Hard-luck city getting million-dollar homes. Check it out:
(Press-Enterprise, The (Riverside, CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sep. 21--SAN BERNARDINO -- Six-bedroom estates with multiple courtyards, theaters, wine rooms and outdoor wet bars might sound so Beverly Hills.
Instead, look for such homes in the hills of San Bernardino.
The extra-large luxury homes planned for the city's suburban outskirts are expected to be San Bernardino's first tract houses to sell for more than $1 million -- a status already reached by several other Inland cities, including Redlands, Rancho Cucamonga and Corona.
GFR Enterprises of Upland plans to begin construction by spring on 20 one-story estates starting at $1.2 million, said company president Felix Robles. Developer Jim Watson is selling land near Cal State San Bernardino to Toll Brothers to build as many as 54 houses that Watson said will be priced between $700,000 and $1 million. Construction is expected to begin early next year. Plans for both are being processed by city officials.
The projects are destined for north San Bernardino -- an increasingly affluent enclave growing in sharp contrast to downtown neighborhoods that are 10 miles away, where homes are among Southern California's lowest priced and often rented.
While it's hoped that these new houses can help reverse an outbound migration by the well-to-do, they come as national and regional home sales slow.
Robles and Watson said they aren't concerned that the recent drop in home sales might impact the ability to find buyers for super-high-end San Bernardino residences.
Jim Morris, the mayor's chief of staff and a San Bernardino native, pointed out that the city already has $1 million homes -- some built years ago near Arrowhead Country Club. But new GFR and Toll homes could help recruit businesses helmed by corporate CEOs who want to live near their companies, he said.
And it could provide an alternative for affluent locals.
"We know dozens of people we grew up with, worked with -- they left and they've gone to Redlands," Morris said.
Economist John Husing sold his San Bernardino home four years ago for a 3,500-square-foot "dream house" in Redlands. Ceilings stretch 10-feet high, bathrooms are done in marble and just about every window offers a view.
"If there's anything San Bernardino needs, this is it," Husing said. "Those of us who would have made a choice, didn't have a choice. I very well might have stayed in San Bernardino."
But Dick Dahler, who owns All Nations Realty in Rancho Cucamonga, called the projects "a big gamble," particularly with recent attention on the city's crime problems. San Bernardino was named one of the country's most-dangerous cities last year. There have been 37 homicides so far this year, one less than for the same period in 2005.
"If you know north San Bernardino, it's a nice, nice area," Dahler said. "But I'd be a little apprehensive selling $1 million homes."
The GFR houses will go on lots measuring a spacious 1 acre, with three floor plans from 4,058 to 5,621 square feet, Robles said.
A model home expected to be complete by summer 2007 will showcase what's possible, said Robles, who plans to spend at least $400,000 on upgrades to include thick, wood beams for ceilings, granite, marble, fountains and swimming pools.
"Whatever someone would want," he said.
Dry, waist-high weeds now cover the hilly terrain set aside for the houses. Once built, all will be single story, a feature favored by aging baby boomers but fading as land availability shrinks, he said.
Any house in the Inland Empire priced above $750,000 has to offer something extra special, particularly in a slowing housing market, said Randall Lewis, executive vice president for the Lewis Group of Cos., a developer of apartments and other homes.
"If the houses are the right kind of houses, and the areas in north San Bernardino are the right areas, with views or great landscaping, then they have a strong chance of being successful," he said.
It's about time San Bernardino got a share of the Inland Empire's luxury housing, said Steve Johnson, a director with real-estate consulting firm MetroStudy.
"If you would locate it anywhere, it would be in that area because of the view potential," he said.
Market shifts shouldn't affect GFR or Toll sales in San Bernardino, he said.
There is too little executive-style housing regionwide, he said, pointing to 76 homes exceeding $1 million sold last year in Corona as evidence of pent-up demand.
"The market's going through some adjustments, but it's not really a full-scale retreat," he said.
Statewide, 48,666 homes sold for at least a million dollars in 2005 -- an increase of 47 percent over the previous year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
Any San Bernardino image problems, particularly tied to crime, won't deter affluent buyers, said Larry Sharp, president of Arrowhead Central Credit Union, which is headquartered in San Bernardino.
"If we can show people we are really dealing with those issues, I think that's what people are looking for," Sharp said, pointing to Operation Phoenix, the mayor's anti-crime plan. "If we're not, then people say there's not much hope here."
Officials with Toll Brothers, which has developments with houses priced in excess of $1 million in Corona and Rancho Cucamonga, declined to talk about their San Bernardino plans because the land sale has not closed.
But the Pennsylvania-based company reported in August that third-quarter profit declined 19 percent. Company CEO Robert Toll told The Wall Street Journal that too much supply and aggressive discounting is undermining consumer confidence.
"When buyers become confident that home prices have hit bottom, the market will return to firm footing," he told the newspaper.
Floor plans for the company's San Bernardino houses include circular staircases, libraries and multiple garages and range from about 3,500 to 5,500 square feet.
Models should be available by April, Watson said.
The Toll Brother sites, within view of Cal State San Bernardino, help the whole city by attracting prosperous residents, said Albert Karnig, the university's president.
"People who are more affluent tend to be better educated, vote more, participate more in the community as opposed to people who rent, who don't really feel a commitment to the community," he said.
To see more of The Press-Enterprise, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.PE.com.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Technorati
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Digg
