Well, well, well. Seems as though I've been asleep at the wheel. Back in
August 2011, the North County Surf blog reported that Ecke's development arm, Caltras, was trying to sell off one of their last parcels of land to developers. It was the very visible and desirable 68 acres off Saxony Avenue between Leucadia Blvd. and Encinitas Blvd (i.e. down the street from the YMCA). The last few years the property has been falling apart (see above) and was due for a makeover anyway.
Caltras had a deal with the city that if they built the Encinitas Ranch homes and golf course, they wouldn't develop this last parcel of land. Then Caltras had a change of heart a few years ago and tried to pass Prop A to make more homes. That didn't fly with the community of course so then they had a plan to sell off little chunks to developers instead of the entire parcel. That didn't fly either. Then recently the Leichtag Jewish Foundation had a good idea to buy the land and put in a cultural center, turn some of the land into self sustaining agriculture, and even donate some land to Quail Gardens.
What I didn't realize in this feel good story is that Shea Homes somehow got a hold of 20 acres from Caltras and is developing 69 single family homes on the north end of the property (on the corner of Puebla St. and Saxony).
This new development will be called 'Alta'. Shea hasn't publicized these homes yet as they are just now grading the land and no need to get everyone all worked up before the model homes are built. Shea has been quite busy in Encinitas lately with another
big development on the north end of Vulcan Ave. in Leucadia and a smaller one tucked away towards the northwest corner of town (walking distance to Ponto) called
'Seaside'.
Now my take is this- since the property was already falling apart, something needed to be done before the vermin take over. Best case scenario: Build a park. It's already too late for that but the Leichtag Foundation will make good use of their parcel- especially with the nice offer to Quail Gardens. So we have that going for us. The other option then is to make some beautiful homes- well landscaped might I add- so it adds value to the community. Hopefully Shea will keep up their end of the bargain. And since Shea has been pumping money into the community lately with their 3 newest developments, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Judging by the speed of which they're working, I'm assuming they'll have a model home by the fall and probably move-in ready by early 2014. And if these turn out to be 10k square foot lots, I'm guessing they'll sell for the low millions/high 900's. Keep up to date on the latest developments with the North County Surf blog as the completion nears.
