The public gets a look at Hearst Ranch appraisal

California’s purchase of development rights to the Hearst Ranch in San Luis Obispo county was expensive—$235 in cash and tax credits—and controversial.  The Mercury News got a look at the appraisal and wrote a report. Interestingly, it’s not really clear from the story who got the best deal, but it definitely looks like Hearst drove a hard bargain.

The appraisal concluded that Hearst had enough legal lots, water and road access to build luxury homes on the site.  The report said that Hearst was considering dividing its land into 43 mini-ranches of 1,000 acres each.

The coast of land on the Coastside figured into the transaction price.

Some were close to the ocean, like the 1,255-acre Bixby Ranch in Big Sur—once owned by Allen Funt of "Candid Camera’’—that sold for $24.4 million in 2001 to the Trust for Public Land. Others were farther inland, like Rancho Corral de Tierra, a 4,262-acre parcel near Half Moon Bay that sold for $29.7 million in 2001 to the Peninsula Open Space Trust.

Based on those sales, Carney divided Hearst Ranch into three zones: 3,989 acres nearest the ocean he valued at $22,000 an acre; 44,716 acres of foothills at $4,000 an acre; and 32,958 acres of steep, remote land at $2,500 an acre. He subtracted what Hearst would keep—ranch land for grazing, the 27 new homes and the new hotel—to arrive at the $230 million unused development value.