It’ll cost almost $13 million to live next to Mitt

With only 2850 square feet of living space, the just-remodeled luxury home at 310 Dunemere Drive in La Jolla doesn’t match up in size to many of the estates featured on these pages. It does, however, offer access to a secluded stretch of coast as well as a front-row seat to one of the most highly publicized residential real estate battles fought locally in recent memory.

The home itself was originally built in 1965 and contains five bedrooms and seven baths, including a master suite with whitewater ocean views through a wall of windows and a large sliding glass door.

The kitchen and baths feature lava stone and marble-slab countertops, mahogany and maple cabinetry, “glass and stone weave accent niche tile,” and copper and nickel sinks. There’s also a private spa and steam room, as well as an outdoor cabana bar with a refrigerator, ice-maker, and concealed television.

Outside, there’s a large deck accessible from the living room and master bedroom on the main upper level. Below, a covered patio shelters the cabana bar and an outdoor dining area, with a private sandy yard featuring an outdoor fireplace overlooking the beach, which sits just below the yard.

Despite the home’s age, it was recently renovated under the leadership of Bokal & Sneed, a Del Mar–based architecture firm, with interior design contributions from Phillips Houston Design in Solana Beach. The home has never been lived in since the remodel, and it’s being offered fully furnished with new designer appointments — the new buyer need only grab some clothes and adopt “a lifestyle and experience the value of which cannot be measured with dollars alone.”

Current records show the property as being owned by “Yaz,” an entity that can be traced to Poway real-estate investor Jeff Lepore. Lepore purchased the property from former mayor Maureen O’Connor for $2.4 million in 2010, the latter having liquidated a number of properties and assets around this time to feed a massive gambling habit that eventually landed her in trouble for illegally transferring more than $2 million out of her late husband’s charitable trust and into personal accounts. This sale, however, netted her no proceeds, and actually left multiple lenders taking a loss on more than $4.5 million in outstanding debt at the time the sale closed.

Beyond the notable former owner, the home is sited next door to 311 Dunemere, the 3000-square-foot home purchased for $12 million in 2008 by former presidential candidate Willard “Mitt” Romney.

As early as 2010, Romney began attempting to demolish the house and replace it with an estate with more than 8000 square feet of living area.

After a long process including formal complaints from neighbors and a series of unpaid tax bills, Romney was given permission to proceed with his project in late 2013. Images published by San Diego’s NBC affiliate in late August show razed ground and a large bulldozer juxtaposed with the former home’s garage and entryway, indicating construction is in full swing.

The house next door to Mitt was originally listed for sale post-renovation in mid-May, with an asking price of $12,980,000 that remains unchanged to date.