Santa Ana Heights home dubbed the ‘Duck Farm’ on the market for $25 million

A Santa Ana Heights property — described as a farm turned equestrian ranch in its property listing — is on the Newport Beach real estate market for only the second time since it was established in 1947.

Known as the Duck Farm, the home is on roughly 2.5 acres of land, surrounded on at least three sides by Newport Beach’s Back Bay. Its original owners, Alvin and Patricia Cox, purchased the property from former Irvine Co. president Myford Irvine. The Coxes later sold the property in 2015.

The current owners hired Newport Beach-based William Guidero Belden Planning to design an extension to the property, which was completed by Longman Construction in 2021.

The property has been listed for roughly two weeks for $25 million. Realtor Erica Thomas of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty holds the listing.

A look at the property, referred to as the Duck Farm. The listing states that it has six bedrooms, five bathrooms and an interior of 6,618 square feet.

(Courtesy of Will Meredith)

“Pricing on this property was extremely hard because there’s no comparison point,” Thomas said Thursday. “There’s nothing like it. What you do as an agent is start looking up and down the coast at similar types of properties ... like in Montecito, Malibu; there are equestrian properties, newer construction.

“You get a range of those numbers and then scale it back to Newport Beach and go with how rare that property is. There’s a lot of value in how rare it is. There’s nothing like it. It’s one of the largest parcels in Newport. You can go to the water and buy on the water or go up and get views of the ocean or you get something like this property, where there’s 270 degrees of views of the Back Bay, which will never be built on.”

The Duck Farm includes the previously existing structure and the extension, which are connected by a breezeway. The listing states there are a total of six bedrooms and five bathrooms. The extension added two of those beds and baths while the original farmhouse, also freshly renovated, includes four beds and three baths.

Limestone and white oak flooring are featured throughout the extension and the property includes a kitchen and laundry area. A mud room is located off of the barn.

The Duck Farm includes a duck pond. About 14 horses can also be kept on the estate, according to the listing.

(Courtesy of Will Meredith)

The property is zoned for up to 14 horses and the listing notes an existing duck pond, around 35 fruit trees and a 1,158-square-foot barn.

Other additions include a saltwater pool, spa, bocce ball court, outdoor fire pit, landscaping and full irrigation.

Thomas said developers have expressed interest in the property, located at 2612 Mesa Drive, but that the owners hope to see it preserved.

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