Oct. 23, 2006
The Bixby Ranch Company – co-developer and former owner of much of what is now Rossmoor, the College Park area of Seal Beach, and southeast Long Beach is offering two immense pieces of undeveloped Central Coast property for sale. The land, which contains one of the prime surfing spots in California and is located north of Santa Barbara, reportedly has an asking price of $155 million.
The Cojo Ranch and neighboring Jalama Ranch – together the Cojo-Jalama — don’t have mansions or pools or tennis courts but they do have miles of undeveloped central California coastline, 1,200 head of Hereford cattle, mountain lions, and an asking price like few others: $155 million.
It also has some of the top surfing spots in the world – including a break called Tarantulas.
The seller, Bixby Ranch Co., a family-controlled firm based in Seal Beach, California, is offering the properties jointly or separately. Cojo, pronounced KO-ho, is 8,580 acres (3,472- hectares). Jalama, pronounced ha-LA-ma, covers 15,550 acres. Neither has been for sale since Fred H. Bixby, a rancher who raised prize-winning appaloosa horses, purchased Cojo in 1913 (he purchased neighboring Jalama in 1939.). Fred Bixby and his sister Susanna inherited a portion of their father’s Rancho Los Alamitos property when he died in 1887 and when their mother died in 1906.
WARNING! WARNING! Possibly Boring mini-history lesson:
Bixby Ranch Company is often confused with the Bixby Land Company. The latter, for the most part, controlled and developed the Rancho Los Alamitos land north of the Orangewood Avenue-Stearns Avenue line, while Bixby’s Ranch’s operations were basically south of the line.
John Bixby, a former teacher from Massachusetts, came west in 1870 to work on the Rancho Los Cerritos, owned by his cousins, Lewellyn and Jotham Bixby. In 1881, John Bixby put together a group of himself, his cousins Lewellyn and Jotham, and banker Isaias Hellman, the President of the original F&M Bank (and later Wells Fargo), to buy the Rancho Los Alamitos.
John Bixby instituted many modernizations for ranching and farming, and also began developing the township of Alamitos Beach (from Alamitos Blvd to about current Belmont Plaza) but then died suddenly in 1887. The Los Alamitos rancho was divided between the three owning entities. All three shared control of the new Alamitos Land Company (roughly the rancho land south of PCH), while Hellman kept the Orange County land south of Westminster-7th street. Llewellyn and Jotham Bixby kept the land roughly north of Orangewood-Stearns .
John’s children, Fred and Susanna, eventually inherited their father’s portion of the divided rancho, the middle section. Susanna kept some local property but basically assumed control of the Bixby land in east Orange County – by and beyond Esperanza High School. Fred assumed control of most of their Rancho Los Alamitos property and built it into one of the most successful ranching operations in the country. Cattle that were raised on the Cojo and Jalama lands (and on property near Nacimiento Lake as well) were annually driven to Alamitos lands where they were “fattened” on the remnants of picked sugar beets and other crops before they were packed off for slaughter.
Fred Bixby’s heirs, mainly under the very able leadership of the Hotchkis family (Fred’s oldest daughter Katherine had married Preston Hotchkis of San Marino – an influential confidante of the California Republican leadership), began developing their Long Beach area land, including parts of Rossmoor, the Rossmoor Center, College Park West and East and the area around the Marketplace and Marina Pacifica.
The Bixby Ranch Company is still a privately held company with most ownership kept within the descendants of Fred Bixby, in the Hotchkis and Green families.
The Bixby Land Company, is controlled by the many descendants of Lewellyn and Jotham Bixby.
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| March 18, 2005 | Oil Wetlands Removed from Sale (LB Press-Telegram, Mar. 18, 2005) |
| August 30, 2004 | LB Ranch Sale Could pit environmentalists against developers (LB Press-Telegram, 8/30/2004) |
| Dec. 16, 2002 | Bixby Ranch sells LB Marketplace for $12 million (LB Business Journal, Dec. 16, 2002) |
| BIXBY LAND COMPANY | |
| Oct 3, 2006 | Bixby Land Co. to buy Legacy Tech Center in San Jose for $70 mil (San Jose Business Journal, Oct 3, 2006) |
| April 5, 2006 | New Pres. for Bixby Land Company (OC Register; Apr 5, 2006) |
| Apr. 5, 2006 | Jean Bixby Smith Steps down; William Chamberlain appointed new Chairman of Bixby Land Co. Board (press release, Apr. 5, 2006) |
1998
Bixby Ranch Co. of Seal Beach, California, which placed second in the industry [Operators of dwellings other than apartments] with 1998 sales of $82 million, found itself embattled with residents in its home town who opposed a 218-acre development that started out as a golf course plan and grew into a combined housing and shopping center plan. Residents expressed concern over increased traffic and pollution resulting from the commercialization of its community, preferring a housing-only development. Bixby pointed out several compelling arguments defending its position: first, the Bixby family owned the land since 1875; second, the project passed the scrutiny of a thorough environmental impact review as well as city council approval; and third, that the commercial interests will bring in revenue and create jobs in the depressed economy.