SunCal Companies, Lehman Brothers Close $120 Million Land Acquisition with State of California

Business Wire, March 15, 2005

IRVINE, Calif. -- SunCal Companies, a leading developer of master-planned communities, has closed a $120 million purchase of 470 acres in Chino, Calif., from the state of California. SunCal partnered with Lehman Brothers, New York, on the acquisition through Lehman's $1.6 billion Real Estate Fund.

The California Department of General Services, Real Estate Services Division, managed the transaction for the state. The Division is managing California's program of selling surplus land to offset the state's budget deficit.

SunCal received approvals from the city of Chino in August 2004 to build a master-planned community, College Park, on the land. It will feature 2,200 homes and a 7.5-acre retail/commercial center on SunCal's 470 acres, 140 acres for Chino's Ayala Park and a 100-acre site for a new Chaffey College campus, totaling 710 acres. The state donated the parkland to the city and the campus site to Chaffey College, contingent on SunCal's now-completed purchase of its 470-acre parcel.

The entire 710-acre parcel was declared surplus by the state and put to bid through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process in 2003. The SunCal/Lehman proposal was selected over a proposal submitted by a consortium of builders including Lennar Homes, KB Home, Centex Homes and Lewis Operating Companies.

"College Park is the result of a unique collaborative effort between the city of Chino, Chaffey College District, the state of California and SunCal Companies to propose a truly innovative land plan that brings together a new college campus, an expanded regional park and a mixed-use community," said Stan Brown, president, Inland Empire Division, SunCal Companies.

SunCal has begun accepting offers on the first phases of residential land in the development. The company will also develop the College Park Village Center, which will include 50,000 square feet of commercial and retail uses serving the adjacent homes and college.

SunCal Companies was founded in 1973. Its affiliates have developed more than 30 mixed-use master-planned communities, comprising 60,000 residential units and 5 million square feet of commercial space. For more information, please visit www.SunCal.com.