Nearly 400 acres of open land that once was planned for offices and parking lots in Coyote Valley, a scenic rural expanse on San Joses southern edges, is moving into public ownership to become part of an open space preserve for wildlife, flood control and recreation.

The Peninsula Open Space Trust, a non-profit environmental group based in Palo Alto, is selling the 376-acre property, known as Laguna Seca, for $16 million to the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, a government agency in San Jose. Thats a discount: the land trust, commonly called POST, bought it for $21 million five years ago.

These acres belong to the public now, said Andrea Mackenzie, general manager of the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority. These lands are officially and forever in public ownership. They belong to the people for generations to come for the benefit of everybody.

The property is located along Bailey Avenue, west of Highway 101. It is part of 937 acres that POST, the city of San Jose and the open space authority purchased in a historic deal in 2019 for $93 million from leading Silicon Valley developers Brandenburg Properties and the Sobrato Organization. POST had been holding the 376-acre piece until the open space agency could could raise $16 million in state parks and flood control grants to cover the sale price.

In the 1980s, Apple eyed Coyote Valley as a place to build its world headquarters. In the 1990s, Cisco Systems tried to build a massive campus there.

Both were fought by environmental groups, who said the area currently used by farmers and wildlife should be left in its natural state. In recent years, San Jose leaders including former Mayor Sam Liccardo and current Mayor Matt Mahan have pushed for new development downtown and in other already developed areas of the city, and urged that Coyote Valley be left in its natural state.

As a result, investors who bought parcels in Coyote Valley expecting it to become a sprawling mix of office buildings, tech campuses and subdivisions, are slowly selling out to conservation groups, who say that preserving San Joses largest agricultural and rural area is critical.

Of the 937 acres in the 2019 sale, the city of San Jose, which contributed $46 million, will keep 296 acres in an area of North Coyote Valley known as Tulare Meadows. POST is expected to sell the remaining 265 acres to the open space authority next year.

Its not just a property here or there, Mackenzie said. Its an entire landscape we are preserving for people and wildlife, with all the benefits agriculture, clean air, clean water, public access.

The properties will be added to the existing Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve, a 343-acre property off Palm Avenue with 4 miles of trails through rolling hills, oaks woodlands and native grasslands that are open to hikers, horse riders and bicyclists.

Meanwhile, another large property which abuts Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve to the south also is expected to be added to the preserve sometime next year, Mackenzie said.

That property, Tilton Ranch, an 1,861-acre expanse of rustic hillsides in South Coyote Valley, north of Morgan Hill, was purchased for $18 million in 2020 from a longtime ranching family that moved operations to Montana. Its new owner is the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency, a government agency that preserves open space as part of a broad countywide plan in which developers pay fees to offset harm they do to endangered species on their properties so they can obtain permits. The habitat agency will keep ownership of Tilton Ranch, but sign an agreement with the open space authority to operate it and allow public access.

The Laguna Seca property, whose 376-acre escrow closes Thursday, already has been open for docent-led tours, Christmas bird counts, bike rides and other events, Mackenzie said. The open space authority continues to work on a master plan for it and the other properties. It was delayed during COVID, and is expected to be finished in 2026, she added. That plan will spell out which parts will be restored and where new trails will be built.

The property is valuable not only as a wildlife corridor for deer, coyotes, mountain lions and other wildlife, but also as a natural flood control basin, where water from Coyote Creek can settle in big storms and seep into the ground, rather than flooding neighborhoods and roads.

POST, which has spearheaded many of the deals in Coyote Valley, said it is pleased with the progress so far, and plans for more

The publics consistent support for conserving Coyote Valleys last chance landscape, said Walter Moore, president of POST, is vital to realizing all of the benefits this landscape can provide.