Developer Acquires Brea Land for Planned Community
An Orange County developer said it has acquired former oil property in Brea for a 284-acre planned community, Olinda Heights.
Placentia-based SunCal Cos. Inc. said Tuesday it has purchased the property for $24 million from Houston-based Santa Fe Energy Resources, an oil and gas company.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Dec. 19, 1996 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday December 19, 1996 Orange County Edition Business Part D Page 6 Financial Desk 1 inches; 25 words Type of Material: Correction
Planned community--A story Wednesday listed the incorrect number of homes for the proposed Olinda Heights residential development in Brea. A total of 662 homes are planned.
Santa Fe or one of its predecessors owned the property for nearly 100 years.
The residential community will consist of 62 homes on 115 acres, an elementary school and a community park.
Olinda Heights, near the intersection of Carbon Canyon Road and Valencia Avenue, will pay tribute to its oil-pumping heritage with an on-site oil history museum and renovated structures that date back to the oil town’s heyday in the early part of the century. Santa Fe will continue to operate about 50 underground wells there, officials say.
SunCal will develop the land, putting in all the major infrastructure improvements and then selling off parcels to builders. Companies with options to buy some of the lots include Greystone Homes’ South Coast division, Shea Homes in Walnut, Irvine-based Sares-Regis Group and J.M. Peters Co. of Newport Beach.
Infrastructure costs could run as high as $63 million before the first home is built, SunCal partner Todd Kurtin has said. Model homes are expected to be completed next fall.
The land is the second major oil company parcel to come to market this year. Newport Beach-based PLC Land Co. auctioned off the former Chevron Oil property in Huntington Beach to builders earlier this year.
