La Jolla's priciest home slashes asking price
La Jolla's $108 Million Sand Castle Gets a $15.5 Million Haircut
If you have been saving up for La Jolla's most extravagant oceanfront mansion, congratulations. You just saved $15.5 million.
The Sand Castle at 1900 Spindrift Drive has dropped from its original $108 million asking price to a slightly more approachable $92.5 million after sitting on the market for over 470 days without a buyer. The estate was built by the late billionaire Darwin Deason, founder of Affiliated Computer Services, who passed away in December at age 85.
Deason purchased two adjacent parcels in 2009 for $26 million from developer Doug Manchester and spent years transforming a modest pink beach house into his personal version of Versailles. The 13,000-square-foot estate features 10 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, gold leaf ceiling details, 18th-century mermaid statues in a nautically themed bar, a saltwater pool, and a private beach stocked with sand from the same supplier as Augusta National Golf Club.
What makes the property truly irreplaceable is its seawall. Built in the 1950s before California's Coastal Act restricted such construction, nothing like it could be built today. The estate also includes two natural sea caves fitted with doors and gated access to La Jolla Shores Beach.
Listing agents Ross Clark and Brett Dickinson say 17 billionaires have toured the property and believe the psychology of dropping below $100 million matters to ultra-wealthy buyers. The duo recently set a San Diego record selling another La Jolla home for $47 million.
San Diego's luxury market is actually heating up, with 17 homes at $6 million and above entering escrow in the past month compared to just nine a year ago. A Del Mar mansion set the county record last October at $50 million.
The estimated annual property tax alone would run at least $1.3 million. So maybe keep the day job.
Sources: San Diego Union-Tribune | Fortune | Robb Report | Dallas Morning News | LaJolla.ca