King of Costco looks to offload Bird Rock mansion

This week, what sellers’ agents describe as “La Jolla’s premier ocean front residence” and its “spectacular views of Windansea Beach and ‘Big Rock’ surf break.”

The home at 6738 Camino de la Costa was originally built in 1994 but was recently completely remodeled by Mueller Homes, a La Jolla–based home builder, under designs drafted by local architect Phil Merten. It features six bedrooms, all with private baths and four featuring “stunning sea views” spread across over 6800 square feet of indoor living area.

Custom finishes used in the remodel include “ultra rare ‘Afrormosia’ wood also known as ‘African Teak and often used in marine applications’” for the cabinetry, “stunning limestone flooring,” and ocean-facing rooms featuring “dramatic floor to ceiling glass” walls.

Other interior features include the prerequisite chef’s quality kitchen, a private ocean-view office, personal gym, three fireplaces, separate guest/maid quarters off the main courtyard, and a “huge storage area under the home — a big benefit rarely found on ocean front homes.”

The master suite, in addition to a fireplace, features indoor and outdoor seating areas and a bath with marble floors and a marble-lined tub abutting a wall of glass block.

Outside, several terraced entertainment decks take advantage of the ocean views, while “stunning rock formations front and center and a natural reef fronting the parcel” gives way to a secluded sandy beach accessible from the home’s back yard.

According to the listing, this is the first time the home has been offered on the open market in nearly 20 years, though public records indicate the property was purchased via private sale in 2012 for $12,000,000 by the Sinegal family of Hunts Point, Washington.

Patriarch James D. Sinegal first worked with San Diegans Sol and Robert Price to open the Price Club chain of warehouse stores in 1976 before going on to form his own company, Costco, which eventually merged with and rebranded the Price Club outlets. Mr. Sinegal and wife Janet are noted Democratic Party backers, having hosted President Obama at a 2012 fundraiser at the couple’s Seattle-area estate on the shore of Lake Washington. That home, where the family spends most of its time, is wedged between estates owned by heirs to the Nordstrom department store empire and Microsoft executive–turned–golf mogul Scott Oki.

The La Jolla property that the Sinegals are looking to sell was listed for the first time in late October. The asking price of $16,900,000 remains unchanged to date.