Builder Cleans Up : Olson Is at Home Revitalizing Blight
On a rundown block in Westminster, pristine stucco and wood homes are sprouting where a junk-filled storage yard and a concrete plant once stood.
The new homes, the first in the area in a decade, are the latest project of Olson Co., one of the few builders that specializes in revitalizing older urban areas. Instead of buying land in Southern California’s master-planned communities and undeveloped areas, Olson looks to junkyards, vacant strip malls or former manufacturing sites.
The Seal Beach company, founded in 1988, has developed condominiums and houses on recycled sites from Garden Grove to Brea.
It sold 150 homes last year, and is expecting that to jump to 225 this year as new projects are completed in Anaheim and Pasadena.
“We’re always looking for reuse opportunities,” said Mark Buckland, Olson’s president.
It’s a niche shunned by many builders who don’t want to deal with extensive municipal red tape, angry neighborhood groups and rigorous cleanups--often to win approval to build just a few dozen homes.
But Olson says its strategy has kept it profitable during the area’s prolonged housing slump, when many other builders struggled.
Olson concentrates on building in city redevelopment areas, which means the company generally can count on receiving financial help from local governments in exchange for revitalizing blighted areas.
In Pasadena, for example, the city provided more than $2 million worth of incentives for Rose Walk, the company’s planned 46-unit townhome project a few blocks from the Rose Bowl. The city purchased an old junkyard, donated a vacant gas station lot it owned and closed part of a street to complete the site.
In Anaheim, city officials provided redevelopment funds to help buyers finance homes in a 48-townhome project planned on the site of the former Carpenter’s Union Hall near Disneyland. The funds, among other things, will cover $3,000 in closing costs for each home.
Critics question the use of public funds for these projects--which range in price from $150,000 to $250,000 per unit--when there is a greater need for low-income housing. But Olson executives and city officials say the new developments get rid of decay and encourage additional investment in older areas.
“When you have an eyesore . . . it’s hard to spur on other development,” Buckland said.
Olson first got involved with these redevelopment projects in 1991 when the city of Fountain Valley solicited proposals for a housing project on an old oil and gas storage site. The company suggested a 24-unit condominium project, and the city approved it.
The successful effort cemented Olson’s strategy of building in urban areas where there are jobs. “People like to live close to where they work,” said Stephen Olson, the company’s chairman.
But converting gritty sites is no easy task.
Before the company recently opened the first model homes for its Vineyards and Ivy Walk projects in Westminster, executives spent 14 months resolving zoning and environmental issues as well as conducting an extensive cleanup of the site.
“It was like a junkyard,” Buckland said.
City officials finally approved the two adjacent projects--48 condominiums and 50 single-family homes priced from $199,000 to $219,000. The city also provided $500,000 in redevelopment funds for an interest-free loan to the builder.
“It sends a clear signal to property owners in the area that Westminster is a healthy city and developers are willing to make an investment here,” said Don Anderson, Westminster community redevelopment director and assistant city manager.
Still, the company had one more headache.
Some of the new homes would be facing decrepit apartment buildings that had peeling paint and rotting balconies. So Olson approached the surprised owners and offered to paint the buildings and repair balconies.
The owners “kind of looked at me like, ‘What’s the catch?’ ” Buckland said.
Lengthy projects with these types of demands discourage most builders, housing analysts say. And builders who do take on one of these urban projects prefer to start with a single vacant site, such as an old school lot, with little contamination.
To mine this redevelopment niche, Olson executives have memorized the guidelines of government programs and boundaries of redevelopment districts. They have also become experts on the financial resources of certain cities.
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Some advocates of affordable housing believe companies like Olson shouldn’t receive redevelopment funds that otherwise could be spent on housing for individuals with the lowest incomes.
Home prices in some of these redevelopment projects are comparable to those in new communities elsewhere in the county, said Alan Baldwin, executive director of the Orange County Community Housing Corp., a nonprofit organization that promotes affordable housing. “It doesn’t really accomplish anything,” he said.
But Olson’s projects comply with affordable-housing regulations. Homes in these communities must be priced so that households earning 80% to 120% of the median income in Orange County can afford them. The county’s median income is $63,200 for a family of four, according to the state Department of Housing and Community Development.
“You need to think of it as entry-level housing,” said Anderson, Westminster’s redevelopment head, referring to Olson’s new developments in the city. “It wasn’t built with the intent of providing housing for those who are barely able to make ends meet.”
Indeed, Olson Co. homes include frills. The new communities are gated and many feature custom touches such as kitchen islands and designer appliances. The builder’s Los Alamitos project, the Bungalows, was selected best townhome of the year in 1995 in a design competition sponsored by the National Assn. of Home Builders.
These upscale urban projects sell. They are popular among residents who want to live closer to their jobs, or for families who don’t want to take their kids out of school to move to a new community elsewhere in the county, said Ken Agid, of Marketing Department, a Costa Mesa real estate consulting firm.
“It’s a phenomenally deep potential market,” he said.
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Homing In on Olson
Olsen company projects (Manzanita Walk and Rose Walk are under construction):
The Bungalows
* Location: 2923 Claremore Lane, Los Alamitos
* Square footage: 1,180-1,475
* Number of units: 51
* Models: Five
* Price range: $179,000-$229,000
The Arbors
* Location: 217 S. Mandarin Drive, Brea
* Square footage: 1,477-1,706
* Number of units: 27
* Models: Three; 3-4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths
* Price range: $189,000-$214,000
Ivy Walk
* Location: 13507 Oaktree Ave., Westminster
* Square footage: 1,615-1,875
* Number of units: 50
* Models: Three
* Price range: $199,000-$219,990
Magnolia Walk
* Location: 8992 Poinsettia Lane, Garden Grove
* Square footage: 1,736-1,991
* Number of units: 16
* Models: Two; 3-4 bedrooms, 2 1/2-3 baths
* Price range: $204,000-$224,000
The Vineyards
* Location: 13502 Cobblestone Lane, Westminster
* Square footage: 1,331
* Number of units: 48
* Models: Flexible, can be 3 or 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2-3 baths
* Price range: $154,000-$164,000
Manzanita Walk
* Location: Vermont Avenue (near Harbor Boulevard), Anaheim
* Square footage: 908-1,364
* Number of units: 48
* Models: Four
* Price range: From less than $100,000
Rose Walk
* Location: 1115 Keepsake Way, Pasadena
* Square footage: 1,229 to 1,382
* Number of units: 46
* Models: five
* Price range: mid-$150,000s
Source: Olson Co.;
Researched by JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times
