Not all underwater real estate is distressed. But the broker admits this property has its challenges.

A 77-acre canal is being marketed for sale in the city of Oxnard in Ventura County, California, northwest of Los Angeles for $1 million, according to a Cushman & Wakefield sales flier and confirmed by a broker involved in the listing.

The rare sale property runs alongside beaches and farmland before connecting to a residential community with waterfront access in Oxnard's Channel Islands Harbor. Cushman & Wakefield Los Angeles brokers Mike Condon, Erica Finck and Connor Martin are marketing the property.

Condon said he formally began marketing the property on Friday via LinkedIn, a post that attracted multiple comments from brokers amused by the uncommon listing. Condon sold the nearby shuttered 60-acre Mandalay Generating Station in March 2022 adjacent the water ditch before being asked by the canal's owner, Houston-based utility CenterPoint Energy, to take on the canal sale.

The man-made canal once connected to the power plant for cooling purposes, Condon said. A representative for CenterPoint Energy said in an email it owns the canal east of North Harbor Blvd. to West Channel Island Blvd., but it doesn't own the northern and southern most points of the canal. The canal is an unusual property holding for the Houston utility company, which has no operations in California.

"CenterPoint Energy owns a portion of the canal through its predecessor Reliant Energy, which purchased the former Mandalay Generating Station from Southern California Edison in 1998 and leased the generating plant to Ocean Vista Power Generation. The lease expired in 2018 and ownership of the canal reverted to CenterPoint Energy," the representative said in the email.

The canal is roughly 20 feet deep and 60 feet wide, Condon said. He thinks an entertainment operator may be interested in buying it.

But there's a problem: "There's a stench associated with it," Condon said.

Since the power plant closed, the water in the canal no longer circulates with ocean water.

Condon initially didn't want to sell the property. However, a friend made a wager that Condon couldn't sell it, spurring him to accept the challenge and market the property. More details about the wager weren't known to CoStar News, but Condon posted on Linkedin that his team "is so damn good that we can sell anything."

Condon said he has never sold a canal in his life, but he has enjoyed marketing the unusual real estate that he named Oxnard Canal. He said his team settled on a price that's less than what 77 acres of dry land typically would sell for in Oxnard.

"It's a steal," Condon said.

The canal's pool of buyers appears murky. The canal connects with the Channel Islands Yacht Club, but a representative for the club told CoStar News it wasn't interested in buying the property. Councilmember Bert Perello for the city of Oxnard, whose district encompasses the canal, didn't respond to a request to comment from CoStar News as to his hopes for the property's future.

However, developer Will Gustafson said he may one day be interested in buying the canal. An entity related to Gustafson bought the shuttered power plant that once connected to the canal for $8.7 million in March 2022, according to CoStar data.

Gustafson is working with the city of Oxnard to redevelop the former power plant but hasn't settled on plans. As Gustafson mulls redevelopment plans, he said he's toying with the idea of incorporating the canal into the future property's vision. He said at one point he had a letter of intent to buy the canal.

"I'm not saying I don't end up buying," Gustafson said.

For now, though, the talks are treading water.