Nakase Nursery Housing Project Moves Ahead

Orange County Business Journal by Katie Murar (June 7, 2021) – Toll Brothers Inc. is getting closer to breaking ground on a new housing community in Lake Forest, at the 125-acre former Nakase Nursery.

The country’s largest luxury homebuilder (NYSE: TOL) recently provided an update on the new master-planned community, which it bought a year ago. It will be the largest new housing development in Lake Forest in several years. Reservations are expected to begin as soon as this summer for the project, now dubbed The Meadows.

Toll Brothers has been plotting the new development for several years; plans became more concrete last fall when the Horsham, Pa.-based company closed on the site.  Terms of the deal were undisclosed; sources indicate the company paid north of $100 million for the 125-acre property, or more than $800,000 per acre.

Home Plans
The site is between Lake Forest Drive and Bake Parkway, just south of the 241 Toll Road. The land has been used as a wholesale plant nursery since the 1990s.

Toll Brothers plans to build more than 500 homes on the land, ranging from 2,000 to 3,600 square feet.

The company recently provided more clarity to its plans in an email update, indicating the community will include six home collections, a resort-style recreation center and seven parks in total. Toll Brothers said it is currently finalizing home designs and amenities, with each home plan having a different starting price.

Prices are expected to be released in late summer.

2020 Sale
Toll Brothers, valued at nearly $8 billion, has familiarity with the area; it partnered with Walnut’s Shea Homes for the nearby Baker Ranch development in Lake Forest, which opened in 2014 and counts nearly 3,000 homes.

The value of The Meadows could run some $400 million or more, once built out. Toll Brothers secured entitlements for The Meadows in early 2020 after a three-year process.

Allison Tift, vice president of Irvine-based brokerage Land Advisors Organization, and colleague Mike Hunter, represented Toll Brothers in the 2020 purchase.