Newport Beach-based Landsea Homes is the latest local homebuilder looking to boost sales of lower-priced houses in the Inland Empire.
The company, the U.S. subsidiary of China-based real estate company Landsea Group, this month closed on 334 home lots at Ontario Ranch, the largest master-planned project currently under development in Southern California, and the seventh-largest housing development in the U.S. through the first six months of this year, according to industry data.
Financial terms of the land buy were undisclosed.
Land construction for the Landsea project should begin late next year with an expected 2021 opening for Landsea’s portion, in the development’s northeast area.
Ontario Ranch is an 8,200-acre residential and retail project that’s 2 miles west of Interstate 15 and south of the Pomona (60) Freeway.
Other homes at the development are selling from about $300,000 to $600,000.
IE Focus
It will be Landsea’s second Ontario community; it also has a 432-home project under construction called ShadeTree.
The new neighborhood will have detached single-family homes ranging from 1,700 to 2,000 square feet, and attached townhomes with floorplans from 850 to 1,600 square feet.
Landsea’s Southern California President Tom Blaine said the acquisition “supports our growth for this region,” with Ontario continuing to be “an important market.”
The company is one of several OC-based builders with active pipelines in the IE, including Irvine’s TRI Pointe Group, Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes, and Aliso Viejo-based New Home Co.
Lido, Lake Forest
Closer to home, Landsea has a much pricier project underway in Newport Beach, Lido Villas, a 23-townhome project near the water whose homes range from 1,818 to 2,303 square feet; they’re priced in the $2 million to $2.6 million range.
It’s also the master developer of IronRidge, a 96-acre Lake Forest project with 600 homes.
The latest Ontario project comes a few months after Landsea announced its first Los Angeles County project, a 50 high-end home community at Deerlake Ranch, a master-planned community in the San Fernando Valley.
Model homes at the community, called Crestley at Deerlake Ranch, are slated to open by the end of the year, with the first home closings in spring 2020.
The master-planned development is north of the (118) Freeway off Topanga Canyon.
