Builder - February 2009 - (Page 23) INSIDE STORY COMMEN TA RY A ND A N A LYSIS OF CUR R EN T E V EN T S ■ Inside: 24 26 Linked In Bankrupt builders collaborate for team marketing Smart Move Legislation lights a fire under municipalities to adopt smartgrowth principles PLUS MORE > > EDITED BY JOHN CAULFIELD BUCKING THE RECESSION Looking Ahead Stockton, Calif., is still approving projects to accommodate its population growth. F roy scott or a city awash in foreclosed homes, Stockton, Calif., has a lot of residential development going on. The city ranked fourth in November on RealtyTrac’s nationwide list of markets where houses are in some stage of foreclosure. In recent months, nearly all resales there have been foreclosures, selling on average at prices two-thirds below the market’s $404,000 peak in December 2005. Stockton’s new-home purchases hit rock bottom last September when only four new houses were sold that month. Through the fi rst 11 months of 2008, the city issued only 155 single-family building permits, versus 610 in 2007. Fortune magazine projects Stockton to be among the country’s fi ve worst housing markets in 2009 in terms of price depreciation. Beyond the gloom, however, Stockton’s elected officials see a brighter future and have laid out an ambitious expansion agenda to meet the city’s population growth, which is projected to balloon to 578,000 by 2035 from around 286,000 today. Over that period, the city’s General Plan calls for a 75 percent increase in developable land (through an expansion of its urban growth boundary) to 66,740 acres, of which resi- dential development would account for 35 percent (versus 29.7 percent in 2005). The city has greenlighted no fewer than five major projects that, if completed, would add close to 20,000 homes and 33,000 residents to the city over the next two decades. How many will achieve fruition, though, is anyone’s guess. The largest, the 3,723-acre, 10,500home Mariposa Lakes, is embroiled in a lawsuit over its potential impact on the county’s groundwater basin. Conversely, the city in December allowed developer A.G. Spanos to build 488 townhouses, (see page 24) which were supposed W W W.BUILDERONLINE.COM f ebrua ry 2 0 0 9 BUILDER ■ 23 http://WWW.BUILDERONLINE.COM
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