A 5,309-square-foot home on the exclusive Linda Isle traded last month for $16 million.
The four-bedroom, four-bathroom bayfront home in Newport Beach which faces the neighborhood’s interior cove, tied with a smaller property for the third-priciest trade on the horseshoe-shaped island. The record for the community is $27 million.
The recently traded home at 52 Linda Isle, which traded for just over $3,000 per square foot, shares the same price tag as 4,985-square-foot 104 Linda Isle, which sold last November at 3,200 PSF.
The new owners of 52 Linda Isle aren’t planning any upgrades to the property, real estate sources said.
The home’s seller was represented by Doug Merlino of Beachpointe Properties. Compass’ Matt O’Keefe negotiated the deal on behalf of the buyer.
15x Return
The 52 Linda Isle home was built in 2005 by the most recent sellers, who bought the property two years prior for $1.15 million.
They tore down the existing home on the lot after buying it and designed and constructed their own.
The sellers are now moving out of Orange County to be closer to family but are still leasing a place near the Balboa Bay Club due to their love for the beach and the Newport area.
Linda Isle is home to lots of remodeling and rebuilding, according to Merlino.
“Every fourth or fifth house is having some kind of work done on it,” Merlino told the Business Journal.
“There’s a lot of old money on the island, and the newer, younger generation of buyers are coming in and remodeling and rebuilding homes to their liking,” he added.
Execs that currently own property in Linda Isle are Caribou Industries Inc. Founder Mike Harrah and Fulgent Genetics CEO Ming Hsieh.
Notable past residents of Linda Isle include Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren and auto dealer Fletcher “Ted” Jones.
Community Standout
The 107-home Linda Isle community is among the most exclusive neighborhood in OC, according to brokers.
The community, in comparison to those nearby, offers a 24-hour guard gate and ample parking.
“On some of these other islands, it’s very difficult to find parking,” Merlino said. Linda Isle, instead, boasts a “more open feel, with every home having somewhat of a longer driveway” than its other Newport Beach island counterparts.
The 52 Linda Isle home sold in about 57 days, a fraction of the average 467 days it takes for a $6 million OC home to sell.
The island’s higher-end properties have sold in about the same or less amount of time.
“The neighborhood’s in pretty high demand,” Merlino said.
“Shark Island”
Linda Isle is affectionately known as “Shark Island” by locals, who coined the name since the island “looks like a shark took a big bite out of it,” Merlino said.
Another explanation for the nickname can be attributed to the island being a sand shark hotspot.
A few movies have been filmed on Linda Isle, including the 1940s film “Sands of Iwo Jima” starring one of the county’s most famous resident, John Wayne.
