Realtor adding high-end homes

Prudential teams with hotel designer to develop, market unique architectural properties.Newport Beach hotel designer Stephen Sutherland is working with Prudential California Realty to start a new real estate division under Prudential’s banner. The venture would focus on making deals for architecturally-unique homes.

Sutherland has been tapped to be the executive director for Prudential’s new unit, which has been dubbed the “Architectural Collection Division.” He is in the process of launching the new division, which so far has taken about two years to set up.

In Newport Beach, Sutherland may be best known for his efforts to build a resort hotel on the Marinapark property, which is on the Balboa Peninsula. Newport voters rejected that plan after a charged initiative campaign in 2004. Sutherland, who has not given up on the idea of building a hotel at Marinapark, pointed out that his work for Prudential is a separate venture.

Still, having architecture in his background is one of the reasons Prudential chose Sutherland to head the new division, said Bob Chapman, Prudential’s general manager for Orange County.

The new division is intended to sell homes in three categories. The first is architectural properties, which Sutherland said “is inclusive of homes that are architecturally significant or historic or just homes that are simply spectacular.”

The second grouping is for “grand estates,” which Sutherland generally defined as homes valued at $5 million or more. But he stipulated that, though some expensive houses may not qualify as estates, other homes under the $5-million mark indeed may qualify.

The final category is for waterfront homes.

“There’s never going to be more waterfront, and it’s such a rare commodity that even if it’s a dirt lot, it goes into this division,” Sutherland said.

So far, the division has recruited almost 100 real estate agents working at 17 California offices, Sutherland said. Agents are required to study the history of California architecture from 1900 to the present and learn to use words like “balustrade” and “travertine” correctly.

“Mexican travertine is actually better than Italian,” Sutherland said. “But the best travertine comes from Turkey.”

Agents working for the Architectural Collection Division are set to concentrate on making deals in typically high-end areas like Newport Beach, La Jolla and Beverly Hills.

In November, Newport Beach rated as the California Assn. of Realtors second-most expensive place to buy a home, with a median price of more than $1.4 million. Only Manhattan Beach was pricier.

Prudential is not the first company with offices in Newport Beach to create a new division specializing in high-end homes this year.

In April, Coldwell Banker Orange County, Strada Properties, and Coast Newport Properties pooled resources to form a luxury division called Coldwell Banker Previews International.

Strada and Coast Newport had both merged with Coldwell Banker before the new division was formed.