Should Trump Sell Camp Pendleton?
The Administration is looking into selling or leasing parts of the most important Marine Corps base on the West Coast.
Back in March I pointed out that if the Trump Administration were serious about selling or leasing for housing development federal lands, most of which is waterless Western wasteland, the most obvious big tract of highly desirable land is the Camp Pendleton Marine base on the Pacific between Orange and San Diego Counties: 17 miles of coastline and 125,000 acres of what was once SoCal paradise (195 square miles or 500 square kilometers, with about 70,000 Marines and other personnel on the base on workdays). Camp Pendleton is what keeps the Los Angeles and San Diego metropolises from blending into one gigalopolis.
Now, the Trump Administration is talking about trying to do something with parts of Camp Pendleton. From the Los Angeles Times:
Camp Pendleton, an oasis from urban sprawl, could see unprecedented development
Hannah Fry
Sun, September 28, 2025 at 3:00 AM PDT …
The United States Department of Defense is considering making a portion of the 125,000 acre base in northwestern San Diego County available for development or lease in what, if successful, would be unprecedented for the military installation.
“There’s no place in Southern California like Camp Pendleton when it comes to open space along the coast,” said Bill Fulton, a professor of practice in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego.
In late August, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan conducted an aerial tour of Camp Pendleton and visited with Marines at the base where he had “initial conversations about possible commercial leasing opportunities” by the Department of Defense, Phelan’s spokesperson Courtney Williams told The Times.
“These opportunities are being evaluated to maximize value and taxpayer dollars while maintaining mission readiness and security,” Williams said in a statement. “No decisions have been made and further discussions are needed.”
They can’t sell Camp Pendleton because where else could the Marines develop a new amphibious-landing training mega-base on the West Coast?
And, as I pointed out in March, however, old military bases tend to be drenched in weird chemicals and pockmarked with unexploded ordnance. For instances, the Alameda Naval Air Station in San Francisco Bay was shut down in 1997, but 28 years later, not all that much development has been done yet.
On the other hand, the Marines have so much land at Pendleton that they probably haven’t touched all of it yet. But nobody seems to know?
Let’s say that 10% of Camp Pendleton land could be developed for housing without seriously inconveniencing the Marines. That’s, roughly, 20 square miles. If that land were developed to the same moderate density as Santa Monica, CA (11,000 people per square mile, yet with virtually no high rises), that’s 220,000 people. If say, 3 people live in a housing unit on average, and they sell for an average of $1 million, that’s $70-$75 billion. Then add in retail, office, and industrial real estate and you are out around $100 billion.
That’s not a colossal amount of money, but it’s well worth thinking hard about.
But 10% of Pendleton being developable is probably a stretch.
How about we deport a few million and then see where we stand. That was something Trump actually campaigned on.
I would be sorry to see this. First of all, the best part of driving to San Diego is passing those twenty glorious miles of Pendleton - it looks and feels like Wild California Before People even though of course it's a Marine base. But also why not let the Marines keep enjoying their happy home there? My daughter was in JROTC in high school for two years (wish she'd done all four years - as a parent at least it was a wonderful experience) and every summer the kids would spend a week at Camp Pendleton living in Quonset huts, running around, sitting outside in the dark with the grownups chatting - it was absolutely beautiful. Fortunately they always needed mother volunteers (no problem getting enough father chaperones). It was so impressive for them and me to see the young Marines, male and female, so proper and fit and friendly when we went to the MPX or to pick up the meals they cooked for us (and as the parent of a petite child who still hasn't passed 5'0" - it was inspiring to see very tough SHORT Marines - I think all the other branches have a minimum height requirement - apparently not the Marines). I get the finances but I think it would be shame for the civilian world to take over any part of Marine Land.