Irvine Co. has a new homebuilding strategy.
Irvine Pacific LP, among Orange County’s most active homebuilder for nearly a decade and the in-house homebuilding arm of Newport Beach’s Irvine Co., only has a few more projects left to sell on the Irvine Ranch, at a quartet of sites at Orchard Hills and Portola Springs.
“Final opportunity to own an Irvine Pacific home,” notes the website for the homebuilder, which sold 468 new homes here last year, second-most among homebuilders in OC.
A change in plans was evident as of a few months ago, when Dave Prolo, the head of Irvine Co.’s homebuilding division, left the firm along with other execs.
The top homebuilding-related exec at Irvine Co. is now Alan Parkin, division EVP for community development. Parkin is responsible “for the management of the company’s land development and builder lot sales activity,” the company says.
Irvine Co. continues to sell land to other homebuilders, such as Fort Washington, Pa.-based Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL), which is expected to handle many home sales at the next phase of development at the upscale Orchard Hills community.
Locally based New Home Co. was recently tapped for its largest project in the city in years, for a 100-home project at Portola Springs.
Irvine Co. isn’t afraid to shake things up when it comes to its homebuilding strategy.
After the Great Recession, the firm essentially kicked off the latest cycle of homebuilding in OC by initiating its executive builder program in 2010.
Under the plan, a handful of builders were selected to put up homes in new Irvine developments. Irvine Co. hired the builders, which were paid 3% to 6% of each home’s price.
The executive builder program helped launch a few area builders, including TRI Pointe Homes, as well as New Home Co. Shortly after that, it relaunched Irvine Pacific, which it had shuttered years prior.
Irvine Pacific, upon its relaunch, initially focused on some of the more affordable offerings on Irvine Co. land, though later it added higher-priced offerings.
About three years ago, it chose to manage construction of its homes internally, after previously using a fee-building model with other builders.
Change appears to be for other Irvine Co. divisions, too.
About a year ago, the Business Journal was first to report on the company’s office division marketing a potential 532K-SF life science development near UCI. Dubbed Academy Point, the project would’ve been the largest office campus of its type in OC.
The website for Academy Point is no longer active, and sources tell the Business Journal the project isn’t expected to move ahead as initially conceived, with other potential uses for the site at UCI Research Park being considered.
