‘My jaw dropped’: See Sacramento-area estate that was featured in Hollywood movie

One of the most remarkable homes in the Sacramento region — a modern hilltop estate with vast views of the American River, Folsom Lake and the Sierra Nevada — has been placed on the market with a sale price of $3.65 million.

The unobstructed views from every room are the centerpiece of this high-tech El Dorado County estate, built in 2012. However, there’s much, much more to the property, which sits on 40 private acres surrounded by oak woodland.

Other impressive features include:

▪ A resort-like, infinity-edge pool, which wraps around the entire back of the estate, with an island hot tub and swim-up bar;

▪ A 40-foot skybridge from the main residence to a luxurious, 1,365-square-foot guest house;

▪ A helipad and six-car garage;

▪ A gym, massage room, indoor fountains, outdoor waterfalls and a powder room with a custom-cut countertop made from a 50-million-year-old rock with embedded fossils;

▪ A gourmet kitchen with a custom turquoise glass backsplash, center island and indoor pizza oven.

“My jaw dropped when I first saw the photos of this property due to the quality of construction and sweeping views of the valley,” Sacramento appraiser and housing market expert Ryan Lundquist said. “This property reeks of luxury real estate vibes in terms of style and quality. A buyer for a property like this will have bragging rights for a one-of-a-kind home, and privacy will be key too since there are 40 acres here.”

Briana Alhadeff is the designer, builder and owner of the masterpiece. It’s still unique to be a woman in the construction field, she added, and she handled it all from packing and cutting steel to pouring concrete.

“I didn’t see another female on this site for years” during construction, she said, laughing. “Construction is a very male-dominated industry. For myself, I kind of broke the barrier. I did everything.”

Even with all the luxury amenities, Alhadeff might be most proud of the insulated concrete form systems in the wall, floor and roof that she used during construction, which made the structure safer, sturdier, fire-resistant, energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

Home was used in 2018 cinema thriller

The three-story, concrete-and-stucco estate, known as Casa Bella Verde, sits atop a hill in the tiny community of Pilot Hill, 1301 Hound Hollow Road. The mansion is so appealing that Hollywood has come calling. Casa Bella Verde was prominently featured in the 2018 thriller film “Traffik.”

“That was kind of a fun experience,” Alhadeff said about sharing her house with the cast and crew. “They were here for two weeks — all night shoots. It was like a red-eye flight every day. I was like a little vampire staying up all night.”

Pilot Hill is about 43 miles northeast of Sacramento, California.

The main home is entered through a huge and dramatic iron-and-glass pivoting door. Across the grand foyer, a curved, maple-wood staircase leads to the second floor.

The house spans 8,597 square feet with five bedrooms and eight total bathrooms.

The hallmark of the home’s interior are the massive sliding glass doors that disappear into the wall so the gourmet kitchen and living room open to the pool area, seamlessly combining indoors with outdoors and showcasing the panoramic view of snow-capped mountains near Lake Tahoe.

The primary bedroom suite on the second floor also has disappearing pocket doors and mountain views in the direction of the sunrise. Around the corner of the bedroom, which has one of the home’s three fireplaces, are “his-and-her” bathrooms, both with enormous walk-in closets. One of the bathrooms has a day bed, two-person bathtub and an open, walk-in, stone-walled shower with unobstructed views that seem to stretch forever.

‘The views are just breathtaking’

Listing agent Brooke Bodtker, luxury home specialist with Coldwell Banker Realty, highlighted other unique features of the home, from its quiet solitude — even though the property is only 20 minutes from a major freeway, shopping and restaurants — to its sizable entertainment spaces.

Still, the conversation always seems to come back to the estate’s postcard setting — no matter what time of year.

“What’s really unique about that house is that, we’ve seen it in the summertime with the beautiful sunshine, but also at different times of the year — think about watching storms roll in on either side,” Bodtker said. “I would say the views are just breathtaking. It just puts you back and you’re like, wow, is this real?”

The third floor contains a large, light-filled living space with a miniature bar/kitchen and large windows on three sides that look out at the South Fork of the American River and Folsom Lake in the distance. Alhadeff set up the room as an office space, but the area could be used as a yoga, art or dance studio.

The third floor gives access to an expansive rooftop patio with beautiful 360-degree views of the valley, mountains, lake and hills.

Other luxurious amenities include an elevator, a 45-kilowatt generator and a geothermal heating/cooling system for energy efficiency.

Skybridge to the guest house

The skybridge that leads from the main residence to a guest house is broken up by a Zen-like rotunda with an obelisk fountain of basalt rock standing in the center.

The guest house is decked out with the same luxurious details as the primary house. Alhadeff rents the unit to guests from as far away as Saudi Arabia through AirBNB for $350 per night. Visitors have access to the vanishing-edge pool — which gives the illusion that they could float right out into the rolling hills beyond — as well as to the swim-up bar, island hot tub and sizable outdoor kitchen.

If the property sells for the list price, it would be a record-breaking residential sale for Pilot Hill, Lundquist said, excluding a “lone ranger” estate of 1,300 acres that went for $8 million in 2013.

The most recent high-end sale in Pilot Hill was $2 million in July 2021 for a residence spanning 3,622 square feet, also on 40 acres.

In El Dorado County, there have been 17 sales above $3 million since 2020, not including the Lake Tahoe area.

“Casa Bella Verde is a testament to architectural and engineering excellence,” the listing state. “It is a true masterpiece that offers unparalleled living in an awe-inspiring natural setting.”

Alhadeff said she is selling the home because she has decided to downsize.

Editor’s note: This story was edited on July 11, 2023, to reflect that the property is 20 minutes from a major freeway, shopping and restaurants.