Two of the largest residential development sites in Lake Forest have changed hands within a few days of each other in a pair of land transactions valued at nearly $177 million combined.
The local office of Miami-based Lennar Corp. closed this month on the purchase of the larger of the two deals: The homebuilder bought Serrano Summit, a roughly 82-acre development site near the intersection of Bake Parkway and Commercentre Drive that’s been entitled for 608 homes.
Lennar Homes of California paid $136 million, based on a reading of property records. The deal works out to about $224,000 per lot.
It’s the largest reported residential land deal in Orange County by total price in over a year, according to data from real estate market tracker CoStar Group Inc.
The land was sold by the Irvine Ranch Water District, which had used it for facilities, crops, and support structures, according to city filings.
The site was listed for sale earlier this year by Marc Kleiman and Daniel McDonough, brokers with the Irvine office of Province West.
Serrano Summit “is ideally positioned to capitalize on the burgeoning demand for relatively affordable housing in proximity to employment, schools, services, and shopping,” according to Province West’s marketing materials for the site.
It’s close to Baker Ranch, Lake Forest’s most active new-home development in the past few years, as well as several other new- home communities in the city.
Details of the home types planned by Lennar at Serrano Summit haven’t been disclosed.
A time frame for the project’s construction starting and sales beginning also hasn’t been disclosed. An early 2019 opening would appear to be the most likely starting date for sales, according to sources familiar with the land and the work needed to get the site ready for construction.
Lennar officials did not respond to requests for comment on the transaction last week, and Province West brokers also could not be reached for comment.
Financial details of the transaction hadn’t been mentioned in water district regulatory filings as of last week.
The development’s planned amenities would include a recreation center and pool, neighborhood parks, a nature park, as well as a number of trails, according to the Province West’s marketing materials.
Iron Ridge Land
Also recently trading hands in Lake Forest: two sites entitled for 163 homes at the new Iron Ridge residential development, which is headed by Irvine-based LandSea Holdings.
A unit of Los Angeles-based KB Home bought the land from LandSea in a transaction that closed on Aug. 30. Property records show it for about $40.5 million.
By price, it’s one of the four largest residential land deals in OC over the past year, according to CoStar data.
The deal translates to about $248,000 per lot, which was also marketed for sale by Province West.
The land that KB Home California LLC bought is a portion of the roughly 96-acre Iron Ridge site—previously known as Portola Center South—that LandSea bought in 2015.
That deal was the first in OC for LandSea Holdings, the U.S. division of China-based homebuilder Landsea Group. The builder’s U.S. operations, headed by president John Ho, has other large projects under way in Silicon Valley and on the East Coast.
Iron Ridge is on Glen Ranch Road near the intersection of El Toro Road and the Foothill Transportation Corridor (241) toll road. It’s across the road from another new home development, Baldwin & Sons’ Oaks at Portola Hills.
LandSea bought the entire Iron Ridge site from an affiliate of Baldwin & Sons for about $177 million, CoStar records show.
Development plans call for 608 homes in total, with LandSea leading the bulk of the sales.
The builder’s first batch of homes is expected to open for sales this month. Prices will start at around $500,000 for some of the more affordable units at its Copperleaf models, which range from 1,200 square feet to about 2,350 square feet.
Larger homes in the 3,500-square-foot range, called Windstone, will also debut this month at prices starting at $1.2 million, according to LandSea’s website.
Altair Opening
Lennar also has its own big model home unveiling for another large area project scheduled for this month.
The builder, which runs much of its day-to-day operations out of Aliso Viejo, is gearing up for models opening at its luxury Altair development in Irvine, which it’s building in a venture with Toll Brothers.
Altair will have 840 homes, many with prices topping $2 million. Sales began at the project—about three miles from Serrano Summit—a few months ago, though model homes aren’t scheduled to be ready until the end of the month.
Lennar and Toll bought the land for the 272-acre Irvine site near the beginning of last year; regulatory filings said their venture’s assets were worth about $478 million at the time the deal was completed.
Horsham, Pa.-based Toll has been one of the most active builders in Lake Forest recently, with several communities selling at the city’s Baker Ranch development.
Baker Ranch was the 12th best-selling new-home community in the country during the first half of the year, with 318 sales, according to recent data from RCLCO Real Estate Advisors. Toll Brothers is developing the project in a venture with Walnut-based Shea Homes.
From a citywide perspective, Lake Forest had nearly 1,500 home sales last year—the most of any OC city outside Irvine, according to local housing data.
