Rob Lowe can’t wait to hear the sound of pounding hammers echo throughout his California property. And, he won’t have to wait long now. The 42-year-old former star of TV’s “The West Wing” recently got the votes he needed from the Montecito Planning Commission to build a massive dream estate on his $8.5 million lot. But, it didn’t come without a fight.
Lowe’s neighbor waged a bitter battle to stop the TV and movie star from building the estate that he claimed would “spoil his panoramic ocean view.” A day long commission debate over whether Lowe’s proposed 14,260-square-foot home would “overwhelm the Picacho Lane neighborhood” ended in a narrow vote in favor of the construction.
Lowe can now go ahead with his plans to build a 9,860-square-foot home with a 2,000-square-foot basement, an 800-square-foot guesthouse, an 800-square-foot second-story cabana with an 800-square-foot garage below. There will also be a swimming pool, spa and tennis court… oh, and the addition at the center of the debate—a 24-foot-high privacy hedge that would screen the estate from Lowe’s neighbor Fred Gluck, former head of the international consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Gluck said the hedge would partially block his views of the Pacific. Lowe, meanwhile, retorted that Gluck has continually complained about his proposal, first about potential view loss, then on the size of the home. Gluck shot back saying that Lowe’s “monstrosity” would open the floodgates to the ever expanding size of Montecito homes. (Montecito is an exclusive area near Santa Barbara, where Oprah Winfrey owns a $55 million estate that spans 40 acres.) Lowe eventually had the final say when he noted that Gluck’s 8,577-square-foot home also “exceeds Montecito guidelines for what planners call floor-area ratios.” In the end, three commissioners sided with Lowe saying the estate was “compatible with the neighborhood.” Lowe says he hopes to have his “dream home” complete by the end of the year.