San Luis Ranch housing project is underway in SLO. What will homes cost?

December 14, 2020, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo Article

A 577-home development project off Madonna Road in San Luis Obispo is moving forward with work to complete its infrastructure, including new neighborhood streets, sewer and water lines.

That’s in preparation for home construction taking place over the next few months at San Luis Ranch, a large mixed-used development project on the city’s west end, across Madonna Road from Laguna Lake Park.

Prices are expected to range from the $300,000s to the $600,000s for studios, condominiums, townhouses and single-family homes.

HOUSING PRICES AT SAN LUIS RANCH DEVELOPMENT

Multifamily units will start in the $300,000s for studios and go up to the high $500,000s for townhomes, according to a news release issued by Presidio Residential Capital, a San Diego-based real estate management company, which is partnering with the builders.

Single-family homes will start in the mid-$600,000s as part of a 281-unit section, ranging in size from 1,500 to 2,150 square feet. That portion of the project will include 198 homes called the Legacy Collection, to be built by Coastal Community Builders and 83 homes on a smaller lot to be constructed by Williams Homes, Norton said.

Separately, 296 multifamily units will include a community called Harvest Loft, suited to “young professionals, couples and anyone looking for a more affordable option,” that will feature 120 efficiency condos projected to start from the mid-$300,000s.

San Luis Obispo County-based Coastal Community Builders, Gary Grossman’s company, will construct a 96-home condo portion of the project, called Harvest Vista, featuring two- to three-bedroom plans ranging in size from 950 to 1,140 square feet. Prices will start from the high $400,000s.

Harvest Vista condos will have laminate flooring, quartz countertops, high-efficiency appliances and a private outdoor patio or balcony, Presidio said in a press release.

Santa Clarita-based Williams Homes will build Fig, a collection of 80 townhomes of three-bedroom homes ranging from 1,346 to 1,501 square feet, with either two or three stories.

Floor plans will offer laminate flooring, quartz countertops, private patios and decks and two-car garages. Prices will start from the high $500,000s.

Residents of all three communities will have access to the Harvest Club, a gathering area within The Orchard that will include an 1,800-square-foot multi-purpose center with community room and pool.

“CCB and Williams Homes have designed an attractive collection of multifamily homes providing a true sense of community with modern living at their core,” Presidio co-principal Paul Lucatuorto said in a news release. “Their progressive and practical home designs offer living spaces for today’s busy lifestyles without sacrificing aesthetic, convenience or connection to nature.”

PEOPLE WORKING, LIVING IN SLO GET FIRST CHANCES AT HOMES

Those living or working in San Luis Obispo will have the first chances to buy or rent a home at San Luis Ranch, as part of the development agreement.

San Luis Ranch currently maintains an interest list and will notify individuals of their opportunity to purchase.

Prospective buyers can pre-qualify through each builder’s preferred lender and will be directed when sales commence, Norton said. Buyers won’t be required to use a preferred lender, but it may facilitate the process, he said.

According to a development agreement, the locals first preference aims to address San Luis Obispo’s current imbalance between existing jobs and housing while reducing commuter traffic from out-of-town workers and competition from outside buyers in the initial offering and sales.

On July 22, the San Luis Obispo Planning Commission approved a development plan for a four-story hotel as part the commercial part of the project, but no building permits for that have yet been issued. There are also no specific timelines for building the retail and office portions of the San Luis Ranch project.

MADONNA ROAD PROJECT INCLUDES AFFORDABLE HOMES

Under the currently approved plan, the project is required to include at least 34 affordable homes on the residential portion of the site and another 34 as part of the commercial area. Affordable housing, or, inclusionary housing, means those homes would be deed-restricted for designated lower income residents.

Of the ones targeted for the residential portion of the site, 26 multifamily units would be set aside for people with very low incomes — such as a family of four making $44,950 a year or less. Sales and rental prices are adjusted depending on the size of the household, income level and number of bedrooms in the home.

For example, a two-bedroom home could cost $1,094 per month in rent or be purchased for $130,950 under the city’s “very low income” guidelines.

But a current proposal by the developers to partner with the local nonprofit People-Self Help Housing organization could bring up to 77 affordable homes for the commercial area, which would also move the 34 affordable homes designated in the residential zone into the commercial area.

That proposal is still being worked out and the total number of homes could depend on financing the nonprofit may be able to obtain, according to project planners.

“A development plan would need to be submitted and approved by the Planning Commission,” said John Rickenbach of JFR Consulting.

“At this time, it is expected the inclusionary units will be built onsite and not just satisfied through in lieu fees” that would pay for offsite affordable homes elsewhere in the city,” he said.

If the affordable homes are included as part of the commercial portion of the project, at least 52 of those would be in the “very low income category,” Rickenbach said.

Photos by ldickinson@thetribunenews.com

NEXT STEPS FOR TREES AND HOUSING

Coastal Community Builders will replant 700 native trees and 700 willow cuttings “within the Cerro San Luis Channel and Prefumo Creek, with the goal of creating native habitats for identified species,” the company said in a news release.

“Nearing completion, tree removal is occurring on Madonna Road to make way for infrastructure improvements including sidewalks, bike lanes and pedestrian crossings,” the release said.

Besides the incoming housing, the tree removals also will make room for widening along Madonna Road, drainage improvements in the Cerro San Luis Channel and road circulation at Froom Ranch Way.

Five existing great blue heron nests have been relocated and three new ones were constructed using parts of the relocated nests, according to Norton.

“We have biologists monitoring daily any nesting birds that may be on site — and are maintaining appropriate buffers as required for any nesting bird concerns,” Norton said.

About 400 trees will remain in an approximately 7.8 acre open-space parcel with a dedicated tree preserve across a portion of the property, Norton said.

A project arborist and a qualified biologist are on site to monitor all tree removal activities to ensure compliance with the approved plans, San Luis Obispo officials said.

COMMUNITY MEMBERS REACT

Community members who opposed the San Luis Obispo project lamented the loss of trees, where birds nested and a green space buffer separated the neighborhood west of Oceanaire Drive and Highway 101.

Mila Vujovich-La Barre, a longtime critic of planned development of the site, wrote on Facebook on Jan. 8 that she was “in mourning” of the “tree massacre at San Luis Ranch.”

“It is difficult to consider this as ‘progress,’” Vujovich-La Barre wrote. “Goodbye to the magical vista. Hello ‘affordable housing’ … I fought for years to preserve this 131 acres of class 1 agriculture land as a private citizen … I will blast Joni Mitchell tomorrow with my box of Kleenex … ’They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.’”

But those in favor of the development applauded the move to add more places to live in a city that has faced a tight real-estate market with high rent and home purchase prices.

As of Tuesday, 2,030 people have expressed interest in living at San Luis Ranch, Norton said. Priority will be given to the local workforce.

Proposals for developing the site have been the subject of fierce battles.

Former owner Ernie Dalidio took a proposed building project to a countywide Measure J vote in 2006 that would have featured 530,000 square feet of commercial space, 198,000 square feet of office space, a 150-room hotel, 60 residential units and 13 acres of agricultural uses.

The vote in favor of the project was challenged in court, and was ultimately upheld in the Second Court of Appeal in Ventura in 2009.

But Dalidio never followed through with construction and sold the property to Grossman in 2014 for $19.7 million.

“I am quite happy to see that this project is going to get underway soon,” former San Luis Obispo councilman John Ashbaugh wrote on Facebook in December 2018. “Gary Grossman deserves credit for his persistence AND his flexibility … This approval reversed the pernicious effects of Measure J, passed countywide in 2006, that had approved a much larger development with no control by the city.”