A dispute has emerged in Daly City over an oceanfront property where San Francisco real estate investor Luke Brugnara is alleged to have erected a chain-link fence, sparking complaints from residents and the Daly City Council. The land, long used by locals for hiking, horseback riding, and accessing Thornton State Beach, was reportedly fenced off by Brugnara in an effort to privatize it.
According to reports from SFist and the San Francisco Chronicle, Brugnara has been squatting on the property. He is said to have posted a sign featuring a hand-drawn gun and a warning that trespassers would be “shot on [sight].”
Ownership of the land has been attributed to a local family for decades. However, in December, it was purchased by a trust linked to Brugnara, as reported by the New York Post.
San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa, who lives nearby, has requested that the California Coastal Commission intervene to remove what he describes as an illegal fence. Canepa noted that if Brugnara does not legally own the property, intervention from the commission would not be necessary.
Brugnara has previously drawn attention in the Bay Area. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to tax evasion and violating the Endangered Species Act after poaching steelhead trout and blocking a dam on his Gilroy property.
In 2002, Brugnara bought a mansion in San Francisco’s Sea Cliff neighborhood formerly owned by actor Cheech Marin. He constructed an unauthorized staircase down a cliff from the home to a private beach. The house was sold by a lender in 2024 for $7 million—about $10 million less than its 2021 listing price—with buyers required to pay for removal of the staircase.
Brugnara also stored $11 million worth of artwork in that home’s garage. He claimed these were gifts shipped from a New York gallery but was convicted of mail fraud in 2015 after failing to pay for them. Representing himself at trial, he was found in contempt for disrupting proceedings but denied any wrongdoing.
“— Chris Malone Méndez”
