Taylor Builders Takes Over on Rocklin’s Whitney Ranch

Residential development group Taylor Builders LLC has acquired the development entity for the last large master plan project in Rocklin.

Just before Thanksgiving, Taylor Builders acquired Sunset Ranchos Investors LLC, the landholding entity for Whitney Ranch.

“We’ve been one of the most aggressive buyers lately,” said Taylor Builders President Clifton Taylor. “This is a best-in-class position, and we took it.”

The acquisition includes about 560 single-family lots within Whitney Ranch at various stages, most of them 391 “blue topped” lots of graded land with infrastructure in place. The balance is undeveloped acreage good for about 68 home lots, Taylor said, and 99 more lots ready to be built on.

In the case of the latter, Taylor Builders has signed with Roseville-based JMC Homes to be the contractor for those and all the other lots in Whitney Ranch, Taylor said. JMC acquired 38 ready-to-build lots from Taylor Builders earlier this month and is set to close escrow on 61 more in two sales in the first quarter of 2021.

A message left Monday with JMC Homes was not returned. Taylor said he expects JMC will build out the remaining lots in Whitney Ranch over the next three years.

Taylor said earlier this year that Resmark Equity Partners LLC listed Sunset Ranchos for sale on behalf of its owner, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. Taylor Builders submitted a winning bid for the entity, with brokerage by Land Advisors Organization.

Because the deal was a business rather than land acquisition, there are no public records on the purchase price, and Taylor declined to disclose it, though he described it as the largest in his company’s history. A CalPERS spokeswoman said the retirement system had no comment on the deal.

In addition to the attractiveness of Whitney Ranch, Taylor Builders also wanted to make a move because its financial partner recently completed its seventh private equity fund raise, Taylor said, giving it money to put toward an investment.

Sunset Ranchos’ parcels in Whitney Ranch are all residential, though there are a handful of commercial parcels immediately east of Highway 65 under other ownership. William Jessup University, UC Davis Health and others are exploring development plans for those parcels, Taylor said.

“Along with us, it’ll be the end of a two-decade effort by various entities,” he said.

For Taylor Builders, Whitney Ranch will go alongside three other south Placer County residential developments: Riolo Vineyards outside Roseville, Fiddyment Ranch in Roseville and Meadowlands in Lincoln. Between those projects, the company will deliver about 1,000 lots for construction next year, he said.

Taylor Builders also recently purchased lots for a 400-unit project in Elk Grove called Sheldon Farms, the firm’s first project in that city.