Fieldstone Begins 84-Home Project in Fullerton

The Fieldstone Group of Cos., Southern California’s second-largest home builder, has started building 84 single-family homes on nearly 33 acres that it recently purchased in Fullerton.

Construction has already begun at Fieldstone Arbor, where each home will be priced in the high $200,000s. The land was purchased by a company subsidiary, Fieldstone Communities Inc., for an undisclosed amount from Unocal Land & Development Co. of Brea.

Michael Vairin, regional manager for Fieldstone, said homes will range from 2,505 to 2,929 square feet, and designs will include a four-bedroom, one-story home with various upgrades to allow the buyer to personalize the residence.

Fieldstone, based in Newport Beach, last year stopped making payments on a $150-million development loan for the 2,300-acre La Costa planned community in northern San Diego County. A consortium of banks, led by Continental Bank in Chicago, contended that the home builder owed at least $60 million in back payments. The terms of that loan are still being renegotiated, said Jim Hansen, division manager for the San Diego region of Fieldstone. The default, which was by the parent company and not its subsidiary, does not affect the purchase of other properties, he said.

The Fullerton land purchase comes on the heels of Fieldstone’s purchase last year of 70 single-family lots at EastLake Greens, part of a master-planned community in Chula Vista. The company’s project, named Fairway Ridge, has prices beginning in the low $200,000s. Fifteen of 22 Fairway Ridge homes under construction have already been sold, according to Brian Milich, a project manager at Fieldstone. In 1993, privately held Fieldstone, the second-largest residential builder in Southern California behind the William Lyon Co., constructed and sold 1,082 homes for $237.5 million. The previous year, Fieldstone built 1,225 homes and generated revenues of $301.5 million.