Hesperia’s 15,663-home Tapestry project finally starts construction
A massive housing project in the High Desert will literally test just how far folks will go to own a new home.
An investment group is starting construction on the Tapestry housing development in Hesperia, which will have 15,663 homes when it’s all done. Yes, that’s on the other side of the Cajon Pass.
Builder DMB Development and investors Schlegel Capital and The Beaumont Group will oversee construction of the homes and 700,000 square feet of retail and commercial space in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains. The development, which may take two decades to complete, will increase the city’s 94,000 population by nearly half.
Now, the timing seems ideal as Southern California’s housing market is thirsty for new homes. But this is raw land with lots of infrastructure needs. Sales won’t begin until 2023, says John Ohanian, director of development for Tapestry.
But the developers’ target audience should still be in vogue by then — first-time owners and first-time move-up buyers.
The group doesn’t have firm home sizes to discuss yet, but Ohanian says the focus will be “affordable” residences. He expects prices for the project’s first homes will be in the $300,000-to-$500,000 range. There also will be a significant number of options for 55-plus seniors looking to downsize.
The homes will be “quality at a reasonable price,” he says.
And developers say Tapestry will keep much of the landscape’s charms with roughly half of the 9,366-acre site near the Angeles and San Bernardino national forests being parks, trails and open space.
Inland looks
The pandemic era’s surprising homebuying binge brought many buyers to the Inland Empire.
In the 12 months ended in May, Inland Empire builders closed sales for 10,398 new homes — up 21% from an average 8,576 in the previous five years, according to DQNews. That rush helped make Ontario Ranch in Ontario the seventh-fastest selling master-planned community in the nation for the first half of 2021, according to RCLCO Real Estate Consulting.
Recently, Southern California builders have moved their attention to areas further inland, away from expensive coastal job hubs.
It’s a bet that remote work will remain popular and give house hunters more geographic flexibility. For example, landowner SunCal this year announced two large sales: 3,052 homesites in Calimesa and 850 lots in Beaumont.
The Inland Empire, Ohanian says, “is the value play for homebuyers … and there is lots of job growth.”
35 years in the works
Like many huge developments, Tapestry has been long debated in the High Desert community. Since Hesperia became a city in 1988, the project has overcome numerous challenges to reach its ground-breaking.
The original developer, investors from Orange County, bought the land in 1986. Four years later the first plans for what was then called “Los Rancho Flores” were approved by the city.
The Los Rancho Flores investors ran out of money amid the Great Recession. The current ownership group gained control of the property in 2012, buying the land out of bankruptcy.
The next battles included legal, environmental and infrastructure issues — including water rights. The final construction approval came in 2017.
Then, as the new owners were getting ready to start the building process, the pandemic iced the economy.
“You just have to ride through the ups and downs,” Ohanian says. “That’s just the way the business goes.”
Sales won't begin until 2023, target is first-time buyers
