Irvine's Newest Village Of Stonegate East Debuts With Strong Opening Home Sales

Online, December 9, 2010 (Newswire.com) - The Irvine Company announced the sale of 56 Irvine Pacific homes - more than 30% of inventory - just one month after the grand opening of Irvine's newest Village of Stonegate East. Irvine Pacific, an Irvine Company affiliate, debuted the communities of Capistrano and Los Altos November 6 in the new village located at Sand Canyon and Spring Meadow. Including the community of Santa Rosa, 90 homes have sold in Irvine's newest village.

"We are thrilled with the enthusiastic response to the Village of Stonegate East and Irvine Pacific's first new homes in almost two decades," said Daniel Young, president of Irvine Company Community Development and Irvine Pacific. "The fact that a large number of buyers purchased these first homes before the models were complete speaks volumes about the desirability of Stonegate East."

"Our goal is to continue to meet the strong demand for new homes in Irvine," Young continued. "Homebuyers tell us they are attracted to the Village of Stonegate East because of attainable home prices, historically low interest rates, innovative floorplans that emphasize casual living and entertaining, and the opportunity to enjoy the unmatched lifestyle uniquely found in Irvine."

The neighborhoods of Capistrano and Los Altos represent the first new homes built by Irvine Pacific in nearly two decades. From the early 1970s to the late 1980s, Irvine Pacific built single-family homes in some of Irvine's most popular and venerable villages, including Woodbridge, Northwood and Turtle Rock. Irvine Pacific also built apartment communities and served as a property management company.

Irvine Pacific offers research-driven homes within the Villages of Irvine, utilizing quantifiable consumer feedback and interaction to create new home solutions with innovation, technology and intelligent energy efficiency while integrating long-term planning and building expertise.

Open entertainment areas, flexible rooms, bigger kitchens and more functional indoor/outdoor living spaces are just some of the design innovations found in Irvine Pacific homes. Additional design elements that have proven popular with homebuyers include larger bedrooms and bathtubs, wider hallways, big kitchen islands, built-in desks, large windows, crown moulding and coffered ceilings.

"Most of the homebuyers at Capistrano and Los Altos are Gen Y buyers, young people that have either just begun or are going to start families, and are eager to live in a master-planned community with world-class schools, safe neighborhoods and abundant amenities," said Young.

"An Irvine Pacific home is more than a home; it represents a 'way of life' that is uniquely attuned to the hopes, dreams, needs and goals of today's homebuyer in Irvine," added Young. "These homes are distinctively designed according to research, with a clear understanding of the needs and desires of today's families."

In addition, Irvine Pacific has the same founding values, experience and capabilities guiding it that have steered one of America's most successful master planned communities for decades.

"One of the key insights we discovered during the research process for 'The 2010 New Home Collection' was that as a long-term owner that prides itself on a long-term outlook and commitment to high quality and customer service, we know our customers as well as anybody," Young explained.

He added, "We are very engrained in the Irvine community through our master planning activities and the unique relationship we have with the consumers who frequent our merchants, the tenants who live in our apartment communities, the employees who work in our office buildings and the residents who live in our homes and enjoy an abundance of open space and parklands. Irvine Pacific provides a high-quality home that responds to the ever-changing lifestyles, needs and desires of today's families."

More than 800 new homes have been sold this year in the Villages of Irvine, far outpacing the sales rate experienced last year by local homebuilders in all of Orange County. In 2009, they sold about 1,500 homes for the year, an average of about 125 per month. The industry last recorded this strong a sales pace in this portion of Orange County in the first quarter of 2005.
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The Village of Stonegate East represents an opportunity for first-time homebuyers to enjoy the unique lifestyle found in Irvine. Three new neighborhoods offer a mix of townhomes and flats, duplexes and row townhomes. Pricing begins in the low $300,000s, and these homes are eligible for FHA financing.

Bluebird Park is a central village gathering place where residents will enjoy easy access to open space and recreation amenities including the Jeffrey Open Space Trail. Brand-new Stonegate Elementary school, part of the award-winning Irvine Unified School District, is within walking distance and residents are also within close proximity to Woodbury Town Center and local employment, shopping and entertainment centers.

The Village of Stonegate East includes these new neighborhoods:

• Santa Rosa by Van Daele Homes. One and two bedroom, 1.5 - 2.5 bath, townhomes and flats from 1,060 to 1,433 square feet; from the low $300,000s.

• Los Altos by Irvine Pacific. Two- to three-bedroom, 2.5 bath, homes from 1,468 to 1,687 square feet; from the mid $400,000s.

• Capistrano by Irvine Pacific. Three- and four-bedroom, 2.5 - 3 bath, homes from 1,823 to 1,956 square feet; from the mid $500,000s.

Prospective homebuyers interested in Irvine Pacific's new home neighborhoods within the Village of Stonegate East can visit www.IrvinePacific.com for more information, or contact a Villages of Irvine New Home Consultant at (888) 820-0721.

About the Irvine Company
Founded in 1864, the Irvine Company is an internationally renowned real estate development company known for its award-winning master-planned communities, its vast portfolio of high-quality investment properties, and its leadership in conservation and natural resource management. The growing real estate portfolio encompasses office, apartment, retail and resort holdings located throughout California's premier markets, including assets in San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles Counties, and holdings in Northern California, and homebuilding through an affiliate, Irvine Pacific. As a steward of some of America's most beautiful and scientifically important open space and parklands, the company has donated to Orange County more than half of the historic 93,000-acre Irvine Ranch in Orange County - 50,000 acres - to permanently preserve these lands. The U.S. Department of Interior and the State of California have designated these parklands as "Natural Landmarks," one of the most prestigious land preservation designations. The privately held, diversified company traces its roots to the 1860s with the formation of The Irvine Ranch® from Mexican and Spanish land grants.