Toll Brothers Inc. is planning to build large on land it recently bought at the Orchard Hills community in Irvine, according to planning documents.
This month, I reported on the Horsham, Pa.-based homebuilder buying nearly 161 acres at the Irvine Company development where 223 homes are planned.
The deal closed in May, according to property records, which indicate the land was sold by Newport Beach-based Irvine Co. for about $200 million.
Toll Brothers has been doing a large amount of early-stage groundwork at the site since the closing. Signs at the two entrances to the project refer to it as Orchard Hill.
The land is on the northern edge of Orchard Hills just south of the Eastern Transportation Corridor (261) toll road and near Portola Parkway.
Details on the project weren’t immediately available, though plans filed with Irvine’s planning commission since that story ran shed a little more light on the development, which will hold two extra-large home types called Alta Vista and Bella Vista.
Alta Vista homes will range from 4,695 to 6,085 square feet and have four to five bedrooms and 4½ to 5½ baths, records show. The lot sizes will range from 8,343 to 17,711 square feet.
Some Alta Vista homes also will hold a detached casita of about 700 square feet, providing separate living quarters or a swimming pool house, depending on homebuyer needs.
Bella Vista homes, meanwhile, will range from 4,653 to 5,543 square feet and include five bedrooms and 5½ baths. Its lots will range from 6,669 to 15,532 square feet, city records show.
In comparison, homes at Toll Brothers’ most expensive project under way in Irvine—Hidden Canyon—top out at about 5,700 square feet, and the largest lot sizes are a little more than 8,000 square feet, according to the builder’s website.
Hidden Canyon homes have been selling for more than $2.5 million, company officials said. Orchard Hill home prices approaching $3 million appear likely, based on recent sales trends in the area.
The largest of the several hundred homes built so far at Orchard Hills, New Home Co.’s Trevi model, range from 5,095 square feet to 6,937 square feet, with prices starting at about $2.5 million.
Toll Brothers calls itself the country’s largest builder of luxury homes. It has committed more than $500 million for upscale home projects in Irvine since October.
The builder partnered late last year with Miami-based Lennar Corp. to buy a 272-acre swath of land along the northern edge of the former El Toro Marine base north of Irvine Boulevard. It’s described in Lennar’s regulatory filings as Heritage Hills and is slated for 840 high-end homes in one of the few hilly areas of the former base.
Options for the Alta Vista and Bella Vista homes are likely to include “a conservatory, alternate kitchen island configurations, prep kitchens, outdoor kitchens, master retreats, multi-generational suites, additional bedrooms/baths and covered decks,” according to planning commission filings.
Ventura Venture
IRA Capital Advisors, an Irvine-based real estate investment and management company, has picked up a 153,200-square-foot retail center in the city of Ventura in Ventura County north of Los Angeles.
The company paid a reported $50 million, or $297 per square foot, for Poinsettia Plaza, an 84% leased shopping center that holds a Ross Dress for Less and Office Depot, among other tenants.
The property is just off the 101 Freeway and a little more than a mile from the ocean. It was sold by an LLC with ties to L.A.-based Sandstone Properties, according to state records.
IRA Capital said it’s bought more than $700 million worth of properties since its 2010 founding. It purchases real estate under its own account and on behalf of co-investment partners, which include high-net-worth individuals, family offices, opportunity funds and institutions.
Dixie Walker and Charley Simpson with Cushman & Wakefield’s retail services group in Irvine represented the seller in the transaction. The buyers represented themselves.
