Another recent news story, this one from the west coast, caught my eye. It seems that Amherst College, in central Massachusetts, was the remainderman for an estate left by Roger Holden, a member of the class of 1919. He died in 1968, and his widow was the income beneficiary of a trust which consisted of some beach property in Orange County, California. Capistrano Shores is about 60 miles south of Los Angeles, in San Clemente. The articles I've read never mention the total acreage involved, but some describe it as a 0.7 mile stretch of beach, with 90 cottages on it. At the time of his death, the land was valued at $1.5 million. Upon the death of his widow, Sylvia Holden Robb, title passed to Amherst, which recently sold the land for $58 million.
We can estimate the acreage. 0.7 miles works out to 3,696 feet. An article in the San Clemente Times says that "Capistrano Shores was founded in the late 1950s as a mobile home park.
The lots — which run about 1,000 to 1,500 square feet — line the northern
shore of San Clemente." Today, the homes are all manufactured homes which bear little visual resemblance to mobile homes. Square lots of 1500 square feet would be 39' deep; square lots of 1000 square feet 32' deep. 90 lots times 39 feet works out to 3510 feet, not too far off the 0.7 mile figure. If we figure an average of 1250 square feet (0.0287 acre) each, we find that the land is about 2.58 acres. That means a land value, for single family housing, of about $20.7 million per acre.
