VOLUME 24 NUMBER 15JULY-SEPTEMBER 1994

RESIDENTIAL

SANCERRENEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA

PROJECT TYPE

A 144-unit gated single-family community,with a net density of 9.4 dwelling units per acre. High density is achieved by organizingunits in four- or six-unit clusters aroundprivate drives and through zero-lot-line site design to maximize usable open space.Project amenities include a pool, spa, andbathhouse and a network of pedestrian walkways/jogging paths adjacent to thecommunity.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Zero-lot-line homesEfficient small-lot designPreservation of privacyCourtyard concept

DEVELOPER

California Pacific Homes 5 Civic Plaza, Suite 100 Newport Beach, California 92660 714-759-1782

ARCHITECT/SITE PLANNER

Richardson Nagy Martin 4611 Teller Avenue Newport Beach, California 92660 714-752-1800

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

Forsum Summers & Murphy, Inc. 34197 Pacific Coast Highway Suite 200 Dana Point, California 92629 714-443-1446

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Sancerre is a small-lot, zero-lot-line community that pushes single family home densities tothe limit in order to meet market demand for this type of housing in a market with high landcosts. Given the cost of land in the Newport Beach area, Jeff Slavin, president of CaliforniaPacific Homes, knew that he would have to "push the envelope on single family" if he was toprovide affordable detached housing in this market. Slavin saw just two options: reduce unitsizes or increase unit density. Cal-Pac chose the latter, and with finely tuned site and unitdesign, Cal Pac has produced a highly successful single-family project at 9.4 units to the netacre.

THE SITE

The 22-acre Sancerre site is centrally located in the Newport Beach area: close to the ocean,the Fashion Island shopping center, and the exclusive communities of Newport Beach, CoronaDel Mar, and Laguna Beach. The site is part of one of the largest undeveloped parcels in theNewport Beach area, located within the 371-acre Newport Ridge development, which is itselfpart of the more than 9,000-acre Newport Coast planned community being developed by theIrvine Company.

The shape and topography of the Sancerre site—essentially a semicircular platea—determinedthe project's basic configuration. Sancerre's housing units sit high on a graded plateau,surrounded by a sloping, landscaped greenbelt at the semicircular periphery. The greenbelt,including a pedestrian walkway/jogging path, is connected to the planned open space networkof Newport Ridge. The main circulation route within Sancerre parallels the semicircular siteboundary, and the "courtyard" clusters that are the key to the project's design and identityradiate out from this loop circulation road.

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS AND APPROVALS

As part of the master-planned Newport Ridge project, the Sancerre site was subject todevelopment parameters established by the Irvine Company; housing on the site was to begeared to a moderate-income market segment. The site itself, which was zoned for planneddevelopment, could have satisfied this requirement with townhomes at about 14 units peracre. California Pacific, however, envisioned a stronger market for the site in single-familyhousing and instead adopted a cluster concept. Relying in part on surveys of prior small-lotprojects, California Pacific and its architects, Richardson Nagy Martin, worked to develop ahousing module that satisfied the sometimes contradictory aims of community and privacy,open space and density.

During this development process, Cal-Pac determined that a condominium legal frameworkwould be advantageous. As a condominium, each four- or six-unit cluster would be developedas a single lot, wherein the buyer would get fee title to the house and to the side and rearyards as defined by the condominium plan. The concept is similar to townhome ownership, anidea buyers readily understand and accept.

The advantage to the developer was that the project could be developed under the county'smultifamily standards, which are geared toward higher-density housing. Standards for streetwidths, parking ratios, and setbacks for multifamily projects are less expansive than forstandard single-family projects.

Although both the developer and county code officials faced a significant learning curveregarding the intricacies of the high-density detached housing concept, the developmentprocess proceeded relatively smoothly. Site development and a tentative subdivision mapwere processed in approximately four months, and improvement plans, grading plans, thefinal map, and building permits were approved in an additional five months.

PLANNING AND DESIGN

Each of Sancerre's four- or six-unit housing clusters is served by a private drive, designed as

much as possible to function as a landscaped courtyard. To minimize the extent of asphaltpaving and the attendant "driveway" feeling, the last 35 feet of each drive is paved withconcrete scored in diagonal squares and sandblasted to expose the aggregate texture. At theend of the driveway, beyond the scored concrete, is a landscaped area with focal plantings. Inaddition, all frontyard landscaping adjacent to the driveway is provided by the developer andmaintained by the homeowners association. To minimize the required width of the driveway,no parking is permitted in the driveway; owners park in their two-car garages, and visitorspark on the main loop road and in specially designated areas.

Dwelling units are typically sited in a zero-lot-line manner. At approximately 35 feet wide,most units have a 10- to 15-foot-wide yard on one side, which wraps around the unit andflows into a 15-foot-wide rear yard. To maximize the benefit of the limited yard areas,designers extended substantial patio glazing from the units onto the yards. Rooms aretypically open to each other, so that both the side and rear yards are simultaneously visiblefrom within the units. Thus, the private open space seems more expansive than its squarefootage would suggest.

At the same time, to preserve privacy in the side yards, the adjacent zero-lot-line unit wall iswindowless at the first floor, and second-floor windows are placed high on the wall to permitthe entry of light but preclude views into the neighbor's yard. Five- to six-foot-high stuccocovered wood fences along the front, side, and rear lot lines provide further privacy.

The style of Sancerre's housing is "country French," which the Irvine Company requires for allhousing in Newport Ridge. The major exterior building materials are sand-texture stucco wallsand concrete roof tiles of varied colors with barrel-shaped ridge tiles. Though the basicmassing of the units is similar, designers achieved an interesting streetscape through smallvariations in entry porches, stucco colors, and facade features, such as stucco banding andraised window surrounds.

Living rooms typically have high ceilings (a ten-foot-high "plate line" or double height volume)to compensate for the small footprint. Interiors are finished in an orange-peel-texture drywallwith rounded ("bull-nose") corners and have built-in media unit spaces in the living room orfamily room.

FINANCING AND OWNERSHIP

The developer of Sancerre is California Pacific Homes. Since its founding in 1958, Cal-Pac hasmanaged the planning, construction, and sale of over 50,000 housing units in California,principally in Orange and San Diego Counties. Currently the company has 22 active projects insouthern California.

In the Sancerre project California Pacific serves as executive homebuilder to the IrvineCompany. In essence, the Irvine Company has retained ownership of the land, and Cal-Pacfunctions as a fee builder. This procedure was established by the Irvine Company for NewportRidge as a means to keep up housing production in the face of the recession, when fewmerchant builders had the capacity to buy or hold large tracts of land.

Construction financing for Sancerre is provided by a conventional construction lender, and allpermanent mortgage financing is arranged and provided for by the individual housingpurchasers, either through the project's designated lenders or others.

MARKETING AND SALES

California Pacific's primary marketing vehicles for Sancerre are newspaper advertising andfurnished models. The message is an attractive one: California Pacific markets Sancerre as thelowest-price single family development in the Newport Beach area. A secondary message is"carefree living," a reference to the homeowner association—maintained landscaping, similarin nature to the townhome option.

Sales at Sancerre have been strong. Buyers have purchased 36 units in six months, for an

average of 1.5 sales per week. Demographic surveys of buyers indicate that the projectappeals most strongly to younger couples without children; 40 percent of buyers are aged 19to 33, but only 12.5 percent of homebuyers have children.

EXPERIENCE GAINED

The experience of Sancerre indicates that higher-density, single-family detached housingcan be successful in the marketplace. At Sancerre, the strongest market for this type ofhousing has been couples without children.

Privacy is a key concern of potential homebuyers in small-lot subdivisions and must besatisfactorily addressed in site and unit design to achieve market acceptance.

The limitations of small yard size can be mitigated by unit designs that maximize theperception of open space through generous unit glazing and open floor plans.

Sancerre's scored and sandblasted concrete driveway paving is an appealingarchitectural finish, enhancing the courtyard concept. Reducing the extent of asphaltfurther, either by extending the concrete in the six unit cluster or by reducing the clustersize to four units, would help achieve the courtyard idea more completely.

PROJECT DATA

LAND USE INFORMATION

Site Area: 21.91 acres Total Dwelling Units Planned: 144 Total Dwelling Units Completed: 29 Gross Density: 6.6 units per acre Average Net Density: 9.4 units per acre

LAND USE PLAN

Acres Percent of Site

Detached residential

13.36 61%

Roads 3.10 14

Common open space

5.45 25

Total 21.91 100%

RESIDENTIAL UNIT INFORMATION

Unit TypeUnit Size(Square

Feet)

Number of Units Planned/Built

Range of Current Sales Prices

3-BR/3-BA 1,344 28/6 $270,000-$280,000

3-BR/2.5-BA 1,456 34/7 $280,000-$290,000

3-BR/2.5-BA 1,709 40/7 $305,000-$315,000

4-BR/2.5-BA 1,956 42/9 $320,000-$330,000

DEVELOPMENT COST INFORMATION1

Site Value $15,048,000

Site Improvement Costs

Excavation/grading $250,000

Sewer/water/drainage 615,000

Paving/curbs/sidewalks 1,926,000

Landscaping/irrigation 1,261,000

Fees/general conditions 1,450,000

Other 920,000

Total $6,422,000

Construction Cost

Average per unit cost

Superstructure $54,500

HVAC 2,100

Electrical 2,150

Plumbing/sprinklers 6,050

Finishes 15,600

Fees/general conditions 2,150

Subtotal 82,550

Home construction cost2 11,887,200

Recreation center 320,000

Total $12,207,200

Soft Costs

Architecture/engineering $610,000

Project management 1,879,800

Marketing 1,798,000

Legal/accounting 50,000

Taxes/insurance 300,000

Title fees 200,000

Construction interest and fees 600,000

Total $5,437,800

Total Development Cost Expected at Buildout: $39,115,000 Site Development Cost per Unit (site improvements, common areas only): $44,600 Construction Cost per Square Foot (hard construction): $48.75

Notes

1Expected at buildout. 2Average per unit cost x 144 units.

DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE

Site Purchased: Not applicable Planning Started: February 1993 Construction Started: September 1993 Sales Started: February 1994 First Closing: May 1994 Phase I Completed: May 1994 Project Completed: Forecast 1995

DIRECTIONS

From John Wayne Airport: Take MacArthur Boulevard south to San Joaquin Boulevard. Turnleft on San Joaquin, and proceed to Newport Ridge Drive. Turn left on Newport Ridge Drive,and then turn right on Crestridge.

Driving Time:Approximately 15 minutes in nonpeak traffic.

The Project Reference File is intended as a resource tool for use by the subscribers in improving the quality offuture projects. Data contained herein were made available by the Development team and constitute a reporton, not an endorsement of, the project by ULI - The Urban Land Institute.

Copyright 1994, 1997, by ULI - the Urban Land Institute1025 Thomas Jefferson Street, N. W. Ste. 500w, Washington, D. C. 20007-5201

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