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E-mail StoryMcAllister Ranch at standstill
Irvine developer struggling amid lawsuit, liens and tepid market
| Saturday, Jan 12 2008 10:19 PM
Last Updated: Saturday, Jan 12 2008 10:19 PM
Southwest Bakersfield’s long-envisioned McAllister Ranch development has stumbled in the face of a bleak housing market.
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The construction of the clubhouse at McAllister Ranch Golf Course is at a standstill earlier this year.
Idle golf carts are lined up at the McAllister Ranch Golf Course in this Jan. 14, 2008 photo.
The golf course under construction at McAllister Ranch sprouts green in the distance, but a start date for new homes has come and gone with the real estate market.
A block wall under construction at McAllister Ranch.
The developer, Irvine-based SunCal Cos., is “adjusting” its construction plans, a company spokesman said Friday.
When homes will appear — and when McAllister’s showcase golf course will open for public play — remains up in the air amid a lawsuit and a smattering of liens filed against the developer.
“We previously had a very aggressive, accelerated construction schedule, but with the current challenges of the housing market, it has become necessary to adjust our timelines,” SunCal spokesman Joe Aguirre said.
“We remain committed to completing this development as planned and approved,” he said.
The company has graded and prepared 1,057 lots, but has not decided when the first homes will be built, he said.
Two years ago, SunCal predicted residents might move into the planned 6,000-home community by the end of 2006. As recently as September, the golf course was slated to open in the first three months of 2008.
The Greg Norman-designed golf course at McAllister Ranch is now at the center of a lawsuit seeking to recover $830,530 in allegedly unpaid bills.
Genesis Golf Builders Inc., a golf course builder with headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz., worked as a contractor for project developer LBREP/L-SunCal McAllister Ranch LLC, an affiliate of the privately owned SunCal Cos. Genesis filed a lawsuit in Kern County Superior Court on Dec. 20.
Work on the course was completed in August, Genesis President Ron Freund said. He called the lawsuit to recoup unpaid bills an “exception” in his experience as a course builder.
“We don’t know why we haven’t been paid,” said Joe Abramson, a Woodland Hills attorney for Genesis. “In a situation like this, it’s one of two things: Either the developer is having financial problems, or there are construction defect claims.”
Genesis has not been notified of any defect claims, he said.
The lawsuit follows a lien filed by Genesis with the county in October, and could result in a judgment of foreclosure on the property where Genesis did its work. But such judgments are rare, Abramson said.
Aguirre declined to comment on the lawsuit because litigation is pending.
As of Thursday, contractors, subcontractors and building supply companies involved with work at the McAllister Ranch property had filed at least 24 mechanic’s liens against SunCal and its affiliate, seeking more than $2.2 million for construction services and supplies, Kern County Recorder’s office records show.
“I understand the developer has shut down the whole project,” said Mike Garcia, owner of Garcia Roofing. Garcia’s company was hired by Bakersfield’s Klassen Corp. to do the roofing for McAllister Ranch’s golf clubhouse, he said.
Garcia finished the roof, but is out $61,980, he said.
“I’ve never lost out on anything this big,” said Garcia, who said he has been in the local construction business for 32 years.
He said he believes the developer failed to pay Klassen Corp.
Klassen Corp. did not return a message left Thursday.
“We intend to complete the golf club, but we’re evaluating when the work will resume,” Aguirre said.
The McAllister Ranch concept can be traced back to at least 1993, when its specific plan and environmental impact report were approved by the Kern County Board of Supervisors.
The project stalled, but seemed to gain new life after SunCal took it over in 2004. Plans call for parks, a commercial center and a lake, according to McAllister’s Web site.
In September, SunCal defaulted on a loan for land within a proposed housing project it was involved in in Shafter, north of 7th Standard Road. The company withdrew from the planned Mission Lakes development because of a water dispute between the cities of Shafter and Bakersfield, a SunCal spokesman said at the time.
All sectors of the housing industry are suffering now, with the liquidity crunch jeopardizing financing for buyers, as well as for builders and developers, said Robert Kleinhenz, deputy chief economist for the California Association of Realtors.
“We’ve seen that builders around the state, as well as the nation, have chosen to postpone the whole aspect of the home building process,” Kleinhenz said.
Whether developers hampered by today’s market choose to sell their land, or hold onto it for a brighter day, depends on the nuances of individual geographic markets, he said.