$8,995,000

You can build a home. You cannot build this lot. On the bluff above the Back Bay in Dover Shores, 1542 Galaxy Drive is 18,321 square feet of land - approximately 93 feet wide and nearly 200 feet deep - with panoramic, unobstructed views across Upper Newport Bay to the bluffs and the Newport Center skyline. Here, the land is the luxury. What lies in the sightline is the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve: protected open space of water, wetlands, bluffs, and sky. Morning fog over the marsh, egrets along the shallows, golden evening light across the water - the everyday backdrop of life here. The land is where the story begins. The 1964 residence on it is an opportunity to reimagine the site, and a complete design vision has already been created by architect Rory Foubister, with interiors by Lindye Galloway and construction envisioned by Well Done Builders. That concept is conceived as a reveal. From the street, almost nothing - a low stone wall, olive trees, a screened gate. Inside, a courtyard opens to the sky around a mature olive tree. Beyond it, the house gives way to a wall of glass, pool and lawn, and the whole bay. Envisioned at approximately 8000 square feet - five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a gym and wellness center, a subterranean level with car turntable, and an ADU or executive office. The sequence is only possible because of the depth. Nearly 200 feet buys a courtyard at the heart of the plan, real separation between arrival, entertaining, and retreat, and outdoor rooms that work as rooms. For a buyer with a different vision, the opportunity is equally compelling. The value is not one set of plans. It is the scale, proportion, and setting of the land itself. Dover Shores is the quiet side of Newport - wide curving streets, mature landscaping, and a generation of new custom homes rising above the Back Bay. Launch a kayak at dawn, run the Back Bay Loop Trail from the edge of the neighborhood, and reach Newport Harbor, the beaches, Corona del Mar, and Fashion Island in minutes. Homes can be remodeled. Homes can be replaced. What cannot be recreated is the land beneath them, the scale around them, and a setting like this. APN 117-663-08. Existing residence built 1964. Plans and renderings are conceptual, subject to change and to governmental approvals. Buyer to independently verify all dimensions, square footage, views, development potential, permits, approvals, schools, and other details.