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Preservation trust buys private island in San Francisco Bay for $3.8M

Former owner John Sweeney arrested after auction sale at Solano County courthouse

Muir Trust Buys Island in San Francisco Bay for $3.8 Million
Point Buckler Island owner John Sweeney and Point Buckler Island in Solano County (Getty, Point Buckler Island, John Sweeney, Facebook/Point Buckler Island)

The John Muir Land Trust bought the disputed 50-acre Point Buckler Island in Solano County at auction for $3.8 million — just before its seller was arrested and marched off by lawmen.

The Martinez-based preservation trust bought the marshy island on the south of Grizzly Bay at the public auction on Jan. 22 in front of the Solano County Courthouse, in Fairfield, SFGate reported.

The seller, John Sweeney, was then arrested by Solano County Sheriff’s deputies.

“We have a bench warrant for your arrest for a civil matter,” the arresting officer told the former owner, yachtsman and dot-com millionaire of Suisin City, pointing to the nearby courthouse. “Across the street.” 

As he was led away, Sweeney told reporters he believed the arrest was for “fighting this” and a failure to appear in court. He previously told SFGate he suspected there were numerous warrants out for his arrest. 

“Are you getting arrested?” one onlooker, apparently there in support of Sweeney, yelled out. “Must be doing something right.”

Sweeney had attended the proceedings in protest of the county-mandated sale of the land he purchased in 2011 for $150,000 and later turned into an elite kitesurfing club for Silicon Valley billionaires.

Sweeney’s unauthorized construction on the island, which included two helipads, a levee and a deep-water dock, was repeatedly found to be illegal, breaching numerous water board codes to protect endangered species in the tidal waters of Suisun Bay. 

In 2016, the unpermitted building resulted in a water board penalty of $4.6 million for Sweeney and his firm, Point Buckler Club.

Eileen White, executive officer for the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, recently called the environmental destruction “egregious.”

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The public auction was supposed to have a starting bid of $0, rising by increments of $100. Potential buyers were to have signed a document promising to restore the island, a potentially costly undertaking.

Two onlookers indicated their intention to bid, but were visibly surprised when Sgt. Tyler Pierce of the Solano County Sheriff’s Office started the bidding at $3,783,270.24, according to SFGate.

The auction then stopped as officials, attorneys and bidders huddled to figure out what was happening. At one point, Sweeney approached the group. 

“Are you a bidder?” a sheriff’s deputy asked. “I’m the owner,” Sweeney replied before he was asked to step away. 

“Government at its finest,” Sweeney told reporters. “Can’t figure out how to sell a property.”

The auction resumed, and no further bids came in. The buyer, the John Muir Land Trust, had locked in its bid prior to proceedings, Pierce confirmed to SFGate. The money from the purchase of the seized island will likely be used to pay off penalties and creditors. 

In September 2023, Sweeney had listed the island for $75 million, an apparent attempt to peddle it to Flannery Associates, now known as California Forever, which used cash from Silicon Valley billionaires to secretly buy 55,000 acres in Solano County hoping to develop a Bay Area city. 

Dana Bartholomew

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