RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES
The opportunity to acquire the property underlying Duck Pond Ranch presented
itself in early 2000. At that time we were very familiar with the Del
Mar Mesa Community Plan, and were already serving on the Del Mar Mesa
Community Planning Group. When a 15-acre property was put on the market,
we quickly made an offer at a price very close to the asking price. We
then immediately approached a neighboring owner, who had already begun
processing a plan for their 15-acre property and offered to buy their
property at the same price, with a very quick close. They accepted and
Duck Pond Ranch was born.
By combining both properties, and redesigning the lot and street layout
we were able to turn many of the separate projects weaknesses into the
combined properties strengths, taking full advantage of the properties
unique location, on the edge of a mesa overlooking a permanent open space
preserve. We have successfully created the most exclusive and valuable
small subdivision in the whole 92130 Zip code areas.
The property consists of 12 large high-end gated lots plus a city park
and dedicated open space. An individual lot sale program has commenced.
Date Of Acquisition: August 2000 and October 2000 LINK
to Duck Pond Ranch's Web Site
Size: 30 acres Gross
Date all Entitlements Obtained: August 2001
Site Development Commenced: October 2002
Start of Building Construction: First lot sold – June 2003
Financing By: First National Bank
Due to our focus on the SR56 corridor, we were able to identify every
property in the area, and attempted to contact those property owners with
holdings separate from the primary landowners in the area. We were successfully
able to purchase this property, and most importantly received significant
help from the sellers who financed the majority of our purchase price,
in return for us paying them a price which was closer to what they could
have obtained had they processed the map themselves, compared to the price
they may have sold it for in its then un-entitled condition.
With this financial leverage in place we were able to self finance the
project, and were then able to maximize the value of the ultimate property
by redesigning the original plan to create lots which all faced onto small
cul-de-sacs, with a curving country road through the middle to serve regional
traffic. Earlier plans for the project had not planned the location of
this road to creatively use it to help separate the property into separate
building plots. The net result maximized the lands potential by creating
large estate lots with views and open space frontage.
The end result is 17 magnificent custom home sites in the coastal foothills
above Carmel Valley, in the award-winning Del Mar Mesa master-planned
community. With trails and curving country roads and 50% of the property
placed in open space preserves, this was a very attractive property to
some large builders, and the property was sold en-masse shortly after
the Tentative Map was obtained.
Date Of Acquisition: August 1999
Size: 42 acres Gross
Date all Entitlements Obtained: October 2000
Site Development Commenced: N/A
Property Sold: March 2001
Financing: None
The property was first acquired in September 1994. This was Sea Breeze
Properties’ first venture and in many ways was its riskiest. It
acquired an existing flower field property in the middle of an established
neighborhood in the upscale coastal community of Solana Beach. This property
was still zoned for agriculture, although the Community Plan recognized
an ultimate residential use. The immediate neighbors were concerned as
to what was planned for the property – we had 16 homes in our earliest
plans - and created an organization to fight our original development
plan. In fact, after obtaining city approval for a 12 home compromise
proposal, a petition drive was started to overturn the local City Council’s
decision. To avoid being forced into a public vote, additional compromises
were made reducing the final number of units on our property to 10.
We were able to successfully design and build all 10 homes and sell them
at prices that fortunately justified the difficulties we incurred in getting
to that point. We hired Oakhurst Builders to be the General Contractor
on the project. The homes were custom designed for this property and stand
out today, nearly 5 years after their completion, as a tribute to good
community design. In hindsight, the final project represents a positive
outcome to a reasonable compromise between development interests and concerned
neighbors trying to preserve the original community character of their
older neighborhood. The quality of our project added significant value
to the neighborhood to the benefit of all.
Date Of Acquisition: September1994
Size: 5 acres Gross
Date all Entitlements Obtained: June 1997
Site Development Commenced: October 1997
Site Development Completed: June 1998
First Home Sold: October 1998
Last Home Sold: May 1999
Financing: Scripps Bank
After our success building homes in Solana Beach, we were invited to
be one of the first developers buildings speculative homes in the Heritage
Golf Estates. In partnership with Oakhurst Builders, a custom home builder,
we designed and built three custom homes.
The focus of our designs were as follows:
* A home, which maximizes the
use of natural, light with spacious hallways an floor to ceiling windows.
* Indoor and outdoor entertainment
areas to take advantage of the wonderful climate.
* Enhanced family rooms with
adjacent media/game/play rooms.
* Private areas which provide
space for quiet contemplation, yet are open to the site views
* Office in the home with the
ability to receive visitors without entering the rest of the home.
* Outdoor dining areas.
* Complete privacy for the master
suite while keeping children’s bedrooms in reasonably close proximity.
* Architectural home elevations,
which are unique in the neighborhood, using quality materials to enhance
the architectural appearance of the home.
Throughout the process we committed to quality design consultants, quality
construction and an overall team with intelligence, knowledge and most
importantly, integrity. The first two homes were sold for a reasonable
profit immediately upon completion, while our third home went on to the
market during a downturn in the market. After evaluating what we did right
and where we went wrong, we realized that the strengths in Sea Breeze
Properties are not conducive to the custom home business and we have made
a conscious decision not to invest in custom home construction in the
future.
Date Of Acquisition: June1999 through December 1999
Size: 3 separate golf-course estate lots
Construction Commenced: July 1999
First Home Sold: April 2000
Last Home Sold: August 2001
Financing: Scripps Bank and Community National Bank
This is a 2.2 acre unimproved property, surrounded by existing homes.
This property was owned by out of town investors who have never developed
the property due to the intimidating process. The property has a sloping
site requiring unique planning and design solution in order to meet the
constraints caused by its physical and environmentally sensitive location,
while still taking advantage of its great views and private protected
rear yards. In addition, the immediate neighbors sought to stop us from
subdividing into the number of homes the zoning allowed, despite the fact
that nearly all of them lived in homes with the same zoning and in most
cases smaller lots.
After working closely with the local planning agencies and the city staff
we were able to obtain the unanimous support of these advisory boards
plus the unanimous support of the ultimate decision makers, the City of
San Diego Planning Commission. We are now processing a final map for the
future construction of 8 homes on this property.
Date Of Acquisition: September 2003 – (First Optioned
in December 2001)
Size: 2.5 acres Gross
Date all Entitlements Obtained: February 2003
Site Development Commenced: Planned by 4/2004
Site Development Completed: n/a
First Home Sold: n/a
Last Home Sold: n/a
Financing: Equity
This infill project divided one of the last undeveloped parcels situated
between Fairbanks Ranch and
Rancho Santa Fe, into fourteen estate lots, all with usable buildable
pad areas larger than 1 acre.
By putting primary effort into constructing the projects entry and boundary
walls and landscaping,
ahead of lot development, the project was pre-sold to a builder well before
completion.
Sea Breeze Properties was a minority partner in this project with primary
development responsibility
provided be Christopherhill Development.
Date of Acquisition: February 2001
Size: 50 Acres -- Gross
Date all Entitlements Obtained: July 2002
Site Development Commenced: October 2002
Property Sold: October 2003
Financing: US Bank
Copyright
2003
Sea Breeze Properties
