REAL ESTATE

Orange County Development Announced: Home builder Kathryn Thompson has teamed with Freeman, Spogli & Co., a major private investment banking firm, in a four-year, $300-million project to build 1,200 low-cost homes in Aliso Viejo, a planned community in south Orange County. The partnership has purchased 162 acres in Aliso Viejo and plans to build nine separate developments with most homes priced from $110,000 to $185,000. Thompson, who estimated that the project will create up to 600 new construction and development-related jobs in Orange County, said Los Angeles-based Freeman, Spogli has guaranteed an equity investment of up to $50 million in the partnership.