With the scarcity of land and growing populations in some urban areas of the county, more developers are going the infill route.
Barratt American’s Urban Development Division announced plans to develop an urban infill project in downtown Escondido. Called City Square, the 102-unit, 3.5-acre townhome project will be located on half a city block between Centre City Parkway, Orange Street and Second Avenue.
According to Michael D. Pattinson, the president of Barratt American, the project is tapping into the “Old California” ambience of Escondido, along with such other assets as parks, lakes, the Daley Ranch Preserve and other cultural and sports venues.
Designed by Irvine-based architects KTGY, the 1,100- to 1,625-square-foot, two-story City Square townhomes are expected to be priced from the $400,000s to the low $500,000s, with pre-sales beginning in late spring and a model home grand opening anticipated the following January.
Barratt’s Urban Division, established to carry out redevelopment projects in Southern California’s urban cores, also has projects in the works in La Jolla’s Bird Rock neighborhood, in downtown La Mesa, and the ballpark district of Downtown San Diego.
Restoration work has begun on Ingram Plaza, at Liberty Station, the $850 million mixed-use project on the grounds of the former Naval Training Center in Point Loma.
Located within the NTC’s historic district , one of four in San Diego listed on the National Register of Historic Places , the site was the original tent camp used for the isolation of new recruits. The Corky McMillin Cos., the developer, plans to restore the plaza to its original condition.
The Ingram Plaza will serve as a central gathering point between the future NTC Park and the NTC Promenade, the civic, arts and cultural center, which are both under way.
In El Cajon, ground was broken Feb. 14 on the $18 million, 47,000-square-foot student center at Cuyamaca College, a real labor of love, given that it was Valentine’s Day. We’re told that the students helped fund the center by each paying a dollar a unit, or a maximum of $5 a semester, to the construction fund, raising $748,000. That sum will be supplemented with Proposition R bond funds, approved by East County voters in 2002.
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Luxe Bucks:
Luxury home values rose to an all-time high in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2005, but appreciation slowed significantly in the fourth quarter, according to the First Republic Prestige Home Index by First Republic Bank.
San Diego’s values rose 13.3 percent in 2005, following a gain of 16.4 percent in 2004, according to the report. Since 2002, the average luxury home in San Diego has increased by more than $630,000 to almost $2.1 million.
Agents said that the market has regained some of its momentum after a “very quiet December.”
“The market is changing month to month,” said Benny Landman of Coldwell Banker in Del Mar. “December was absolutely dead, and January picked up. It’s still a seller’s market, but it’s slower.”
Earl Houston of Prudential California Realty in Carlsbad said 2006 is likely to be very solid, but was a tad surprised about that fourth quarter.
“For the first time in many years, Thanksgiving to New Year’s was very slow, but we now have a very healthy, normal market,” he said, adding that it is taking 60 to 90 days to sell a house now, compared with several weeks , common in the first half of 2005.
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Big Deals:
Master Development Corp., a Newport Beach-based developer and general contractor of industrial buildings throughout Southern California, reports that it has been very busy in Otay Mesa the past few months.
The company has purchased 27 acres in the Piper Ranch Business Park for $11.5 million from Otay Investors, LLC, then resold the front 8.44 acres to Venture Corp. for $5.3 million.
“We are currently planning a three-building development on the remaining 18.5 acres, and we intend to call this development Three Piper Ranch,” said Bryan Bentrott, the company’s executive vice president.
That project will consist of large, dock-high warehouse buildings, ranging from 60,000 to 190,000 square feet. Groundbreaking is set for September.
The company also recently closed on a two-building project, which was developed by Opus Corp. in San Diego, totaling 150,000 square feet, and 16 individual units.
Bentrott said the plans are to record a condo map on both buildings, and start selling individual units.
“We purchased this property, called Opus Crossings, for $15 million,” he said. “Total estimated sales values for individual units should be around $22 million.”
The acquiring partnership consists of MDC and Aetna Life Insurance Co., he said, and the lender was Bank of the West. The project has been renamed Britannia Crossings.
San Diego developer Richard La China, a majority investor in Big Bear Investment Group, LLC, has purchased the Wildwood Resort, a vacation rental property just outside of the village of Big Bear, for an undisclosed sum.
The property spans 3.19 acres and includes a large parcel of vacant land zoned for commercial development.
“The Wildwood Resort property has been a landmark in Big Bear for decades,” said La China. “We have every intention of preserving the historic value of the property and making the transition of ownership as seamless as possible.”
Burnham Real Estate’s Capital Markets Group has arranged a $12.4 million permanent loan for the refinance of Diamante Del Mar, a 33,543-square-foot Class A office building at 11943 El Camino Real in San Diego.
James Dick of Burnham’s Capital Markets Group arranged the loan for the borrower, ADSC LLC, through an East Coast-based institutional lender. The building will be held as an investment.
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