Capistrano Shores (San Clemente, California)

 summer cottage area, mobile home community

1880 N. El Camino Real
San Clemente, CA 92672

Capistrano Shores was founded in the late 1950s as a mobile home park. The lots—which run about 1,000 to1,500 square feet—line the northern shore of San Clemente. Howlett says the property has changed hands numerous times since it first opened, eventually being donated to Amherst College by an alumnus in 2006. The college later decided to sell the property to the homeowners association. Of the 90 news owners, 88 use the modular homes as secondary dwellings.

Capistrano Shores property extends seventh-tenths of a mile from the San Clemente Metrolink Station all the way up to Poche Beach. The land runs adjacent to the railroad the Pacific Coast Highway.

The homeowners recently (2007) decided to by the property. “This is the largest single piece of beachfront property with homes on it in San Clemente,” said Mark Howlett, the president of the Capistrano Shores Inc. homeowners association. “Of the 90 residents who live here, all 90 chose to purchase their property.”

Howlett could not give the final purchase price for the property under a confidentiality agreement with Amherst College of Massachusetts, but documents obtained by the San Clemente Times set the final amount at approximately $100 million.