Munger Donates 1800-Acre Property to UCSB, College Will Maintain as Working Ranch

The University of California Regents approved UC Santa Barbara’s acquisition of a 1800-acre property in Goleta on Tuesday, which the school plans to maintain as a ranch, according to UCSB spokesperson Andrea Estrada.

“For the foreseeable future, UC Santa Barbara will maintain the property in its current state as a working ranch,” Estrada said in a press release sent out on Tuesday.

The property – known as Las Varas Ranch – was bought and donated by billionaire Charles Munger. It is listed for $108 million, according to the ranch’s website.

“We are immensely fortunate to have been entrusted with this ‘coastal jewel,’” Chancellor Yang said in the press release.

The ranch is located approximately eight miles away from the campus and Isla Vista. It spans the Gaviota coast and contains 160 acres of lemon and avocado orchards, according to Zillow.

The property also includes seven homes and a man-made lake.

It was initially listed for sale on April 5.

The owner of the ranch, Anita Doheny, said in a promotional video for the property that her husband bought the property in the 1960s. The land was initially lived on by the Chumash Indians, according to the ranch’s website.

Munger has made several large donations to UCSB in the past, including $200 million to fix the Chi-5 dorms in 2016 and $65 million in 2014 for a new residence for UCSB’s Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics.

“We are enormously grateful to Charlie Munger for blessing our campus with this fabulous gift that will benefit our university for generations to come,” Yang said.

Further pictures of the property can be viewed here.