A mix of local and national homebuilders has been tapped to build the first new batch of homes seen in more than five years on land owned by Rancho Mission Viejo LLC.
The land development and real estate company, Orange County’s second-largest land owner, has been overseeing a heavy dose of early-stage ground and infrastructure work in recent months along Ortega Highway in South County, near the developer’s headquarters.
The work is being done to handle a new 690-acre residential project called Sendero, which is scheduled to open in summer 2013. Some 940 homes are slated to be built in the project, along with 200 apartments.
About 30% of the homes in Sendero will be part of gated community called Gavilan, which will cater toward residents 55 years of age and older.
Company officials are projecting sales of about 300 homes per year at Sendero.
The project represents the first new homes built by Rancho Mission Viejo LLC since it stopped building at its Ladera Ranch masterplanned community in 2007, just prior to the housing downturn.
Rancho Mission Viejo LLC last week announced the nine builders who will be working on the Sendero project, which includes three OC-based homebuilders, including Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes, as well as Tri Pointe Homes and Standard Pacific Corp., both of Irvine.
Irvine-based Western National Group, one of the region’s most active multifamily developers, will be working on the apartment homes at the project.
Joining those companies are two builders based just outside OC, SeaCountry Homes in Carlsbad and Walnut-based Shea Homes, whose sister company, Shea Properties Inc., is based in Aliso Viejo.
Also tapped for the project are a trio of larger, national builders, Bloomfield, Mich.-based Pulte Group, Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Meri-tage Homes Corp., and Calabasas-based Ry-land Homes.
Standard Pacific, Shea Homes and Pulte were identified by the Business Journal as likely builders for the project last May, and William Lyon’s involvement in the project was noted in court filings tied to that builder’s recent bankruptcy case, which concluded last month.
Last week was the first time the full roster of Sendero builders were confirmed by the developer, which is working with longtime financial partner DMB Associates Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz., on the project.
Land Sales
Land sales to the builders are expected to close later this year, with some home construction starting near the end of the year, according to officials with the developer. The builders’ land costs haven’t been disclosed.
Pricing at Sendero is expected to be relatively affordable, by OC housing standards.
Homes are expected to be priced in the $300,000 to $700,000 range, with an average price of about $450,000, according to the developer.
Sendero—which is going up near the intersection of Ortega Highway and Antonio Boulevard—is the first of several communities in store for about 6,000 acres of as-of-yet undeveloped Rancho Mission Viejo land.
That ranch land is spread among six different planning areas that in total could hold about 14,000 homes, as well as 5 million square feet of commercial space.
It could take upward of 20 years to complete the entire project, which would be the last big development by Rancho Mission Viejo LLC, the developer behind the creation of Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Las Flores and Ladera Ranch.
Those housing projects are largely built out, with the exception of a little more than 100 custom lots in Ladera Ranch.
The new project “will outlast me,” said Anthony “Tony” Moiso, president and chief executive of Rancho Mission Viejo LLC, the real estate company owned by the Moiso and O’Neill families.
Moiso and other officials with the developer last week met with a handful of media outlets to discuss plans for the company, which, other than Newport Beach-based Irvine Company, is OC’s largest land owner.
The company also noted last week that more than 17,000 acres of open space on the ranch will remain as-is, with that land operating under the Reserve at Rancho Mission Viejo name.
The reserve eventually will grow to 21,000 acres when combined with additional open space owned by the family.
Active Adults
The planned 14,000-home project that’s starting with the Sendero community has already taken well over a decade to get entitlements and other approvals, with entitlement work costs topping the $25 million mark, officials said.
Sendero is set to see its share of local competition.
Irvine Co. continues to build new homes at multiple projects on the Irvine Ranch, and Aliso Viejo-based FivePoint Communities Management Inc., developers of the former El Toro Marine base in Irvine, recently broke ground on their mega-project.
“They say that as a developer, you’re not supposed to fall in love with the land, but we have,” Moiso said.
Another differentiator for the company’s project is its emphasis on adult-active homes. Some 6,000 homes of the 14,000 remaining homes slated to be built on the ranch land will be geared for older buyers.
“I don’t think it’s been done well in Orange County (before),” Moiso said.
