After nearly a decade of stalled development and a property that changed hands several times, the lots in Lompoc overlooking the Burton Mesa Ecological Reserve are finally seeing construction.
Williams Homes, a Santa Clarita-based development company who recently bought the property as the housing market continues to recover, will begin building 48 homes in their Falcon Heights community in Vandenburg Village as early as February 1. Five houses are already on the market, and two houses have already been sold following a recent model home ribbon-cutting.
“A lot of people have been let down in the Central Coast area with development that never really got started,” said Daniel Faina, the director of sales and marketing for Williams Homes. “We’re very excited because we can tell the people who are waiting that, regardless of whether or not we’ve sold them, we’re going to start building homes. We’re very aggressive and very optimistic about this project.”
The construction will occur in five phases of about ten houses each with plans that range from three-bedroom homes of about 2,800 square feet for $625,000 to four-bedroom homes of about 3,500 square feet for $719,000, according to Siby Jehn-Johnson, the new home sales counselor for Falcon Heights. “There are also going to be a lot of personalization choices available with five different floor plans and three different elevations per plan, as well as an in-house designer at hand for options on paint color,” said Jehn-Johnson.
Owners will begin moving in this summer. Jehn-Johnson said she has seen a mix of many different prospective owners, from young couples to local business owners to military families.
“We really see this being an extension of the country club neighborhood that’s already up there,” said Faina. “We’re building sprawling single story homes on half acre lots or larger that are similar to the homes that are 30 years or older in the neighborhood.”
Williams Homes had never built in Santa Barbara County before last year, when it began developing the Harvest Glen and Parkland Cottages communities in Santa Maria. Faina said the upper management was drawn to Santa Barbara after they visited from Los Angeles County and “absolutely fell in love.” They bought the property from a developer that had already done much of the pre-development work, such as obtaining environmental impact surveys and city permits. All Williams Homes had to do, Faina said, was set aside 130 acres of land for an ecological reserve and dedicated land trust protected from any further development.
Faina said Williams Homes hopes to become a long-term member of the community, with more developments in the future.