Developers are taking second chances on a trio of notable properties along Orange County’s coast, where they hope to turn the sites into exclusive new housing developments.
Three builders—Newport Beach-based City Ventures LLC, Lake Forest-based Advanced Real Estate Services Inc., and The New Home Co. of Aliso Viejo—are moving ahead with plans that call for a total of 123 high-end homes for their respective projects.
The sites are in Newport Center, Corona del Mar and Monarch Beach. The combined value of the homes they expect to build should be in excess of $300 million, based on preliminary pricing data.
Not too shabby considering that each of the coastal projects, in its own way, can be considered a bit of a reclamation project.
City Ventures and New Home Co. are moving ahead on separate developments within walking distance of the ocean—each a stone’s throw from a golf course, too. Other builders opted to step away from the two sites amid the last real estate downturn.
Advanced Real Estate Services’ project is planned for a Corona del Mar oceanfront site that’s slated to hold its high-end condos in place of an old apartment complex that locals have described as being “dilapidated.”
The locations of the three projects contrast with many of the higher-end OC coastal developments that moved ahead during the last housing boom.
Homes at most of those projects—such as The Strand in Dana Point, Crystal Cove in Newport Coast, and Brightwater in Huntington Beach—tended to be single-family homes that went up in brand-new developments.
The homes and condos now in the works at the three coastal developments will be part of more established neighborhoods.
There are still similarities between this set of home development and the last, particularly in terms of the length of time some of the projects have taken to get off the ground.
Richard Julian, president of Advanced Real Estate Services, said his Corona del Mar project—dubbed Aerie—has been 10 years in the making. The development received final approvals from the California Coastal Commission earlier this month.
The project, located near the intersection of Ocean Boulevard and Carnation Avenue, is expected to break ground this fall.
Plans call for the demolition of the 15-unit apartment complex on the site to make way for seven luxury condos, running from 3,000 to 6,500 square feet each.
$11M to $16M
The condos could have potential values of between $11 million and $16 million, according to Julian. His company paid about $12 million for the existing property in 2008, according to property records.
The Aerie project has been designed by noted architect Brion Jeannette, who also designed Corona del Mar’s Portobello estate.
Aerie is a few miles from New Home Co.’s Newport Center development, which envisions high-end condos next to Fashion Island and saw a change in ownership before moving ahead.
The New Home Co. is soon expected to be taking off the wraps for a 79-unit project next to the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa.
The builder’s project is slated for a 4.25-acre parcel of land located a few blocks from Jamboree Road along Santa Barbara Drive. The site now counts a shuttered eight-court tennis club, which would make way for the condo project.
Miami-based Lennar Corp. previously attempted to turn the Newport Center property into a four-story condo development called the Santa Barbara Condominiums, but the project never broke ground as the housing market soured.
The New Home Co. is believed to have closed on the land around the end of the year, according to regulatory filings. The seller was Host Hotels & Resorts LP, the Bethesda, Md.-based owner of the 532-room Newport Beach Marriott.
Construction on the reworked Santa Barbara Condo development could move ahead of the site this year, New Home Co. officials told the Business Journal late last year.
“It will be the most interesting project we’ve ever done,” Chief Executive Larry Webb said at the time. Plans tentatively call for the homes to range in price from $1.5 million to $4 million, making it one of the pricier condo projects ever seen in OC.
The proposed residential development will be a separate entity from the Marriott, but will share hotel amenities, according to design plans from Irvine-based architecture firm McLarand Vasquez Emsiek & Partners.
A similar amenity package is planned on land next to the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, where City Ventures is planning a 37-home project.
The homebuilder closed on the land buy late last year, in a deal with Newport Beach-based real estate developer and investor Makar Properties LLC.
Makar is the former owner of the five-star St. Regis Hotel, which saw a well-publicized change in ownership in 2009.
The parcel of about three acres that recently sold to City Ventures wasn’t pledged as collateral for the nearly $300 million in debt that was tied to the hotel and facing foreclosure in 2009.
Makar retained control of the parcel after lenders took over operation of the hotel, but opted not to move along with pre-existing home construction plans.
City Ventures, on the other hand, is expecting to break ground on the site as soon as this summer, according to Herb Gardner, president of the company’s homebuilding division.
The coastal housing development will offer access to St. Regis’ amenities, as well as the private Monarch Bay Beach Club.
The homes are expected to run a few million dollars, but they should be priced below other new high-end homes in the immediate area, according to City Ventures Chairman Craig Atkins.
