New Gary Jacobs home
Ocean View - Del Mar may get huge house
Peter Kaye
North County Times
What may be the largest and most expensive house ever built in San Diego County is planned for the northwest
corner of Del Mar.
The owner is Gary Jacobs, son of Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs. The 5.3-acre parcel extends west from Camino
del Mar to the ocean bluff and south of Border Avenue at the Solana Beach city line. The project is so massive that
its designer calls it "an event."
How big is it?
The main house would be 25,500 square feet on two levels. A guest house of 3,437 square feet also is planned. The
estate would include an orchid house, basketball court and 70-foot pool. A 6-foot masonry wall would surround
most of the site. My research found only one home of similar size locally ---- a 26,000 square foot house on La
Jolla Farms Road.
How expensive will the new house be?
The site costs $20 million. Based on current estimates, construction and landscaping would exceed $8 million.
Compare this total with the original cost of Qualcomm Stadium ---- $27 million.
"The trouble with a house that big," said one local builder, "is that you run out of names for all the rooms."
Designer Ken Ronchetti tried not to, during his testimony last week before Del Mar's Design Review Board. He
said there would be a train room, exercise room, entertainment room and performance center in the lower level of
the house, where the four Jacobs children would live. Each child would have an individual garden.
Ronchetti said he gained inspiration for this design from the Four Seasons Hotel in Maui.
"It's a small hotel," he explained.
When I asked Ronchetti to describe the house, he likened it to an open air village. Pressed for details, he gave me a
prospectus of truly impressive homes he has designed in San Diego County, Hawaii, Arizona, Nevada and Baja
California.
The house would be built as a series of pavilions cut into the earth but rising 25 feet above grade in the northwest
corner. The lead exterior coat, said Ronchetti, would reflect the environment ---- sky and clouds.
Del Mar's permitting process will resume March 28 at a second DRB hearing. The project also needs California
Coastal Commission approval. Already there is opposition.
Owners of condominiums in Solana Beach say the house will cut off views and cooling ocean breezes. Another
impediment is Del Mar Man, who lived on the site 6,000 years ago. Discovery of his remains insures the presence
of archeologists during excavation.
The applicants want to down-zone the site from seven to four building lots. That concerns Arthur Olson, DRB
chairman:
"Down-zoning would permit a huge, huge house. Del Mar is not a place where 'mine is bigger than yours' is a
value. This project will affect the entire community ---- psychologically if not visually. This does not look like a
Del Mar home to me; it looks like a Rancho Santa Fe home."
Columnist Peter Kaye has lived in Del Mar since 1957. Contact him at peterfkaye@aol.com. |
