Quick post: New home on the market

Remember this Russ Barto designed spec duo? Well, that first Italian-esque home has just been listed for sale for $1.898M.  Check out the listing here. 

(Source: MLS)

(Source: MLS)

(Source: MLS)

Where there was once, now there are two.

Back in the saddle today.  This post will focus on the Valmonte section of PVE, on two homes the replace an older home which sat on a double lot.

Home numero 1

(Source: NJC)

Home numero 2.

(Source:MLS)

My understanding is that both homes were developed by a spec builder (William Hess Development) and both designs were penned by Russ Barto.  I'm generally, as you all know by now, not a fan of dense development on the Peninsula.  Don't get me wrong - high density living does have its place in our ever-growing County.  But the Pensinula, just like Malibu and the Westside, is defined by its open space, its semi-rural, spread out feel.  Its an aspirational community - a place we aspire to live one day.   You want multi-unit 4-on-a-lot townhomes? North Redondo is for you!  Condos and apartments? Torrance! Closely spaced ranch style homes? The inner South Bay communities are all for you!  You want sprawling lots, with quaint, custom homes spread out from one another? Come to the Peninsula.

Each community has its spot on the socioeconomic ladder.  Gardena, Lawdale and most of Torrance will never have multi-million dollar mansions - nor should they aspire to.  They are solidly middle class communities that accommodate the majority of our blue and white collar workforce.  Redondo Beach is a hybrid of the Torrance and the Manhattan/Hermosa Beach communities.  Manhattan Beach and Hermosa are the high end beach communities, the Peninsula is the Holmby/Beverly Hills/Bel Air of our South Bay/Peninsula area.  But I digress...

So, you may ask, what was there before these two homes?  This:

(Source: Bing Maps)


Replaced by this:

(Source: Bing Maps)

Now the next question is: how is this possible?  How could the PVE Homes Association or the City allow the densification in the charming Valmonte neighborhood?  Well the short answer is that the original home sat on two legal lots.  In other words, the original planners that laid out the Valmonte lots had envisioned homes on each of these two lots.  It was the original builder of the home that bought two lots, adjoined them, and built his home in the middle of both.    The combined lot was 130 feet wide by 114 feet deep, roughly 14,000 square feet in total.  What I wonder is why no one else came forward to buy this lot for the $1.195M selling price in 2003 to build a home more like this .  Instead, a greedy developer came in and built two homes on these two adjoined lots to make a buck.  How much did he make?

Well, let's take a quick look at the math.  The lot was purchased in 2003 for $1.195M.  The first "Mediterranean" home measures 3,020 square feet and the second Cape Cod style home measures 2,930 square feet.  So the total built out square footage was 5,950.  At the time the homes were built (2007), construction costs to builders were in the $200/ft range (if you hired a builder, you'd pay more like $250-300/sf).  So on this basis, we could assume the cost of construction was around $1.190M.  Total investment, excluding interest costs for the construction loan or forgone interest on the cash used to pay for the land/construction, totals $2.385M.  The first home appears to have sold for $965K in May of 2007.  That seems incredibly low and other public records do not validate this sale record - so perhaps it was a related party transaction.  The second home, which was completed in 2008, was listed in September 2008 (the worst time in the market!) for $2.199M, and after several price chops, finally sold in January 2009 for $1.85M - not bad.  This looks like a more legit sale.  So if we take out 5% of realtor fees from that sale price, we're showing a net proceeds amount of $1.76M.  That means that if the developer or a related party actually occupies that first home, their effective cost of that home is only $625K ($2.385M minus $1.76M) - a great deal if you're the developer!  In today's market, that home would fetch $1.5M-1.6M, which would imply nearly a $1M profit for the developer.

What if the developer opted to build his dream estate? Well, I suspect the home would be limited to 4,500 square feet given the restrictions on size.  So let's assume construction cost of $900K, on top of the $1.195M lot price.  Total investment = $2.095M.  Now, in today's market, a home of that size on a comparable lot would probably sell for somewhere between $2.5-$2.6M.  A net profit of only $400-500K - half of what 'densifying'  returned.

In any event, let's talk about the design of the homes.  I don't like them.  Either of them.  I don't understand the Mediterranean home.  The curved entry is out of scale.  Why is the home painted peach?  I do like the alternating rough lines, the recessed windows, and the garage tucked away toward the rear.

The second home, its better, but the front feels very flat.  You notice this more in person than through the photos.  Its almost as if the developer tried to maximize square footage, so they pushed up the front living room, rather than have it set back a bit behind the garage.  It just feels tight and flat.

(Source: Bing Maps)

(Source: Bing Maps)

  

And they took away the trees!  The beautiful old trees!  Just seems unfair to clear nature's beauty for houses of such poor architectural distinction.  When you drive by that corner, it just seems so barren and naked.  It doesn't feel quite like Valmonte.  The absence of trees and greenery is noticeable on that corner lot.  Hopefully it fills in over time.

Anyhow, that's all for now.  What do you think?

KEY STATS

Location: Valmonte, PVE
Style: Mediterranean
Year built:  2007
Architect: Russ Barto
Square footage: 3,020
Lot size: 7,370 (72x114)

Location: Valmonte, PVE
Style: Cape Cod
Year built:  2008
Architect: Russ Barto
Square footage: 2,930
Lot size: 6,840 (60x114)

Whimsical Cape Cod in Valmonte

Back to beautiful Valmonte, PVE.  This home, a beautiful, whimsical Cape Cod style home - The Malit Residence.  Designed by Russ Barto in 2007, this 3,982 square foot home sits on one of the smaller PVE lots, totaling 7,800 square feet.

(Source: NJC)

(Source: NJC)

The corner home replaces an older, single-story 1950s home which occupied the lot.

 (Source: Bing Maps)

(Source: Bing Maps)


As you can see, the previous home was a modest ranch style house whose primary frontage faced in the same direction as the garage.  In general, a 60-foot wide lot doesn't give an architect much design flexibility - there's only so much one can do with 60 feet of length, when 17 feet of that is side yard setback, 16 feet of that is garage door.  In the new home, the owners and architect re-oriented the house so that the primary facade would enjoy a greater length along what was previously the side street of the former house.  This gave the owners/architect much more canvas with which to craft a beautiful house.

 (Source: Bing Maps)

(Source: Bing Maps)


The current home owners purchased the original lot in 2002 for $825,000.  While I was critical of Russ Barto's work in an earlier post, this is by far (in my opinion) his finest work on the Peninsula.  I know the owners of this home had a very strong sense of how they wanted the home to look - they knew early on they wanted alternating roof lines to create visual interest and at the same time give the house a unique character and sense of timelessness.  This is definitely not one of your cookie-cutter South Bay Cape Cods!  Even the garage, with two separate one car doors, are subtley placed beside a turret which acts as the primary south facing focal point.Without the home owners strong aesthetic sense, I'm sure this home would not have turned out nearly as attractive and special.  I will post soon  a home also designed by Barto in the Cape Cod style which is much less creative.  Stay tuned for that.

Back to the Malit Residence.  The home itself is stunning, outside and inside.  The owners also relied on the expertise of interior designer Phil Norman, principal of Norman Design Group, to craft a stunning interior, complete with finished basement.

 (Source: Norman Design Group)

(Source: Norman Design Group)

The layout of the house is also unique.  Upon entering the home from the side street, one is greeted with a nice entry foyer that is open the formal living room and dining room immediately on the right, and a home office/library and garage on the left.  Walking further down the hall, one arrives at the expansive kitchen/family room, which has a quaint breakfast nook as well.  The home opens up to a backyard that is on one of many Valmonte walking trails.  Overall, a very well done home!

KEY STATS

Location: Valmonte, PVE
Style: Cape Cod
Year built: 2007
Architect: Russ Barto
Square footage: 3,982
Lot size: 7,800 (60x130)

A word about architects

I recognize that many of those that are (or will be) reading this blog are architecture-philes and also may be interested in learning more about some of the recent new construction being built and designed in the area.  I've spent a fair amount of time learning about many of the contemporary local architects designing the lion's share of new housing stock on the Peninsula, so thought I'd share some of my thoughts here. While many examples of their work are very well done, part of me still thinks that none are on track to create the timeless works of art designed by the greats, like George Washington Smith, Myron Hunt, & Addison Mizner. Although a few examples of their work come close!

Tier 1: The majors & the prolific
Ashai Design (http://www.ashai.com/)- Based in Torrance, with offices in Beverly Hills and Dubai, Ashai Design is headed by Tony Ashai, a Kashmir-born PVE resident. Ashai's designs are almost exclusively Mediterranean in style and as a general matter, the firm focuses on large-scale estates, residential communities and commercial projects.  Over the years, Ashai has designed many of PVE's largest and most opulent residences, though in recent years, Ashai has shied away from custom homes and focused instead on large residential and commercial developments in Dubai.  You'll see a number of their designs featured in future posts.

Doug Leach Architecture  (no website) - Doug Leach is one of the two best known South Bay architects (the other being Tomaro).  Doug designs mid to high end homes in the Beach Cities (Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and parts of Redondo Beach) and on the Peninsula.  His style includes Cape Cod as well as many Spanish and Tuscan-inspired blends.  At the peaak of the housing boom, Doug was designing 40+ homes per year - an amazing feat given he was the only architect at his Redondo Beach-based firm.  In a more normalized market, Doug pens approximately 20-25 homes per year.  He does architecture the old fashioned way, i.e. with pen and paper rather than a fancy 3D CAD model (although he refers people to 3D designers, if they want to see his designs in 3D).  Another interesting fact - Doug is a member of the PVE Art Jury.

Tomaro Design Group (http://www.tomaro.com/) - Tomaro Design Group is a Manhattan Beach-based firm headed by Louie Tomaro that dominates the Beach Cities market and does some work on the Peninsula.  Tomaro's styles range from Modern to Cape Code to Mediterranean.  Like Doug Leach, Tomaro is also one of the more prolific architects in the South Bay/Peninsula area.  Tomaro has a whole staff of people and utilizes the latest in tech for his clients - 3D renderings are standard, and he also has LEED-certified staff for those wanting some "green" building input.  In addition to design work, Louie's brother also runs Tomaro Design's construction business.  I find Tomaro gives up authenticity for his own take on "pure" styles like Spanish Revival, Italian, etc.  If you want Euro-authentic designs, look elsewhere.  If you want something different (some will love it, others will hate it), Tomaro might be a good fit.

Edward Carson Beall & Associates (http://www.ecbarchitects.com/) - Ed Beall is somewhat of a staple in the South Bay/Peninsula design world, having been around for nearly 40 years.  Many of the architects listed here have spent some time at Beall & Associates (as have many local architects not named in this post).  Beall now only does very high end projects and I've heard his minimum fee for design work is substantially above other Tier 1 guys.  I also understand he does a very small number of homes per year.  His styles are varied, ranging from Spanish Colonial to American Colonial and everything in between.  He also tends to do a large number of restoration remodel projects as you'll see featured on this site.

Tier 2: New guys and the occasionals
Russ Barto (no website) - Barto is a PVE-based architect that designs a number of homes on the Peninsula.  His style is varied and in my view, a bit on the plain side.  From what I gather, Barto is very good for clients that  have a very specific design idea in mind.  As a general matter, I'm not a fan of most of his work.

Don Thursby (no website) - Thursby is a Peninsula-based architect that does a small number of original and remodel designs.  I've only seen a few examples of his work but one home in particular is among my favorite homes in all of the Peninsula (stay tuned!)

Powell Dudley Frith (http://www.pdfarchitects.com/) - PDF Architects, namely Brad Dudley, also does a fair number of homes on the Peninsula (and southern Orange County and LA's Westside - Brentwood, Bel Air and Beverly Hills).  The Laguna Beach-based firm specializes in larger, high end custom homes.  Their design styles are varied, consistent with some of the larger, higher end firms mentioned in this post.

Obelisk Architects (http://www.obeliskarchitects.com/) - Less familiar with this firm, although I know they have designed a few homes in PVE and the South Bay.  They are based in Torrance.

Pritzkat and Johnson (http://www.pritzkatjohnson.com/) Not familiar with this firm, but they have done several remodels and new construction designs in the area.

EnviroTechno (http://www.envirotechno.com/) - Culver City-based firm that has designed a few homes in the South Bay and on the Peninsula.  The homes they've designed that I am aware of are Mediterranean in style.

Over the course several blogs, you'll become very familiar with the names above, as these firms dominate the Peninsula new build market.