Newport Beach-based RSI Communities LLC has added another large development site in Texas to its growing homebuilding portfolio.
The maker of precision-manufactured houses that can be assembled faster and more efficiently than by traditional methods got approval last month from officials in the city of Hutto to build 1,500 homes there.
The homes will sell for $300,000 to $400,000, according to local news reports.
RSI officials said the company will invest $250 million in the project, including $20 million in area roadwork improvements.
Hutto is part of the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area, whose population approaches 25,000.
It’s about 160 miles northwest of Houston and reportedly had minor flooding issues resulting from Hurricane Harvey.
The Hutto project adds to a large RSI development pipeline in Texas, much of it in the Austin and San Antonio regions. Other large projects it has in the works there include a 780-home development it bought this year in the master-planned Stillwater Ranch community in San Antonio.
In February, RSI said it had spent more than $100 million on land acquisitions in the San Antonio and Austin areas, with about 4,200 lots under control.
Homes it’s selling in Texas have starting prices under $200,000 in some cases. The most expensive of the 16 projects listed on its website is one nearing construction in Austin with models approaching $400,000.
In California, RSI lists seven projects either selling or on the way, all in the Inland Empire. They include Parkside, a 47-home development in the Riverside County city of San Jacinto in the 2,000- to 2,500-square-foot range, and priced at around $300,000 and up.
The homebuilder operates under the umbrella of RSI Holdings, led by Ron Simon, who made a fortune in cabinet making and carried its principles of precision manufacturing to homebuilding. Simon started RSI Communities in 2008, investing a reported $100 million in the business.
The homebuilding operation is headed by Todd Palmaer, a former executive at Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp.
RSI Communities said it plans to have opened more than 35 communities in Central Texas and Southern California by year-end. It plans to expand its footprint throughout Texas, as well as into Florida, Arizona and Northern California.
Infill Buy
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Taylor Morrison Homes has bought a seven-acre industrial site in Tustin, where it plans a condominium project.
The Irvine office of the builder recently completed the $21.2 million buy of an industrial site on Sixth Street in the old town area just north of the Santa Ana (5) Freeway.
The site holds older buildings totaling about 170,000 square feet, according to CoStar Group Inc. records. The plan is to tear down the buildings to make way for the 140-unit Vintage condominium complex.
The city approved the project last year, but the development has since been the target of litigation from existing businesses there and some local residents.
The property was sold by Beverly Hills-based businessman Said Shokrian, who worked with Seattle-based Intracorp Cos., a privately held residential developer with a Newport Beach office, to get the project entitled.
Intracorp is pursuing a few similar infill residential projects near John Wayne Airport in Irvine.
The buy comes as Taylor Morrison ramps up work on a 70-unit attached home project in San Juan Capistrano called The Cove at Pacifica San Juan, the latest project to open at the one-time SunCal Cos. development overlooking the 5 Freeway that Taylor Morrison bought a couple years ago. It started selling homes there last year.
Model sizes will be 1,836 to 2,068 square feet, with prices starting around $700,000. They’re scheduled to open in November.
