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954-home Shafter development tabled
| Tuesday, Apr 15 2008 6:27 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Apr 16 2008 7:19 AM
The Sacramento developer behind a large housing project proposed in Shafter has effectively tabled plans for now.
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Financially troubled Reynen & Bardis Communities Inc. asked the Shafter City Council to withdraw consideration of its 954-home Gateway Estates project Tuesday night.
The withdrawal request is more than a commonplace postponement, but it’s not an all-out abandonment.
For the developer, it’s the latest in a string of halted projects around Kern and the state.
For Shafter, it’s another kink in the city’s ambitious development plans as the homebuilding market fizzles.
The 320-acre Gateway Estates development will now go back to city planners for unspecified tweaks. When — and if — developers are ready to move forward again, the city will have to re-advertise public hearings.
John Guinn, Shafter’s city manager, said Gateway Estates differs from most of the developer’s other projects because Reynen & Bardis partnered with an investor for it. Guinn believes that makes the development more viable.
Representatives from Reynen & Bardis did not return a message left Tuesday seeking comment on the Shafter project.
The developer halted construction at all its project sites, including several in Kern, late last year. It has defaulted on more than $40 million worth of loans in Kern alone, county records show, and racked up liens and lawsuits from unpaid contractors working on local projects.
Other news outlets have reported similar troubles between here and Sacramento.
The Reynen & Bardis affiliate behind the Shafter project, SB RBLI Land Co. Shafter I LLC, is listed as Shafter’s ninth-largest payer of property taxes, with estimated payments last fiscal year totaling more than $16,000, city records show.
But even if tax bills go unpaid — which happened at several of Reynen & Bardis’ Bakersfield and Wasco sites in December — Shafter won’t be pinched, Guinn said.
OTHER HOLDUPS
The residential market slowdown has already impacted a trio of Shafter’s major projects on the north side of 7th Standard Road, where about 6,900 homes are slated west of Highway 99.
Last month, a $74 million loan taken out against 515 acres in the biggest of the three projects was foreclosed on. The lender, Lennar Corp.., repossessed the property but has not yet said what it will do with the holding.
What’s more, the three projects are part of an ongoing legal battle between Shafter and the city of Bakersfield over water.
“There won’t be residential development in that area without the issue of water supplies being resolved,” Guinn said.
The projects — Mission Lakes, Coberly West and Heritage Ranch — are nevertheless farther along than Gateway Estates, with specific plans already approved.
So far, developers haven’t taken the next step of submitting tract maps for approval, said Wayne Clausen, Shafter’s planning director.
That process generally takes a year or two, he said, and precedes grading and infrastructure development at the site.
BRIGHT SIDE
Shafter is lucky on one count, Guinn pointed out.
The development sites look the same as always, sporting mostly agricultural land.
Elsewhere in Kern, the real estate slowdown has left bald patches of dirt or partially developed subdivisions to gather dust.
The city is also doing well attracting new jobs, he said.
Four or five companies with a range of potential manufacturing, trade and back-office jobs have been nosing around lately, Guinn said.
“I think the jobs will spur that residential development,” he said.