New Builder to Finish Foreclosed Hemmingway Project

A field on Anza Road in Redhawk sat half-developed for years after the economy tanked. Now, a new builder wants to finish the job.

Standard Pacific Homes asked the Temecula Planning Commission for approval to build 59 single-family homes on the site.

The property sits at Sharon Street, bound in  chain-link fences and marked with two stone signs reading, "Hemmingway."

The property is part of a bigger tract, which was supposed to hold 108 homes between Deer Hollow Way and Redhawk Parkway on Camino Rubi and Corte Mislanca. The plan won the city's approval in 2006, but the builder, Centex Homes, put up and sold only 49 before the land went into foreclosure, according to city documents.

Standard Pacific Homes bought the remaining 59 lots and submitted a building application to the city last year. The plan includes slightly smaller homes - now proposed at 2,877 to 3,280 square feet instead of the 2,916- to 3,360-square-foot ones Centex planned, the report stated.

Little work needs to go into the lots to ready them for construction, said Stuart Fisk, a senior city planner. "They're graded, they're slated for development. It's all set up and ready to be built," he said.

The proposed houses are consistent in size and style with other single-family homes in the neighborhood, and no locals voiced opposition to the plan.

The houses are set to go up in phases, and how quickly they go up depends on how well the houses sell, Fisk said. Three or four - but maybe up to 10 houses - would be built at a time, he said. "They'll sell those and then move on to the next phase," he said, adding that it could take several years to build and sell all 59.

Other than some homes currently under construction near Great Oak High School, the development would be completed once the Hemmingway homes go up, Fisk said.

The styles would be Spanish, California Bungalow and Italian. "We haven't had any issues in Redhawk with this project," he said. "A lot of people just want to see those vacant properties developed."

Standard Pacific hosted a community meeting on July 14 and reported that 12 local residents attended, the report stated. According to the builder, residents at the meeting wanted the houses to be in the same price range as the surrounding ones, and locals supported the project.

The proposal will be reviewed at a Planning Director's hearing on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at Temecula City Hall, 41000 Main Street.