Silverstone Communities is Selling Homes in Los Altos, CA 120% Faster Than the Northern California Average*
LosAltos
While many builders are hanging up their hard hats, Silverstone Communities today announced that construction of Peninsula Real, a condominium community in prominent Los Altos, California, is complete and the pace of sales is the highest since 2005.
As the San Francisco Bay Area housing market continues to improve, delivering its eighth consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases and the first median home price increase since 2007, Silverstone Communities is poised to continue its impressive results.*
Peninsula Real in Los Altos, CA is located just south of Palo Alto, between San Francisco and San Jose, where the median home price still tops $1.5 million.
“Silverstone’s business strategy has been to consistently provide quality new homes in the most desirable areas, near solid job markets and great schools – and price them substantially below the area’s median home price,” said John McMorrow, President of Silverstone Communities. “Our core market segment has realized Silverstone’s value, even in the most difficult market in decades.”
Superbly positioned just south of renowned Stanford University, Peninsula Real offers residents easy access to Silicon Valley’s high-tech job market and the award-winning Los Altos School District. The 78-unit condominium and townhome community features homes ranging from one to three bedrooms and approximately 787 to 1,808 square feet of living space. The community’s upscale amenities include luxurious home finishes, beautifully landscaped grounds and an inviting central courtyard with pool and spa.
“Our business model works because land in exclusive areas is scarce, controlling the supply of new homes,” McMorrow said. “Because we successfully complete projects on time and on budget, we have an edge in prime land acquisitions that will allow us to continue to do what we do best – build and sell quality homes that people want to live in, for years to come.”
Since 2006, Silverstone Communities has completed over 340 lofts, condominiums, townhomes and single-family new homes, creating opportunities for families to live in the most coveted Bay Area locations.
Silverstone Communities has several future projects in the planning stages along the Peninsula, located in San Carlos, Mountain View and San Jose. For more information visit www.SilverstoneCommunities.com
About Silverstone Communities
Silverstone Communities is a local building company with a national presence and more than 100 years of combined real estate experience, with a passion for providing the best customer experience. We focus exclusively on creating affordable and desirable homes in pedestrian-friendly city centers and suburban downtowns that captures the essence of metropolitan living, providing communities close to transportation, high-quality schools, shopping and recreational venues.
Beverly Hills Says: Starve the Cats – Or Go to Jail
Katherine Varjian, age 65, could be sentenced to jail for feeding stray cats. Varjian has been doing this for 12 years at her own expense. Without her, the cats would starve, or be picked up by the shelter, or be euthanized.
Each morning and each evening, the little group of 20 or so cats come quietly padding into an alley in the lushly landscaped and star-studded City of Beverly Hills The cats are so hungry, but not starving thanks to Varjian who has reduced the stray/feral cat population and found homes for as many as 40 cats and kittens yearly, for the last 12 years.
Neighbors, blaming Varjian for the profound increase in coyotes have signed a petition to force her to stop feeding the cats. They claim that Varjian, feeding only a two block area, is responsible for the increase in predatory coyotes throughout the entire Beverly Hills. The reality is that park like conditions, access to water, mansion-ization in the hills and canyons and drought conditions have sent the numbers of coyotes on residential streets sky rocketing in search of food.
SUPPORTERS CONSTITUTE HUGE BASE
Her supporters, which include local residents, veterinarians and animal advocates are saying Varjian should be commended for the good she does, rather then be jailed. They are appalled that a small number of nasty and uninformed individuals can undermine the humane efforts of reducing the stray cat population. Her opponents film her activities, block her access to alleys and claim their children are in danger from coyote attacks as a result of the 65-year-old’s dedication to saving homeless cats and kittens.
Her supporters will be out in force to convey their message and feel strongly that Beverly Hills needs to set an example of the humane and compassionate way to deal with stray animals. Jailing Varjian, imposing fines or a conviction or criminal record won’t solve the larger issue of homeless animals or the rampant coyote problem. Tina Varjian, Katherine’s daughter and attorney, is hopeful mediation with stray/homeless cat and animal control, coyote experts will be the outcome.
Old Bel-Air Sale Expected to Set Record for Home Site
The last grand estate site in Old Bel-Air — 12.4 acres across from the world-famed Hotel Bel-Air — was put up for sale today (Oct. 6), and the brokers believe it may well result in the highest price ever paid for an American single family home site — $75 million or more.
That’s the word from Beverly Hills-based Westside Estate Agency (WEA) and The Greenwich Group International, a New York-based global real estate investment advisory firm — representing the owner, ECP Acquisitions LLC, comprised of a small group of investors and developers.
The property, called The Park at Stone Canyon, was bought from Hollywood producer Steve Bing early in 2005. When Bing assembled the property — over a nine-year period — he envisioned having a house there and cleared the land of eight of the existing nine homes. As part of the current development plan, the remaining house was removed and a conceptual plan was created by Los Angeles-based Heritage Development Partners, one of the ECP investors.
According to WEA broker Stephen Shapiro, Bing paid $15 million and $13 million for the last two homes he acquired.
Among Hollywood luminaries who had formerly occupied homes on the property were Kim Novak, Red Buttons and Barry Manilow.
“The method of sale at The Park will be highly unusual in that we’re marrying the formats used in conventional home sales and commercial investment property transactions,” explained Robert W. Beeney, Greenwich’s San Francisco-based managing director.
“The Park will not be priced,” said Beeney. “Instead, it will be marketed the way investment bankers run a private auction — different from a public auction in that the owner selects the buyer after negotiations based on the offers received; any conditions attached to the offers; and the buyer’s ability to consummate the transaction.”
In a public auction, he added, the bidding occurs at a set time and place with the property coming under contract to the highest bidder at the fall of the auctioneer’s hammer.
WEA, widely known in the entertainment industry, is following traditional residential marketing methods in the Southern California area, and Greenwich, responsible for the remainder of the U.S. and internationally, will pursue procedures generally used in institutional property transactions, related Beeney.
“We believe the site will be bought by someone who envisions the land as a grand estate or family compound although a developer will also find this property most intriguing because of sub-division possibilities,” the brokers say.
A conceptual plan created by the owner calls for a 30,000 square-foot compound including a main house, private movie theater, gym and office, swimming pool, lagoon, tennis court and pavilion, putting green, retreat house, guest house, staff quarters and acres of gardens and orchards.
Located in a fairy tale setting, the tri-terraced property — with sweeping views of the city skyline — Bel-Air Country Club and Pacific Ocean is distinguished by magnolia, palm and eucalyptus trees and a profusion of plants and flowers. In concert with The Park’s sylvan privacy, stone retaining walls and stairways create a romantic ambience reminiscent of an era of castles and kingdoms.
“This is a property that in all likelihood will be bought by a billionaire who places a great premium on privacy while having ready access to the urban amenities of Los Angeles — particularly its Westside,” said Beeney.
From its inception in 1922, Bel-Air was conceived by developer Alphonzo E. Bell Sr. to appeal to the highly affluent. To reinforce its image as an enclave for the wealthy, Bell organized the Bel-Air Country Club and Bel-Air Stables. Lush landscaping and impressive gates on Sunset Boulevard at the east entry to Bel-Air Road and on the west entry to Bellagio Road were other symbols Bell used to reinforce the community’s reputation as the most exclusive neighborhood in Los Angeles.
Today Old Bel-Air is the most desirable and priciest section of the community. “In fact,” the brokers say, “there are very few properties available here.”
Shapiro summed up the property this way: “When you have 12 acres to yourself, with the Hotel Bel-Air across the street as your watering hole, that says it all.”
