Apr 22 2010
The Irvine Company announced that Irvine Pacific, a wholly owned affiliate, will build a series of homes in the newest Village of Irvine, Stonegate East, beginning in November.
From the early 1970s to the late 1980s, Irvine Pacific built single-family homes in some of Irvine’s most popular and venerable villages, including Woodbridge, Northwood and Turtle Rock. Irvine Pacific also built apartment communities and served as a property management company.
Since then, the Irvine Company focused on selling homesites to independent homebuilders, but as the builders experienced funding challenges during “The Great Recession,” the company implemented the Executive Builder Program to meet the pent-up demand for new homes.
The Executive Builder Program, instituted by the Irvine Company last October to allow for the building of “The 2010 New Home Collection” in the villages of Woodbury and Woodbury East, is credited with providing capital that allowed homebuilders to resume construction activity in Irvine for the first time since the beginning of “The Great Recession.”
Due to the extraordinary response for new homes in Irvine built through this program, the company decided to have Irvine Pacific become an active builder in Stonegate East.
“Although the ‘Great Recession’ is behind us, the capital markets have not returned to a level that will allow our homebuilders to attain the funding needed to meet the increasing demand for new homes in Irvine,” said Daniel Young, president of Irvine Company Community Development, who will also serve as president of Irvine Pacific. “Having Irvine Pacific build these new homes in Stonegate East is a natural progression for us after the enthusiastic response to our Executive Builder Program.”
He also noted that the Irvine Company, a longtime, diversified real estate company, has changed its business model over the years to meet evolving market conditions and consumer preferences. “From bringing the management of our apartment communities and office properties in-house to the continued growth of our resorts division -- which includes management of The Island Hotel and the Resort at Pelican Hill -- our business model has adapted to the changing business climate,” he explained. “The decision to have Irvine Pacific build in Stonegate East is a logical extension of that business model.
“We believe the best way to meet the extraordinary market demand we are experiencing is by returning to our long-held practice of selling homesites to our merchant builders, and building homes in-house through Irvine Pacific,” Young said. “We will continue to work with our homebuilding partners, who have done an extraordinary job for us, allowing them to concentrate on what they do best as they transition back to normalcy.”
In addition to Irvine Pacific, Brookfield, KB Home, Lennar, Standard Pacific, Taylor Morrison, Van Daele and William Lyon Homes and others will continue to build homes within the Villages of Irvine.
The response to “The 2010 New Home Collection” has been astounding, Young added, with 363 homes sold in just 78 days since the grand opening January 30. That represents the highest number of new home sales in this part of Orange County since the fourth quarter of 2005. The six homebuilders have released multiple phases of homes in their respective neighborhoods, accelerating releases to meet the demand generated by homebuyers, and many are nearly sold out of their available inventory – which was originally expected to provide a supply of as much as 18 to 24 months of new homes.
The Priority Registration List continues to reflect strong, sustained demand, with more than 1,000 potential homeshoppers pre-approved for mortgage loans. In addition, the general interest list has topped 15,000 and continues to grow.
Additionally, the continued rise in California home prices and home sales, improvement in consumer confidence and homebuilder optimism, low interest rates and new tax credits combined with the strong consumer demand and a limited supply of new homes has created “an ideal time to include Irvine Pacific as a homebuilder,” Young said.
Irvine Pacific will offer innovative, research-driven homes within the Villages of Irvine, utilizing quantifiable consumer feedback and interaction to create new home solutions with innovation, technology while integrating long-term planning and building expertise.
In addition, Irvine Pacific has the same founding values, experience and capabilities guiding it that have steered one of America’s most successful master planned communities for decades.
“An Irvine Pacific home is more than a home; it represents a ‘way of life’ that is uniquely attuned to the hopes, dreams, needs and goals of today’s homebuyer in Irvine,” explained Young. “These homes will be distinctively designed according to research, with a clear understanding of the needs and desires of today’s families.
“One of the key insights we discovered during the research process for ‘The 2010 New Home Collection’ was that as a long-term owner that prides itself on a long-term outlook and commitment to best-of-class high quality and customer service, we know our customers as well as anybody.
“We are very engrained in the Irvine community through our master planning activities and the unique relationship we have with the consumers who frequent our merchants, the tenants who live in our apartment communities, the employees who work in our office buildings and the residents who live in our homes,” Young explained. “We can provide a high-quality home that responds to the ever-changing lifestyles, needs and desires of today’s families.”
The Village of Stonegate East represents an opportunity for first-time homebuyers to enjoy the unique lifestyle found in Irvine. Approximately 248 homes in three new neighborhoods will offer a mix of townhomes and flats, duplexes and row townhomes.
Pricing is expected to begin in the low $300,000s, and these homes are eligible for FHA financing.
Bluebird Park is a central village gathering place and residents will enjoy easy access to open space and recreation amenities including the Jeffrey Open Space Trail. Stonegate Elementary school, part of the award-winning Irvine Unified School District, is within walking distance, and residents are also within close proximity to Woodbury Town Center and local employment, shopping and entertainment centers.
Source: http://www.VillagesofIrvine.com/