Forestar Land Partners Sells Canyon Hills to Woodbridge Pacific Group
November 15, 2014
Market Wired - Foremost Communities | Yahoo Finance
CHINO HILLS, CA--(Marketwired - Nov 13, 2014) - Forestar Land Partners, LLC, a venture between Foremost Communities and a Starwood Capital Group Global controlled affiliate, has sold Canyon Hills, a 141-acre gated community that will feature 76 luxury homes in Chino Hills, to Woodbridge Pacific Group. The home sites are designed around the rolling topography and native oaks to optimize open space and view premiums.
When Forestar bought the property the development was impeded by a lack of water and sewer service in the area. Forestar has extended water and sewer lines to the property in addition to adding a gated entry. The final map for Canyon Hills has been recorded, and improvement plans are approved.
"This is what Foremost does best -- taking projects with complex barriers to development, adding substantial value and working with cities like Chino Hills to solve problems," said Steve Cameron, president of Foremost, one of the most active land buyers in Southern California since its launch in 2007. "After working so hard to solve the development issues, we are pleased that a high-quality homebuilder like Woodbridge will take the community to completion."
Canyon Hills is located adjacent to Orange County, approximately 45 minutes from both Los Angeles and Irvine. Chino Hills is one of the Inland Empire's best markets, boasting outstanding schools and one of the highest median household incomes in the country.
"We targeted our marketing of this property to established luxury homebuilders," Cameron said. "We selected Woodbridge, which has a great reputation for building homes in high-end markets like Huntington Beach and San Juan Capistrano. We believe this community will be a very desirable housing option for the City of Chino Hills."
"We are honored to be selected as Canyon Hills' homebuilder and appreciate the tremendous upfront work by Forestar to facilitate this new community," said Woodbridge Pacific Group co-founder Carl Neuss.
"Our commitment is to architecturally distinctive homes in premier locations," added Woodbridge Pacific Group co-founder Todd Cunningham. "This transaction represents an outstanding opportunity to fulfill that commitment in Chino Hills."
Foremost is bullish on the local housing market. "We have a great portfolio of residential land and we continue to seek further investment opportunities in Southern California to add to our holdings," said Mike Canfield, senior vice president of land acquisitions for Foremost. "As our properties become ready for homebuilders and market conditions continue to improve, we plan to periodically bring additional lots to the market."
Tom Dallape, Norm Scheel and Fred Farr of The Hoffman Company were key brokers in putting the deal together.
About Foremost Communities, Inc.
Foremost Communities, Inc. is a premier residential land investment company based in Newport Beach, Calif., established to acquire property in strategic locations that can be entitled into finished lots for sale to merchant homebuilders. In addition, the firm partners with other land developers and will provide both equity and debt to recapitalize existing projects. Founded in 2007, Foremost is actively pursuing new land acquisition opportunities throughout the state. For more information, visit www.foremostcommunities.com
About Starwood Capital Group Global, LP
Starwood Capital Group is a private investment firm with a core focus on global real estate. Headquartered in Greenwich, CT, the Firm maintains 12 offices in six countries around the world. Starwood Capital Group has raised nearly $28 billion of equity capital since its inception in 1991, and currently manages $37 billion in assets. The Firm has invested in virtually every class of real estate on a global basis, opportunistically shifting geographies and changing positions in the capital stack as risk-reward dynamics evolve. For more than two decades, Starwood Capital Group and its affiliates have successfully executed an investment strategy that involves building enterprises around real estate portfolios in both the private and public markets. Additional information can be found at www.starwoodcapital.com.