S.D. Developers Move North to Riverside County : Counting on Commuters for Cheaper Housing
Resembling the Sooners who staked out claims in the Oklahoma Land Rush, San Diego homebuilders have begun a mini-land rush of their own to the Rancho California-Temecula area of Riverside County, drawn by cheaper land prices and a relatively hassle-free political climate.
The Buie Corp., a homebuilding firm founded in 1983 by former executives of Rancho Bernardo developer Avco Development Corp., last week became the latest builder to join the rush when it paid $13 million to Bedford Properties for 480 acres in Rancho California. Buie plans to build as many as 2,000 residential units in an “adult-oriented” community, President Bob Buie said.
Several other developers either based in San Diego or with operations here have also made recent land buys in the Rancho California-Temecula area, including Sunland Housing Group, Pardee Construction Co., Barratt Homes of San Diego and U.S. Homes’ San Diego division.
Taking the biggest plunge was Great American Development Co., the real estate development arm of Great American First Savings Bank. In May, GAD bought a 1,183-acre parcel called Wolf Valley southwest of Interestate 15 at California 79. The parcel will someday be the site of 3,000 housing units, GAD President Peter Hall said.
Hall and other developers said their projects are designed to take advantage of home buyers’ willingness to commute farther--if lower home prices make the added commute worth the trip. And generally speaking, Rancho California-Temecula area homes geared to the low- to mid-range market sell for 25% less than comparable housing in Rancho Penasquitos and Rancho Bernardo, the developers said. Lot sizes are generally larger as well.
S.D. Price Rises Blamed
“Up until a year ago, virtually all the builders active in Rancho California were geared to the Orange County market,” Hall said. But the completion of Interstate 15 and the rapidly escalating prices of San Diego housing have made the commute to south Riverside County more appealing, drawing in San Diego homebuilders, Hall said.
Buie said he expects to sell as many as 30% of his project’s units to commuters working in North San Diego County employment centers, perhaps as far south as Kearny Mesa. Downtown San Diego, roughly 60 miles from his property, is too far for his typical customers, Buie concedes.
San Diego homebuilders are also turning to Rancho California-Temecula because of the increasingly inhospitable development climate in San Diego, particularly since the city passed its interim development ordinance this summer restricting the total number of units built in the city to 12,000 over an 18-month period.
