Builders to Buy Housing Lots in Seacliff Project

Counting on better days for Orange County’s real estate market, home builders have agreed to pay hefty prices for a chance to build on coastal land in Huntington Beach once owned by Chevron Corp.

After highly competitive bidding, Polygon Communities Inc. in Irvine and Taylor Woodrow Homes in Laguna Hills have signed letters of intent to buy some of the 500 housing lots for sale in the 450-acre master-planned Seacliff development.

“It’s prime property, and we’re starting to get an uptick to the housing market,” said Christopher Gibbs, a Newport Beach developer. Gibbs and Miami-based builder Lennar Corp. bought the property from Chevron last year.

Gibbs would not comment on the high prices reportedly bid for the land but said that more than 25 home builders had made several offers at increasingly higher prices on the property.

Polygon, which has projects in Coto de Caza, will buy 79 housing lots in what is being called the Hillcrest development. Some of the lots are as large as 6,000 square feet, have ocean views and are bordering the championship Seacliff Country Club golf course. Polygon reportedly paid more than the asking price of $250,000 per lot, but neither the buyer nor the seller would comment.

Taylor Woodrow Homes will buy 83 large housing lots in a new development expected to be called Brentwood. Lennar Homes, one of the nation’s largest builders, will buy 126 lots that range up to 5,000 square feet each.

The buyers for the rest of the 500 lots for sale have yet to be determined. The deal is expected to close at the end of September.

The project, started by Chevron years ago, is expected to have more than 4,000 homes when completed. Chevron announced plans last year to sell hundreds of acres of real estate assets, including the Huntington Beach land and the master-planned community of Coto de Caza, to focus on its oil, gas and chemical operations.