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jaw-dropping $125 million estate, once owned by the late Major General William Lyon, has hit the market in Southern California. The sprawling property boasts an impressive array of features, including a 24,000-square-foot car museum, private gas station, and helipad.
If sold for its asking price, this estate would set a record for the most expensive residential real estate transaction in the area, surpassing the $61 million sale of a Newport Coast mansion in 2020. However, another property, the 42-acre Casa Grande estate in San Juan Capistrano, is currently listed for $150 million.
The estate's car museum features taxidermy specimens from a family game-hunting trip in Tanzania and has room for 70 vehicles. The founder of William Lyon Homes, who passed away in 2020, designed the property with his wife Willa Dean in the 1980s. The Georgian-style main mansion is situated on 137 acres within the affluent guard-gated community of Coto de Caza.
The estate's highlights include a private helipad, equestrian facilities, and a list of distinguished visitors, including President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan. The primary dwelling features eight bedrooms, 11 baths, and 21,000 square feet across three levels, with an elegant fireside living room and opulent primary bedroom.
Additional structures include guesthouses, patios for grand-scale entertaining, a pool and spa, sauna-equipped pool house, championship tennis court, greenhouse, irrigation lakes, pond, and a 41-acre orange orchard. The sale comes with pre-approved plans for a 64-acre development of 25 homes in a new gated enclave.
The family is selling the estate due to it not being the same place since their parents passed away. Their son Bill Lyon stated that they have many fond memories at the property, but after his mother's death in 2024, they feel it is time to move on.
