A 4,134-square-foot oceanfront home in Three Arch Bay traded last month for $18.8 million in the second-priciest deal for the gated community.
The newly built and remodeled four-bedroom, five-bathroom home, at 30 S. La Senda Drive, was completed last year.
As with many of the properties in the more than 500-home Three Arch Bay neighborhood, 30 S. La Senda’s undisclosed buyer is using the house as a primary residence.
“They love the location. They love Laguna Beach,” John Liu of JC Pacific Capital Inc., who negotiated the deal on behalf of the buyer, told the Business Journal.
Compass’ Rob Giem represented the seller.
Price Jump
The 30 S. La Senda property’s latest price tag is more than double the $7.8 million home sold for in 2020.
The property boasts whitewater ocean views with Catalina sunsets and a staircase that leads directly down to the Three Arch Bay’s private beach, a feature offered by only a handful of homes on the main cove, according to the listing agent.
Its most recent valuation is around $3 million short of the community’s priciest sale: $22 million.
The community’s record was set two years ago by 25 Bay Drive, a 6,419-square-foot home also offering panoramic ocean views.
That property is the only one to surpass the $20 million mark on Three Arch Bay’s more desirable lower side, which comprises of around 250 homes.
Available properties in the neighborhood are rare.
“People that move into Three Arch Bay usually don’t move out and often pass down those properties to their families,” Keller Williams Irvine’s Heather Hernandez told the Business Journal. Hernandez is the listing agent for 26 S. La Senda Drive, which is next door to 30 S. La Senda Drive. That home is currently on the market for nearly $21 million.
The community, located on the border of Laguna Beach and Dana Point, is named after the three small, natural arches at the bottom of the cliff on the north end of the bay.
Some buyers have historically overlooked Three Arch Bay due to its location in South Laguna, which many consider to be too far down the coast.
In recent years, however, “people have started getting used to going down south because of Monarch Bay and The Strand,” Meital Taub of Livel Real Estate told the Business Journal.
Both The Strand and Monarch Bay – which are adjacent to Three Arch Bay – have made headlines over the past year for deals that have neared Dana Point’s record of $33 million.
Residents of Three Arch Bay have access to a park as well as tennis courts.
Historic Home
Properties in Three Arch Bay date as far back as the 1920s. The community was once home to the late old Hollywood director and screenwriter Edward Griffith, whose former house in Three Arch Bay is known by locals as “The Lighthouse Estate,” according to Taub, who previously listed the historic property. The home, at 40 N. La Senda Drive, also touts a saltwater pool built into the cliff rocks.
“It’s replenished daily by the tides and seawater,” Taub said. Griffith’s wife, silent film actress and showgirl America Chedister, had the pool built in three days using fast-drying cement, “because she wanted to use it for a party,” Taub added.
Other notable past residents of the community include “Winnie the Pooh” voice actor Sterling Holloway and, in more recent years, the former CEO of Irvine-based consumer data firm, The Retail Equation, Mark Hammond.
