ONTARIO, CA-Three tracts totaling 176 acres in the New Model Colony master-planned project have sold for $30 million and will be prime candidates for development when the economy recovers, land broker Whittlesey Doyle tells GlobeSt.com. Whittlesey Doyle co-founder and principal Les Whittlesey, who had the listings on all three properties and represented both the sellers and buyers, reports that the buyers plan to hold the properties for approximately three years before they move forward with their development plans.
Whittlesey noted that the properties "sold at a fair market value, and were not heavily discounted." The sales, he said, "illustrate that if a property is priced correctly, it will sell in today’s market."
Some 800 lots are proposed for the 176 acres. One of the three properties totals approximately 64 acres and lies at the northwest corner of Bellgrave and Milliken Avenue, while another totaling 74 acres is situated between the Cantu-Galleano Ranch Road and Limonite Avenue off-ramps on Interstate 15. Genstar/GDC Communities and RCCD bought these two tracts from Amberhill Development.
The third property is a 38-acre tract at the northeast corner of Turner and future Schaefer Avenue, which CV Communities bought from US Bank.
The New Model Colony development is a key component of Ontario's long-term growth. It includes 8,200 acres of former dairy lands annexed by the City of Ontario in 1999, and approved as a master planned community that will be built out over the next 20-plus years. The project area is bounded by Riverside Drive to the north, Milliken Avenue and Hamner Avenue to the east, the Riverside County line and Merrill Avenue to the south, and Euclid Avenue to the west. About 120,000 new residents are expected to move to the area in the coming decades.
Whittlesey noted that the recent sales represent the most acres sold this year in the New Model Colony. "These buyers realized that the New Model Colony is poised for growth due to its proximity to jobs, shopping, entertainment and transportation including the Ontario International Airport, and the ability to offer housing to accommodate future demand in the Inland Empire," he said.
Last month, Whittlesey Doyle announced that the firm had recently negotiated the sale of eight separate land transactions in Southern California totaling approximately 335 acres, comprising over 1,500 lots and units, for a total consideration of more than $39 million.
"Since there has been no land development in the past several years, we see tremendous upside once the economy has stabilized and the foreclosure market dwindles," Whittlesey noted. "As sellers set their asking prices at today's values, well-located properties will sell quickly; a good reason to be a buyer today before prices start increasing again."