ORANGE
COUNTY BUSINESS
JOURNAL
July
16, 2007
By
Mark Mueller
ORANGE COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL STAFF
The slowdown in Southern California homebuilding appears
to be a great time for master developers to get into the
game.
The
latest venture: Forestar Land Partners LLC, a partnership
between newly-created Foremost Communities Inc. in Newport
Beach and real estate investment firm Starwood Capital
Group Global LLC of Greenwich, Conn.
Forestar
plans to buy more than $250 million worth of land in Southern
California during the next few years. It will get the
land entitled and developed into finished lots for sale
to homebuilders. The company says it is seeking parcels
that can hold a minimum of 200 lots.
An
affiliate of Starwood will provide $100 million of equity
for the venture. Foremost will manage the developments.
Foremost
began operations this year. It’s headed up by Steve
Cameron, formerly the chief operating officer for Newport
Beach-based homebuilder Fieldstone Communities Inc.
Prior
to that, he headed Orange County operations for Fieldstone.
He’s also a past president of the OC chapter of
the Building Industry Association.
Cameron
and Starwood are no strangers when it comes to partnerships.
Fieldstone entered the master development business back
in 2002, partnering with Starwood to buy more than 700
acres of land in Riverside County.
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