Century-old South Bay Catholic property is bought for $40 million-plus
LOS ALTOS - The century-old Maryknoll Residence that’s nestled on a South Bay hillside has been bought for more than $40 million by a group based in Nevada.
The landmark 57-room residential complex in Los Altos fetched a purchase price of $43 million, according to documents filed on June 9 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.
Described as a “bucolic haven” in a marketing brochure, Maryknoll Residence is the centerpiece of a 29.2-acre site at 23000 Cristo Rey Dr. next to Interstate 280.
Saint Therese Holdings, the LLC that bought the property, has the identical primary address in Reno that Bia-Echo Foundation lists on the private foundation tax form for 2024 that the organization filed with the IRS, state and federal public documents show.
Nicole Shanahan, an attorney and entrepreneur whose ties to Silicon Valley include Google co-founder Sergey Brin, founded Bia-Echo Foundation in 2019.
The Saint Therese Holdings entity bought the Maryknoll Residence property through an all-cash deal, county real estate records show.
Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, which provides some Catholic Church missionary services to the poor and disadvantaged in other countries, sold the property.
“With its curving blue tile roofs, Maryknoll Residence is the jewel of Highway 280,” stated a marketing brochure for the property that was circulated by Sequoia Realty Services, whose executives Anthony Kamm, Ryan Pegnim, and Frank Orrell arranged the deal.
Built in 1926, Maryknoll Residence was originally used as a housing site for students attending St. Joseph’s Seminary across the street. In 1976, the residence was redesigned as a retirement home for church missioners.
The Maryknoll site has the feel of a “mini-village” due to its combinations of outdoor arcades and indoor corridors, Sequoia Realty states in its brochure.
Of the 57 rooms, 54 have in-suite bathrooms. The property also contains a commercial kitchen, main and guest dining room, a large chapel and sacristy, an assembly room, administrative offices, conference rooms, a laundry room, a barber shop, a woodworking shop, a multipurpose room and a maintenance shop, the brochure states.
The landmark complex has “strong flavors of Spain, Italy and the Orient,” the brochure states.
Shanahan, who heads Bia-Echo Foundation, was once married for about four years to Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Shanahan and Brin divorced in 2022.
In 2024, Shanahan became the vice presidential running mate for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as part of his independent bid for the presidency.
The foundation espouses wide-ranging aspirations, including reproductive longevity, criminal justice reform, and livable ecosystems
“Bia-Echo Foundation aims to accelerate social change in order to establish a fair and equitable society for future generations to thrive,” the organization stated in 2019.
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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 5:17 AM.