One of Orange County’s best-known homes, San Clemente’s La Casa Pacifica, just celebrated its centennial.
Allergan founder Gavin Herbert Sr. and his wife Ninetta, who have owned the 5.5-acre oceanfront estate for 46 years, hosted 130 guests at Richard Nixon’s former Western White House on July 11, to mark the 100-year anniversary of the property.
The Nixons purchased the home from the family of H.H. Cotton—a founder of the city of San Clemente and the one-time finance chairman of the California Democratic Party—in 1969. Nixon spent nearly one-fifth of his presidency there. Five other presidents have visited the property over the years.
The Nixons sold the home to Herbert and his business partners George Argyros and the late Don Koll in 1980.
The estate has been on and off the market since 2015, with an initial asking price of $75 million. A buyer has yet to be found, with the Herberts preferring to keep the home largely as-is post sale, due to its “extraordinary history.”
The goal is “to ensure that this historic site remains protected from development for generations to come,” Herbert said.
“The original plan was for this to be [the site of] the Nixon Library, but of course the abrupt end of the administration left us without a plan,” noted Hugh Hewitt, whose prior roles included heading up the Richard Nixon Foundation, which co-hosted the July 11 event.
The guests of honor at the event were former Gov. Pete Wilson and his wife. Melanie Eisenhower, the granddaughter of the Nixons and great-granddaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower, delivered remarks. Mary Roosevelt, widow of the late James Roosevelt, son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, also attended, among others.
When Kind Lending founder Glenn Stearns paid $50 million for author Dean Koontz’s Newport Coast mansion in 2020, the deal marked the priciest home sale in OC on record.
The local luxe market has seen steep appreciation since then, with this year’s $110 million sale of an ocean-front home in Emerald Bay now setting the top mark for the area.
Stearns is still drawing notables to his home. On July 8, roughly 75 guests attended a fundraiser for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been a regular visitor to the area over the years, with his daughter graduating from USC.
Along with Glenn and Mindy Stearns, the event was co-hosted by hotel developer Bob Olson.
Others in attendance included CT Realty’s James ‘Watty’ Watson, 5.11’s Francisco Morales and Business Journal Publisher Richard Reisman.
Last year, Abbott designated Fort Worth as the aviation and defense capital of Lone Star State, with an eye on attracting new businesses to the area. One closely watched OC startup firm has taken notice.
Reports out of Fort Worth this month say Huntington Beach’s Mach Industries is exploring building a $74 million manufacturing facility in the area, one which could support up to 1,000 jobs.
Mach Industries builds autonomous drones and other products and was founded in 2023 by MIT dropout Ethan Thornton when he was a teen. It’s currently valued at around $1.8 billion.
For more news on OC’s drone industry, read Kevin Costelloe’s front-page story.