POST buys 409-acre ranch on coast for $3.4 million POST buys 409-acre ranch on coast for $3.4 million (February 02, 2005)

The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) has acquired 409 acres of ranchland on the San Mateo Coast known as Diamond H. Ranch.

POST purchased the property from Dian and Gary Holtum for $3.4 million. The Holtums, who raise quarter horses on the property, have owned the land since 1986.

The ranch is located in San Gregorio, about two miles southeast of the junction of highways 1 and 84. It features rolling hills, meadows and farmland, and offers views of the entire coastal landscape.

"This property combines a sense of history and serenity that we experience all too rarely these days," said POST president Audrey Rust.

The terms of the sale include a 10-year lease that will allow the Holtums to live on the land, continue their horse breeding business, and sublease a portion of the upper meadows to a small cattle-grazing operation.

"With the existing number of parcels on the property, this ranch could have been developed into at least four luxury estates," said Ms. Rust. "Now it will remain a working ranch. The open rural character of the land will be preserved. In the future, we'll have the opportunity to create public hiking trails."

The acquisition is part of POST's $200 million campaign, Saving the Endangered Coast.

For more information, call POST at 854-7696.

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