Wildfire claims home “one signature away” from multi-million dollar sale

A home that a real estate agent in Laguna Niguel says was “one signature away” from a multi-million dollar sale was destroyed by the wildlife that ripped through the area earlier this week.

According to the Orange County Register, the 10,000-square-foot mansion in the gated Coronado Pointe neighborhood was one of 20 homes destroyed by the quick-moving fire that damaged 11 other homes in the area west of Crown Valley Parkway.

The mansion, whose owner was abroad at the time of the fire but was able to watch its approach to his house through security cameras, had been listed for just under $9.9 million in a neighborhood where homes sell for an average of $4 million apiece.

The two-decade-old custom-built home was the pièce de résistance in the one-block development, sitting at the end of a cul de sac with a large driveway out front, two wings — one for the adults and one for the children — jutting out toward the canyon overlooking the pool, a golf course and Aliso Beach.

“It’s a very special property. You cannot duplicate that home,” the Compass agent who was managing the sale told the newspaper. “It was like a palace.”

The agent added that the prospective new owners were devastated by the fire, which sent their dreams of living there, for now, up in flames.

The blaze started in the late afternoon on May 11 near a water treatment plant in Aliso Woods Canyon, then, pushed by strong coastal winds, made its way up the steep terrain before burning through 200 acres between Laguna Niguel and Laguna Beach by sundown, the Register and CBS Los Angeles reported. One firefighter was injured fighting the blaze and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The cause is still being investigated. On Wednesday night, Southern California Edison said that there was “circuit activity occurring close in time to the reported time of the fire.”

A temporary shelter for those who were affected by the fire was set up at Crown Valley Community Center on Crown Valley Parkway.

[Orange County Register] — Vince DiMiceli