A mystery buyer just purchased entire California ghost town Eagle Mountain for $22.5M (Indio: luxury, school district)

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Just somebody with too much money on their hands. All of the structures are obsolete and decayed, and will have to be torn down. Which will cost a small fortune, probably more then the new owner can afford. But if the owner does have enough money for it, what will he end up with in the end? A bunch of cheap land in the desert, worth a fraction of what he spent on it.

It's developed land so not the same as buying a patch of dirt and rocks without some semblance of infrastructure, let alone access. There are other older places like this tucked within the hills on that side of JT that were once lived-in real communities when the aqueduct was being constructed. The difference is Eagle Mountain is within the reach of the 10, not some sketchy trail.


I doubt the buyer has lofty ambitions to turn the thing into the next Palm Springs. It's most likely going to be a hub for something along the route given the company background.

[pathrunner]

They said Palm Springs was too far out at one time! Having grown up in Southern California and spent most of my life there, all we did was witness development moving further and further out, ad infinitum. They'll do something with it - guaranteed. Probably mining. Nobody spend $22.5M on crap. A company connected with Kaiser is the buyer - Kaiser was the original mining operation in Eagle Mountain.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by joosoon

It's developed land so not the same as buying a patch of dirt and rocks without some semblance of infrastructure, let alone access. There are other older places like this tucked within the hills on that side of JT that were once lived-in real communities when the aqueduct was being constructed. The difference is Eagle Mountain is within the reach of the 10, not some sketchy trail.


I doubt the buyer has lofty ambitions to turn the thing into the next Palm Springs. It's most likely going to be a hub for something along the route given the company background.

Slab City has infrastructure too. But it has been sitting vacant for over 70 years, except for squatters living free off the land. Which is the likely future of Eagle Mountain too. Few people want to live that far out in the desert, and 40 year old abandoned infrastructure is worse then no infrastructure at all. It's much easier to just build from scratch then try to repair infrastructure that old.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Slab City has infrastructure too. But it has been sitting vacant for over 70 years, except for squatters living free off the land. Which is the likely future of Eagle Mountain too. Few people want to live that far out in the desert, and 40 year old abandoned infrastructure is worse then no infrastructure at all. It's much easier to just build from scratch then try to repair infrastructure that old.

More people like desert than you think.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

More people like desert than you think.

So why does no one live out there? Anybody who has ever driven Interstate 10 knows that you can drive 40 miles out there and see absolutely zero development. And that is right on the Interstate. If there is no development along the Interstate, then why would development 10 miles off the Interstate be successful?

The Eagle Mountain development existed for one reason and one reason only. Because of the mining activity there. Once mining activity ended, virtually everybody left. Unless there is a good reason, they are not coming back.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Unless there is a good reason, they are not coming back.

Obviously, the company who purchased it has plans in the works but playing their cards close to the vest. There's talk of a transportation hub or a recycling operation. Both are good and don't require an entire town with amenities. People don't spend 22 million on a piece of land if they have no plans. We just don't know what they are.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

Obviously, the company who purchased it has plans in the works but playing their cards close to the vest. There's talk of a transportation hub or a recycling operation. Both are good and don't require an entire town with amenities. People don't spend 22 million on a piece of land if they have no plans. We just don't know what they are.

Keeping cards close to their vest for what purpose? They are playing Solitaire. No one else is interested in the land.

I'm sure they do have some plans for it. Everybody dreams of buying their own ghost town and making big money by developing it into a prosperous community. But that doesn't mean the plans will come true.

Just like the company that tried to turn it into a private prison. How well did that work out for them? It didn't.

[aslowdodge]

This fascinating. To the people who say the new owner is stupid and going to lose, all I can say is he can’t be that stupid to afford to but it. No one here posting was smart enough to be in a financial position to spend that kind of money.

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Slab City has infrastructure too. But it has been sitting vacant for over 70 years, except for squatters living free off the land. Which is the likely future of Eagle Mountain too.

Apples to oranges. As I said, there are lots of other "ghost towns" tucked into the hills all over the place out there and they aren't overrun with squatters. Besides that, EM is still a semi-functioning community. It's also within easy reach and has access that touches a major interstate. None of that is true of slab city, which itself in its current state is a contemporary phenomena spurred by modern notoriety.

Few people want to live that far out in the desert, and 40 year old abandoned infrastructure is worse then no infrastructure at all. It's much easier to just build from scratch then try to repair infrastructure that old.

Why are you convinced the land is going to be developed into housing? Given the details, it's really unlikely that's the plan. And no, it's really a big deal to have developed lots rather than raw dirt. Just the access alone is worth something.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

This fascinating. To the people who say the new owner is stupid and going to lose, all I can say is he can’t be that stupid to afford to but it. No one here posting was smart enough to be in a financial position to spend that kind of money.

You are assuming that money equals wisdom. Which from my experience is not true. A total idiot can be born wealthy. But he is still an idiot. Not that I'm saying the person or persons who bought the land are idiots, but I think most reasonably intelligent people who have $22 million could probably find something better to invest it in, then a ghost town.