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Rancho Mission Viejo in South Orange County

The "village" of Sendero, the first leg of the Rancho Mission Viejo development near San Juan Capistrano, will total about a thousand new homes on 690 acres when finished. Developers expect 14,000 homes will go up in this massive, master-planned community over the next two decades.

The “village” of Sendero, the first leg of the Rancho Mission Viejo development near San Juan Capistrano, will total about a thousand new homes on 690 acres when finished. Developers expect 14,000 homes will go up in this massive, master-planned community over the next two decades.   (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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With its tidy model homes, gleaming new clubhouses and rows of fresh wooden frames, the “village” of Sendero, the first phase of the Rancho Mission Viejo housing development in South Orange County, offers a pristine view of the new building boom.

Rancho Mission Viejo

Carpenters work on the roof of a home under construction in the Rancho Mission Viejo development.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Rancho Mission Viejo

The entire Rancho Mission Viejo project is a master-planned community developed by a family-owned business with the same name. The ranch once spanned more than 200,000 acres, from which arose the cities of Rancho Santa Margarita and Mission Viejo, and the home developments of Ladera Ranch and Las Flores. Above, workers put up a roof in the Sendero section of the project.   (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Rancho Mission Viejo

Newly decorated condominiums built by Shea Homes await would-be home buyers in the “village” of Sendero.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Rancho Mission Viejo

Dan Kelly, senior vice president with Rancho Mission Viejo, walks through one of the condominiums in the Sendero development.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Rancho Mission Viejo

A cow statue adorns one of the common areas in the Sendero development.   (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Rancho Mission Viejo

Sendero opened to the public at large at the end of June. The developers expect homes to sell at a pace of about 300 a year. Above, the patio area of a condominium in Sendero.   (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Rancho Mission Viejo

Pool cabanas in the clubhouse area await new owners of homes in Sendero.   (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Rancho Mission Viejo

Landscaping is done on the slopes surrounding Sendero.   (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Rancho Mission Viejo

Cattle graze near surveyor’s stakes marking the area near Rancho Mission Viejo’s cow camp, where the another community will eventually be built east of San Juan Capistrano.   (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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