Builders Chosen for Start of 8,100-Home Project

Developers of the 4,000-acre Ladera planned community said Monday they’ve selected nine major home builders to build 1,000 homes for the first phase.

As many as 8,100 homes have been planned for the development, south of Rancho Santa Margarita on the 30,000-acre Rancho Mission Viejo property owned by the Richard O’Neill and Anthony Moiso families.

The initial phase, to be built over the next three years, will have 16 small single-family detached housing developments averaging 50 units each and one attached housing development of about 100 units.

The home builders have agreed to design the initial homes in the Craftsman and cottage styles that were predominant in Southern California developments from the mid-1920s through the 1940s.

Land prices were not disclosed.

Ladera is owned by DMB Consolidated Holdings Inc. of Phoenix and Ladera Development Co., a holding firm established by the O’Neill-Moiso families’ Rancho Mission Viejo LLC.

The nine builders selected for the first round of construction are Brookfield Homes, Costa Mesa; John Laing Homes, Irvine; Sea Country Homes, Aliso Viejo; Shea Homes, Walnut; Standard Pacific Inc., Costa Mesa; Taylor Woodrow Homes, Laguna Hills; Corona-based UDC Homes--a unit of DMB Consolidated; and Warmington Homes and William Lyon Homes Inc., both of Newport Beach.

Plans call for four more development stages through 2010, including two retail centers, a 75-acre business and light industrial center and 1,600 acres of open space.