Mendocino Coast’s Albion Headlands For Sale

An unspoiled 84-acre piece of land on California’s Mendocino Coast could be yours — if you’re willing to pay for it.

The Albion Headlands, located at 3400 North Highway 1, are on the market for just under $7 million, SF Gate reported. The patch of bluffs and hills is one of the last undeveloped oceanfront properties on California’s North Coast and is located in the unincorporated town of Albion, occupied by about 150 inhabitants.

The land is being marketed as 16 residential parcels, according to SF Gate. The potential of losing the pristine piece of land to development has roiled locals and conservationists.

“Some very rich person or developer could still swoop in and grab it,” Conrad Kramer, executive director of the Mendocino Land Trust, told SF Gate. “We think that that won’t happen right away, and I’m knocking on wood here.”

The Land Trust, a nonprofit organization that has helped protect thousands of acres along the North Coast over the past half-century, is hoping to acquire the land. The group is currently finishing an appraisal and is hoping the seller, B&C Smith Family Trust, accepts its offer. It will rely on a mix of state funding and private donations to make the purchase.

If successful, the Mendocino Land Trust wouldn’t leave the property completely untouched. It hopes to build a small parking lot, an accessible bluff trail and hilltop lookouts where visitors can park their cars and watch the sunset.

Currently, the land is closed to the public, and visitors would be considered trespassers. Albion is likely the only town on the coast that doesn’t have its own public headlands trail, longtime Albion resident and environmental advocate Tom Wodetzki told SF Gate.

Conservation, and not private purchase for residential development, is top of mind for Justin Nadeau, the Mendo Sotheby’s International Realty agent representing the listing. To that end, Nadeau approached and consulted with the Mendocino Land Trust and nearby tribal leaders about how best to proceed with any conservation efforts.

“When I talk about reimagining the future of the Albion Headlands, I’m actually talking about reimagining it in a way for the public to be there and use it,” he said.

But at the end of the day, money talks. “If a private individual decides, ‘Hey, I’m going to buy the property and I’m going to build a single house,’ the property is then basically lost to the public forever,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Carmel-by-the-Sea, a piece of prime seaside land is up for sale for just $100,000. Unlike at Albion Headlands, however, a buyer would be legally restricted from building anything on the site. — Chris Malone Méndez