A three-level house on a double lot whose backyard abuts the beach and is block away from the city’s downtown sold for $12.5 million, or $1,446 per square foot.
The 8,647-square-foot house, at 308 Ocean Ave. in Seal Beach, has six bedrooms, 8.5 bathrooms and a pool with ocean views. It is a Tuscany villa sitting on a double lot with imported elements from France, including roof tiles, the iron entry gate and antique doors.
The backyard offers views of downtown Long Beach and the Los Angeles Harbor area.
The double lot spans 11,760 square feet. 308 Ocean Ave., which was built in 2004, sold on July 21. The buyer and seller were not disclosed.
Inside the house is an 800-bottle refrigerated wine cellar, office space and a gym equipped with a full bathroom and steam shower. The four-car garage includes a 220-volt charger for an electric vehicle.
Also featured on the property berry, lime, orange, papaya and persimmon trees.
Garrett Weston of Coldwell Banker Realty was the agent for the seller, with Hung Hoang of New Empire Realty representing the buyer.
Seal Beach
The average single-family home value in this small coastal community, wedged
between Long Beach and Huntington Beach, is nearly $1.8 million, according to Homes.com.
Several multimillion-dollar houses line Seal Beach’s residential roads, but the city’s early days were highlighted by an amusement park, brothels and gambling.
A historical account of Seal Beach by PBS SoCal pointed out an amusement park called Joy Zone opened in the small Orange County city in 1917. Brothels and gambling activities arrived at Seal Beach in the 1920s. Gambling ships could be seen right off Seal Beach’s coastline in the 1930s.
Suburbanization took over in the 1950s, according to PBS SoCal, putting Seal Beach on a bedroom-community-with-a-charming-downtown trajectory.
Forbes, in 2012, ranked Seal Beach as fourth among its list of America’s five friendliest towns.
“This Orange County seaside enclave boasts a wooden pier used for fishing and sightseeing and a tree-lined Main Street studded with pubs, restaurants, and seashell shops,” per the Forbes ranking. “The southern tip of the city is home to the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge, which is surrounded by quiet neighborhoods that escaped the overbuilding of the housing bubble.”
Seal Beach’s population is about 25,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The city’s major employers are Boeing and payment and security solutions provider MagTek. It is home to 1.5 miles of beach and the second longest wooden pier in California. Seal Beach was originally named Bay City but was renamed to its current iteration when the city was incorporated in 1915.
