About San Clemente's Marblehead Coastal

Coming as no surprise following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, SunCal's biggest backer of the Marblehead Coastal real estate development, SunCal has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this past Thursday on this community according to the Los Angeles Times. This 313 home planned coastal community in San Clemente represents just one of 23 SunCal housing projects in various stages of Chapter 11 due to the collapse of Lehman Brothers. SunCal will need to make quick decisions on which communities to sell off and liquidate and which ones to keep in order to ride out the real estate storm. SunCal, nevertheless, has indicated it has no plans to sell off Marblehead Coastal.

SunCal has indicated that it has "alternative sources" of financing to maintain the wetlands at Marblehead Coastal, some of the 125 acre open space to remain on this piece of land. Hopefully the other communities that SunCal sells off will help to raise the capital to build this highly anticipated community once the real estate market settles and supports this type of development. In the meantime, this 243 acre development sitting on an ocean front plateau will continue to be delayed and remain vacant. Hopefully some good news will arise from this soon. (Marblehead Coastal is the yellow box at the bottom of the picture)

For more information on Marblehead Coastal real estate or to request updates from our team as they arise, please contact us.

In the latest unnerving chapter of the Marblehead Coastal saga, the San Clemente City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to call in performance bonds against SunCal Marblehead LLC to complete infrastructure projects in the development. According to the Orange County Register's article on this matter, the City Council authorized city attorneys to file suit against SunCal claiming that they are in default of a 2005 development agreement; if there is no response by SunCal, the City Council will then call millions of dollars in performance bonds to complete projects such as finishing Avenida Vista Hermosa west of Interstate 5 and the widenings of Avenida Pico and El Camino Real near the development. The City views these improvements as vital public safety issues and can no longer wait for SunCal to work out its financial troubles with bankrupt Lehman Brothers, SunCal's financial backer in the Marblehead Coastal project.

Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other financial giants, money is tight right now and real estate development has slowed dramatically due to lack of funding available for these projects. It is likely to be a few years before we see home and commercial construction on the site of Marblehead Coastal, so the City Council's vote seeks to remedy the safety issues caused by unfinished roads. The widenings of Avenida Pico and El Camino Real is of great concern, and rightly so; the sudden narrowing of major San Clemente streets is dangerous and causes unnecessary traffic. This move by the city forces SunCal to finish these infrastructure improvements in a timely fashion, something they have been unwilling to do since the 2005 development agreement was signed.

It is frustrating to see such a wonderful coastal development like the planned Marblehead Coastal community fall by the wayside, both from a real estate and economic standpoint. The commercial and entertainment portions of the planned development would be a nice boost for San Clemente from a financial and social perspective, adding to an already wonderful coastal town. On top of that, a prime piece of coastal real estate is sitting untouched, which is frustrating to a real estate professional like myself as I'm very excited to see more examples of why San Clemente real estate is some of the best California has to offer. While it will take time for the vision of Marblehead Coastal to come to fruition, at least the city is taking the right steps to ensure that SunCal improves public works projects instead of making San Clemente residents deal with SunCal's lack of progress on these fronts.

For more information on Marblehead Coastal and San Clemente real estate, please contact us.

In 2001 a park for the disabled was proposed in South Orange County.

In 2002, San Clemente agreed to help build this park named "Courtney's San Castle", after the 4 year old girl who inspired the much needed park.

In 2007 the grand plan for this park was unveiled with much fan-fair to the San Clemente City Counsel.

In 2007 Sun Cal properties was to contribute $600,000 toward the completion and help build the park. Sun Cal is no longer in much of a position to help build a park, much less finish the grading they started over two years ago.

The Fall of 2008 is the scheduled completion date of this park for the disabled. It has not been discussed at the city planning or parks and recreation meetings of late.

Where is Courtney's San Castle? . If you have any information on this park or any San Clemente issue, please email Sean@BlueTideRealty.com.

At the July 17th San Clemente city council meeting Dave Placek, representing SunCal, LLC, reported on the status of the Marblehead residential/SunCal project.

Mr. Placek provided the San Clemente City Council with a construction schedule, noting that there have been no changes since the previous meeting. He summarized the status of various aspects of the project. He stated that SunCal will meet with Craig Realty regarding the commercial site and advised that he recently met with representatives of Colony Cove to ensure that issues related to temporary fencing and site clean up are addressed.

Mortgage Market Report for Wednesday February 6th, 2008

The same volatility continues in the bond market. Yesterdays selloff in stocks boosted the bond market as again investors are looking for security in bonds. However, today stocks are trading higher and putting pressure on bonds.

Several members of the Federal Reserve are speaking today and the market may react on those comments.

Bond prices are below the resistance at the top of the trading range. This confirms the volatile market that we are faced with on a daily basis. We recommend floating for today but be prepared to take advantage of the favorable rates should we see any sudden changes.

Thank you for listening to http://www.contactherrick.com/ We will have another report for you, your family, your friends and your important business contacts tomorrow.

A quote for Confucius

"Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses."

Roger Herrick

California Mortgage Broker

www.ContactHerrick.com