New Stearn Firm to Build in Aliso Viejo, Chino Hills

IRVINE —  Harvey Stearn, former president of Mission Viejo Co.’s California division, said Tuesday that his recently formed company will build its first housing projects in Aliso Viejo and Chino Hills.

The new company, called Pacific Gateway Homes, is owned by Stearn and Ken Field, formerly chairman of Bramalea Ltd., the Canadian developer and home builder that has extensive operations in Southern California.

The firm will build relatively inexpensive attached townhouses in Mission Viejo Co.’s Aliso Viejo community and moderately priced houses in Chino Hills, the planned community in San Bernardino County, Stearn said.

Stearn resigned from Mission Viejo Co., the giant landowner and developer of the city of Mission Viejo, in July to start Pacific Gateway. He had been president of Mission Viejo Co.’s California division since 1987. That year, Mission Viejo Co. phased out its home-building division and concentrated on selling land to other developers. That, according to Stearn, was a big factor in his decision to leave.

Stearn said Tuesday that his company will build 275 townhouses in Aliso Viejo to sell for between $165,000 and $190,000, which is relatively inexpensive new housing for Orange County, one of the highest-priced markets for new homes in the nation. The market for more expensive, detached houses, however, has grown cold this year, a development that Stearn said he anticipated.

“We also decided to go for the less expensive houses because that end of the market is much deeper and there’s not as much competition,” he explained.

In Chino Hills, the company plans to build 113 single-family homes that will sell for $230,000 to $260,000, Stearn said.

Stearn, 51, joined Mission Viejo Co. in 1969, the same year that tobacco giant Philip Morris Cos. Inc. bought a majority interest in the company. Stearn started as director of public affairs. The company’s land supply in Orange County is dwindling, and sources said it is looking outside the county now for more land to develop.

When Stearn left Mission Viejo Co., he took Vice President Horace Hogan II and seven other Mission Viejo Co. employees with him. They would have left the company eventually anyway, Stearn said, since the company phased out its home-building operations. Hogan is now executive vice president of operations for the new company. Stearn is president and chief executive officer.

Field, a resident of Toronto, was chairman of Bramalea before selling his interest in the publicly traded company in 1988.

Pacific Gateway Development Corp., the holding company that Stearn founded to own the home-building company, may also develop commercial real estate as well, Stearn said.

Field, who met Stearn about four years ago when Bramalea was buying land from the Mission Viejo Co., is only an investor in Pacific Gateway and will not take an active role in management, Stearn said.