The Pacific Palisades has its first ground-up, rebuilt home, 310 days after the devastating wildfires that destroyed over 7,000 structures in the Westside region of Los Angeles were declared extinguished.
The four-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom model home was unveiled last week by Aliso Viejo’s Thomas James Homes, which specializes in tearing down older homes in unique West Coast neighborhoods and building new ones on a speculative or custom basis.
The construction of the Pacific Palisades residence showcases “our ability to deliver—quickly—this beautiful home at a fixed price and guaranteed delivery time,” CEO Jamie Mead told sister publication LA Business Journal.
Thomas James Homes, which had built extensively in the Pacific Palisades pre-fire, said it has about 30 additional homes under contract in the area, and aims to add as many as 100 more next year.
Its goal in the area is for a construction time of one year, at $650 per square foot.
The firm, whose exec team includes Franco Tenerelli—a 2022 Business Journal General Counsel Award winner while at then locally-based Landsea Homes—just opened a new design studio in Brentwood to help residents looking to rebuild in the area.
LA being LA, the news of the opening came with some controversy. A story in Politico noted objections to Mayor Karen Bass touting the builder’s achievement, saying that a home built for fire survivors, rather than a model home, should receive accolades.
The family of the late Gen. William Lyon has yet to find a buyer for their iconic 137-acre estate in Coto de Caza, which came to market about six months ago with an asking price of $125 million, which, if met, would set an Orange County record for a home sale by a wide margin.
While the listing for the entire property continues with Josh Altman of The Altman Brothers and Douglas Elliman, and with Mauricio Umansky of The Agency, a potential Plan B is also moving forward.
Local land brokerage Land Advisors is now taking to market 25 mapped home lots on about half of the property.
A builder that takes over the land for the semi-custom homes would be in charge of the largest housing project in Coto in years.
“If we decide to sell the development parcel to a builder, the parcel with the home and the grounds will be relisted at an appropriate price,” Bill H. Lyon, the son of William Lyon, told the Business Journal.
Land Advisors’ Allison Rawlins and Chris Shiota is working with Lyon, the former CEO of William Lyon Homes, to market the 25 lots; the asking price hasn’t been disclosed.
Matt Zaist, who served as CEO for William Lyon Homes prior to its $2.4 billion sale to Taylor Morrison Homes about six years ago, has a new homebuilder to run, of sorts.
He now serves as CEO of Irvine’s Risewell Homes, the newly-named builder that was previously known as New Home Co.
The name change, announced last week, comes after New Home Co. spent some $1.2 billion to acquire Landsea Homes earlier this year. Risewell expects to sell 4,000 homes annually, with SoCal among its main markets.
