REAL ESTATE

Back to Stocks: Another big Orange County-based builder just got its stock-registration statement approved by the SEC.

But Standard Pacific L.P. in Costa Mesa is in an altogether different situation from Presley Cos. It simply wants to change back into a stock corporation after several years as a publicly traded limited partnership.

The deal still must be approved by Standard Pacific’s “unitholders,” who are called that because they own limited partnership investment units, not stock. But if they approve the plan, they will once again become shareholders, swapping each unit for a share of Standard Pacific common stock. The swap would become effective Jan. 1. Standard Pacific’s partnership units, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange, closed Thursday at $6.83 per unit, up 13 cents.