Officials hope new homes will boost Westside

The city’s efforts to breathe new life into Costa Mesa’s Westside neighborhoods moved a step forward Wednesday morning with the unveiling of Center Place.

What was once an empty lot, surrounded by a graffiti-ridden fence, on Center Street and Placentia Avenue is now a community of five single-family homes.

Newport Beach-based home builder RSI Development built the houses, each priced at about $500,000, in about three months using precision-built engineering, said Peter Boutros, the company’s president and chief operating officer.

The building method is similar to the way cars are manufactured. The majority of materials are built in a factory and then shipped to the construction site, while the drywall and stucco are done on site. The method reduces the amount of noise and the time it takes to build homes, Boutros said.

“Part of our vision is to make affordable homes accessible to the middle class,” he said. “We try to do this in neighborhoods that need revitalization.”

The five two-story homes have identical 1,621-square-foot floor plans but different architectural styles, either Colonial, French, Spanish or Craftsman.

The homes feature two-car garages, three bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. They also have granite countertops, frameless-style cabinetry, tankless water heaters and Energy Star appliances, RSI officials said.

Center Place is just one of about 30 developments that RSI plans to build in the city.

It is planning about 10 homes at 789 and 795 Paularino Ave. — an empty 1.7-acre parcel that until last year had been the location of a preschool and residence — and 19 homes at 650 Hamilton St., a 2.1-acre site that formerly contained the Port Mesa church.

RSI’s brand of development is what the city needs in order to revitalize older neighborhoods, said Mayor Jim Righeimer.

“We’re the only city whose property values go down the closer you get to the beach,” he said. “That’s changing.”

However, since Costa Mesa is almost completely developed, revitalizing old neighborhoods with new homes is how the city will stay relevant in the housing market, he said.

RSI has recently purchased older dilapidated homes in several Orange County communities and replaced them with its new models.

The process could work well in the city’s effort to gentrify the Westside, Boutros said.

RSI recently hired Valerie Torelli of Costa Mesa-based Torelli Realty to locate properties in the area that could be replaced with new homes.

She is also responsible for selling the Center Place homes, which she expects will go quickly.

“They’re new and they’re in a neighborhood that’s on the rise,” Torelli said.