Watch: Aerial footage of stunning Santa Clara County ranch that sold for $63 million

On Thursday, the Peninsula Open Space Trust, a Palo Alto-based environmental group, announced it had purchased nearly all of the remaining land at Sargent Ranch, a vast property south of Gilroy along Highway 101 where Southern California investors sparked a 10-year controversy after proposing to build a sand-and-gravel quarry.

The purchase, from a group of San Diego investors called Sargent Ranch Partners LLC, was the third piece of property on the ranch that the land trust has bought since 2024. Altogether, it paid $63.7 million for 6,114 acres and has an option to buy the final 480 acres later this year once 15 oil wells there are plugged and cleaned up.

The land trust shot the aerial footage shown here with a drone in early January. The group is in discussions with the Amah Mutsun tribal band, who are descendants of Ohlone people who lived in the area and who consider the property sacred, along with the Santa Clara County Parks Department and other groups to plan next steps, including who will own it, what level of public access will be allowed and how it will be maintained.

One of the largest remaining pieces of undeveloped private property in Santa Clara County, the ranch is home to mountain lions, bald eagles and steelhead trout. During the late 1800s, there was a railroad depot, cottages, a hotel, a post office, a saloon and an open-air dance floor near the ranch. Over the past 30 years, various owners have attempted to build subdivisions, golf courses, and a casino there, encountering public and political opposition each time.

Plans for a sand and gravel quarry on the site are now dead. It will be preserved as open space in perpetuity, according to the land trust.