A Lot for Not Much

Who says Orange County real estate prices are skyrocketing? Psychologist Stevan Dweck just bought a plot of land in Costa Mesa for $1.

That’s right, for less than the price of a potted plant, Dweck purchased 3,800 square feet--complete with a manicured lawn, palm trees and seven parking spaces--next to a building he owns on East 17th Street.

How did he get such a deal? The semicircular piece of land was left over when the city realigned and widened the street between Orange Avenue and Newport Boulevard decades ago. It is one of a dozen irregularly shaped surplus lots that the city has been trying to sell.

“This was a lot that was completely useless to anyone but the person with the adjacent property,” said Ernesto Munoz, assistant city engineer.

Such leftover land is costly to maintain, he said. “It grows weeds, people dump trash there, you have to fence it off. A homeless person could die there. Somebody could be stabbed there. These are all liabilities to the city.”

If the same square footage had been a corner lot in the same block, it could have fetched in the neighborhood of $100,000, said Carl DiStefano, an Irvine commercial real estate appraiser. “Property values have recovered in Orange County, and this particular part of Orange County is especially desirable.”

As part of the deal, Dweck, who had been leasing the plot since 1985, agreed to keep up the landscaping, which he put in.

“I think it’s a good deal for the city because I’m going to maintain it,” said Dweck, “It’s a breath of fresh air for the people who live here. There’s so much cement and mortar around here, it’s like an oasis.”