Newhall Land Sells Tract, Condo Permits as Package

Newhall Land & Farming Co. announced Tuesday that it has sold a 33.3-acre tract ready for development in Valencia for $17.5 million to a large Orange County home builder.

The parcel includes permits and building plans for 211 condominium units designed to Newhall Land’s specifications, company officials said. The sale to Warmington Homes marks the first time Newhall Land has sold a project it has designed and taken through the lengthy Los Angeles County permit process.

Construction is scheduled to begin immediately, said Thomas L. Lee, Newhall Land’s president and chief executive officer.

Lee said the transaction would increase income and cash flow, while limiting inventory risks.

He said the company will add about $11.2 million to its net income for the first quarter of this year, ending March 31.

Own Building Arm

Newhall Land treasurer Stuart R. Mork said the company, which has its own building arm, Valencia Co., took the project through the permit process, which takes as long as five years, without knowing it would be selling the site to another home builder. The company began talking to Warmington Homes a few months ago, Mork said.

“This is the first time we’ve sold something as complete as this,” he said. “We’re selling land that’s already been graded. We’ll probably be doing more of this kind of thing in the future.”

Mork said the sale reduces risks that the company, a large-scale developer, will be left with unsold homes at the project’s completion. Valencia is in the Santa Clarita Valley, one of the fastest-growing communities in the county. Housing construction there is at an all-time high, according to county records.

The parcel, at Del Monte Drive and Summit Place, is in the Valencia Summit, a development the company began building in 1985. When completed, it will contain 2,100 condominiums and single-family units.

Newhall Land received final approval for the 211-unit project earlier this year.