was mostly undeveloped and needed years of earthworks, infrastructure work and landscape restoration.