Vintage Communities Inc

The new Kaufman & Broad unit that former Irvine Co. executive Roland Osgood signed on to run last month has found a name--Vintage Communities Inc.--and a mission. When Osgood's appointment to the new and then-unnamed unit was announced, the former head of residential construction for the Irvine Co. said his charge was to build more upscale projects than traditionally done by Kaufman & Broad.

In another move to cut costs in his South County real estate empire, Santa Margarita Co. President Anthony R. Moiso is selling the company's home-building affiliate, San Juan Group Inc., to Irvine builder CCL Development Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. San Juan Group, which is owned by a partnership of Moiso and Santa Margarita Co. Chairman Richard O' Neill, oversees the development of the 1,000-acre Las Flores community in southern Orange County.

Dale Dowers and Hadi Makarechian are starting a home-building company in Orange County--in the midst of a two-year industry slump that has dozens of established builders on the verge of collapse. You may ask: Are these men crazy? Not likely, Dowers says with a smile. The new company, Capital Pacific Homes Inc., believes it has a secret weapon: money.

Vintage Communities, the subsidiary of Kaufman & Broad Homes Inc. formed last year to give the company a separate identity in the luxury-home market, has fallen victim to the times. Officials at Vintage, based in Newport Beach, have apparently discovered--as have other builders before them--that there isn't much of a market now for $350,000 and $400,000 houses.

Vintage Communities, the subsidiary of Kaufman & Broad Homes Inc. formed last year to give the company a separate identity in the luxury-home market, has fallen victim to the times. Officials at Vintage, based in Newport Beach, have apparently discovered--as have other builders before them--that there isn't much of a market now for $350,000 and $400,000 houses.

In another move to cut costs in his South County real estate empire, Santa Margarita Co. President Anthony R. Moiso is selling the company's home-building affiliate, San Juan Group Inc., to Irvine builder CCL Development Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. San Juan Group, which is owned by a partnership of Moiso and Santa Margarita Co. Chairman Richard O' Neill, oversees the development of the 1,000-acre Las Flores community in southern Orange County.

Wowing them with opulence in a recession proved to be a winning formula for Bramalea California Inc. Its tract of $1-million-plus homes near Newport Beach captured three top awards and a slew of honorable mentions Thursday in the building industry's major design competition.

Southland builders, architects and developments once again dominated the design competition at this year's Pacific Coast Builders Conference, winning two-thirds of the top awards in a contest that drew 500 entries from 14 western states and several Pacific Rim nations. Twenty-four of the prizes in the competition's 36 "Gold Nugget" categories went to projects located in the Southland or to developers or designers headquartered here.

A two-month walkout by workers in the drywall business has yet to win them the union they are demanding. But it has prompted several federal agencies to investigate the industry and may change the way drywall companies do business. Allegations piling up against the industry paint an unsavory picture of a business that exploits Latinos--many of them illegal immigrants--by paying low wages with no overtime, health insurance or other benefits.

Dale Dowers and Hadi Makarechian are starting a home-building company in Orange County--in the midst of a two-year industry slump that has dozens of established builders on the verge of collapse. You may ask: Are these men crazy? Not likely, Dowers says with a smile. The new company, Capital Pacific Homes Inc., believes it has a secret weapon: money.

The new Kaufman & Broad unit that former Irvine Co. executive Roland Osgood signed on to run last month has found a name--Vintage Communities Inc.--and a mission. When Osgood's appointment to the new and then-unnamed unit was announced, the former head of residential construction for the Irvine Co. said his charge was to build more upscale projects than traditionally done by Kaufman & Broad.