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Coronado Cays a Slice of Heaven on Some Very Nice Earth

“One of the best locations on Earth” is what the original owner said of a home in the Coronado Cays development to Jay Becker, a Realtor with Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty.

Becker said the original owner of his listing at 1 Spinnaker Way was the co-founder of Century 21 Real Estate, Arthur Bartlett. Bartlett co-founded Century 21 in 1971 with his partner, Marsh Fisher. The company grew to be one of the world’s largest residential real estate sales organizations and is now a subsidiary of Realogy Holdings Corp.

“Often, folks that are in real estate have the choice of choosing what they know to be the best location,” said Becker, who has 25 years in real estate. “This was his retirement spot, and he chose to live there for the remainder of his life.”

The Coronado Cays are on Coronado’s Silver Strand, which is a narrow, seven-mile-long isthmus four miles south of the village of Coronado on one end and connecting to Imperial Beach on the other.

Becker’s listing was one of the earliest custom homes in the community. On approximately a third of an acre, the home is 9,380 square feet with eight bedrooms and nine baths. The asking price is in a range from $11.9 million to $12.9 million.

Originally designed by Los Angeles County-based builder Aron Issac Katsof in 1989, the home underwent extensive renovation when the current owner bought the property in 2013.

“The difference between what that structure looked like before and now is on a whole different level,” said Becker, who also has a background in architecture. “Now, it’s very current with soaring walls of glass, skylights throughout and stunning contemporary finishes.”

Surrounded by lush landscaping, it has unobstructed bay and channel views from nearly every room. Becker credits custom home-builder Gary King of Lakeside-based JC King Enterprises Inc. and San Diego-based architect Fred Gemmell of Matrix Design with the spacious and open floor plan, including two casita guest suites, a home theater, a newly added architectural pool, a rare 100-foot private boat dock and more than 300 feet of open bay and channel frontage.

“Fred Gemmell is as much of an artist as he is an architect,” Becker said. “He’s really creative and I have to give him credit for some of the most recent finishes. He brought in the absolute most current wood embellishments and the use of onyx and quartz; it’s really stunning, stunning work.”

Aerial shot of 1 Spinnaker Way in the Coronado Cays development on the Silver Strand. Photo courtesy of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty

King Enterprises and Matrix Design also worked on the remodel of another of Becker’s listings, at 4 Spinnaker Way. The nearby property is at the end of the same cul-de-sac as 1 Spinnaker and is 4,100 square feet, four bedrooms and five baths. The three-level home also has a 100-foot private boat dock. The asking price is $4.85 million.

Becker said the Cays are made up of 10 distinct villages. The original lots in the Cays were sold in the early 1970s and some homes were built, but the boom of development occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Early on, there were a few developers who built the majority of the original homes. He said there are some townhome communities and those are the lowest-cost units. Several homes are detached, but have a similar style to them so they look somewhat homogeneous with minor differences.

“Many of the desirable water-facing lots are being replaced by larger, and more contemporary, high-design and feature-rich structures,” Becker said.

Many of the homes in the Cays have boat docks right outside their doors and easy access to San Diego Bay. The community is the only such marina south of Newport Beach.

The view of the San Diego Bay from 1 Spinnaker Way in the Coronado Cays. Photo courtesy of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty

Another interesting home in the Coronado Cays is a listing by Janice Clements, a Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. Clements is a San Diego native and has lived in Coronado since 1993. The property is at 15 Green Turtle Road with three bedrooms, three baths and is 3,675 square feet. The asking price is $3.195 million.

What makes it interesting is that it was the last design by John Lautner, one of America’s most important contemporary architects. It is also the only Lautner-designed structure in San Diego County.

The dining room at 1 Spinnaker Way in the Coronado Cays. Photo courtesy of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty

Lautner apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright for six years and is known for several iconic properties such as the Bob Hope house in Palm Springs. The Hope mansion is on a hilltop overlooking the Coachella Valley just east of downtown Palm Springs. The otherworldly structure at 2466 Southridge Drive is 23,000 square feet with 10 bedrooms, 13 baths and is currently on the market for $25 million by Patrick Stewart of Patrick Stewart Properties.

The living room at 1 Spinnaker Way in the Coronado Cays. Photo courtesy of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty

Lautner was 82 when he designed the home in 1993 on Green Turtle Road in the Cays, and he died a year later. While each of Lautner’s designs is one of a kind, the Green Turtle Road design is reminiscent of his trademark approach to architecture that combines concrete, glass and wood, creating a modern, but comfortable home befitting one of the best locations on Earth.

Send luxury real estate items to sglidden@sdbj.com.

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