View of property from west side. That’s not a drive-way, that’s a parcel of land just sold. Combined, the 3 lots are nearly 10,000 square feet.
Big Question: Will New Owners Keep 97-Year-Old Cottages – or – Is Another Huge Condo Complex Coming In?
9 Units and Empty Lot on 5100 Block of Muir Sold
A 3-lot piece of Ocean Beach – totaling nearly 10,000 square feet – a half block from the beach on the 5100 block of Muir – has just been sold for $1,325,000.
The 3 lots on the last block of Muir Avenue, 5137, 5141 and 5153 – an empty lot – include 7 buildings, occupying a total of 9,943 square feet (448-043-21, 22 and 23). Overall, the property consists of 8 one-bedroom units plus one studio:
- 7 units in cottages built in 1918 – a total of 1,362 square feet at 5137 Muir
- a duplex at 5141 Muir built in 1949 for 1,200-square-foot
- 3,389-square-foot vacant lot at 5153 Muir
Buying the large chuck of OB was a California limited liability company called Muir Cottages LLC, with addresses at 3525 Del Mar Heights Road, Suite 944, San Diego 92130. The buyers acquired the property with a $690,000 loan from JPMorgan Chase Bank.
One of the managers of Muir Cottages is Plum Street Property Investments LLC, which in turn is managed by Adam Gill. The other member of the buyer is Nextgen Apartments LLC with Steven Ludwig as a managing member.
View from east side.
The seller of the property was Muir Beach Property LLC with Paul L. Mosher as the manager.
For someone who sees this as a golden opportunity to potentially strike it rich off the sands of OB, 10,000 square feet of paradise just a half block from a park with the Pacific Ocean represents a chance to construct a 3-story condo complex with roof-top decks of views of the water, making more millions.
In order to accomplish this gentrifying act, the owner would have to demolish the 97-year-old cottages, the 65 year-old duplex and smile with glee at an empty lot this close to the Pacific.
This is the big question for the new owners – and for the community-at-large. Does the Ocean Beach Historic Cottage Program mean anything? Will the argument that these are just old shacks not worth the wood they’re built in – win out – again?
Or will the new buyers of OB, touched by the uniqueness of the village, wish to preserve some of the community’s culture and history, refurbish the old cottages and only build on the empty lot?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Here’s hoping that these buyers of OB will realize that,unless they give more than lip service to why OB is its wonderful self, they will devalue both whatever they get to build plus OB and never – or hopefully never – recoup the value of what they bought.
They need imagination and courage. How about pricey but small totally green cottages? How about superlative architects, as opposed to run-of -the-mills?
Here’s hoping the Ocean Beach Historical Cottage Program has real teeth – and that Obeceans come out in force to preserve their town if these buyers are ho hum. types.
I’ll be very surprised if the structures survive the new owners. No ones spends millions on property like that to keep the properties separate. The value is in the combined square footage.
Those three lots are zoned for 2 units each, six total. Right now there are 9 units because they are old and grandfathered in. That might keep them from tearing anything down. I think tearing down even one of them, or building one more unit, would end the grandfather clause and getting that up to new the new zoning would be very expensive.