With construction under way, Dublin planning 12,000 units

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jul 11, 2004 | by Alan Zibel, BUSINESS WRITER

Despite the Bay Area's sluggish economy over the past three years, the demand for housing and new retail stores has remained strong in Dublin.

In Eastern Dublin, along Interstate 580, Pennsylvania-based developer Toll Brothers Inc. is building 1,400 townhouses and condominiums selling for $440,000 to $660,000. More are on the way.

The plans for the development, dubbed "Dublin Ranch Villages," call for a main-street-style retail block and two parks within walking distance of the complex. Bus service to and from BART operated by the Tri-Valley's Wheels bus service also is in the works.

Toll Brothers started selling units in the summer of 2002, before any model units were constructed. The demand was so strong that people were buying condos based only on an elaborate scale model of the development, said Jeff Schnurr, an assistant vice president of Toll Brothers. Being early has paid off -- those initial units are worth at least $100,000 more today, Schnurr said.

The four- and three-story development is broken up into four villages, each of which is built in a different architectural style and has its own pool, clubhouse and workout room.

The development is attracting people like Dirck and Maggie Hecking, who have lived in their new $450,000, two-bedroom townhome at Dublin Ranch Villages for about eight months. The two like their condo because of its colonial architecture, the promise of the ability to eventually walk to a retail street, and because there are always neighbors close by to keep an eye out for their 7-year-old daughter.

"It's a really good community," said Dirck Hecking, a software developer who works in San Francisco. "We've gotten really close. We watch each other's kids and everything."

The development's proximity to BART, plus major employers including Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Sybase and PeopleSoft, contributes to its popularity, as do favorable mortgage rates and a low supply of homes for sale around the Bay Area, Schnurr said. The development has appealed to families as well as empty-nesters giving up their houses. One of the big reasons people are attracted to condominium living, Schnurr said, is that homeowners don't have to worry about mowing the lawn or pulling up weeds.

"Everybody's busy with their commutes and their jobs," Schnurr said. "It simply gives people more time, not having to deal with the yard."

Dublin also has plans for two "transit village" developments -- a cluster of housing, retail businesses and offices around a BART station.

At the existing Dublin-Pleasanton BART station, plans call for more than 2,100 housing units -- a mix of apartments, condos and affordable housing, plus retail and office space. At a future station on an existing stretch of track along the city's west side, plans call for more than 500 apartments and condos, plus office and restaurant space.

Not all the development in Dublin is in the form of apartments or condos. Toll Brothers also is building 562 luxury houses in the $1 million to $2 million range as part of the new Dublin Ranch Golf Club, part of which is gated. These palatial houses come with sweeping dual staircases, showers big enough for the whole family and closets bigger than many people's bedrooms.