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| BOB WILSON, Valley Press Staff Writer |
| December 18, 2005 |
| Ritter Rising-Project could add 7,200 homes to city! |
| PALMDALE - Spectacular views of the Antelope Valley, 80 miles of trails, an 18-home golf course with water hazards, a community amphitheater, a library, a fire station, public schools, a commercial center, parks, a swim center and a lake are among the amenities the master-planned Ritter Ranch project intends to bring to homebuyers, representatives said Tuesday. |
| The Ritter Ranch project "is really, really exciting," said Teresa Sousa, vice president of forward planning for Ritter Ranch's new owner, SunCal Companies of Irvine. Although similar to the company's Tesoro del Valle project in Santa Clarita because it will include themed elements and natural landscaping, Ritter Ranch "has more open space than anything I've ever worked on," Sousa said. "We think it will be a big selling point." |
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| Plans for the project show elevations for more than two dozen distinct neighborhoods that will range from about 2,500 feet elevation, near 40th Street West and Elizabeth Lake Road, to about 3,500 feet elevation in the center of the development, construction manager Steve Sammartano said. |
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| The houses, commercial outlets and other developments will cover about 3,625 acres, while another 7,000 acres will be preserved, Sousa said. About 6,000 acres of those to be preserved have been donated to the Mountain Recreation Conservation Authority, she said. |
| The first phase of development, initiated after the April ground breaking, will include construction of about 1,000 homes at the northeast corner of the 18-square-mile site, Sousa said. About 7,200 homes and apartments were included in the original plans approved by the city, she said. The lots in the first phase will range from 5,000 square feet to 7,000 square feet, Sousa said. |
| Development of the entire Ritter Ranch project is expected to take between 10 and 15 years, said Dione Foster, public relations manager for SunCal's marketing firm, Roddan Paolucci Roddan of Palos Verdes Estates. |
| The Ritter Ranch property is characterized by hills blanketed with wildflowers in the spring and summer, a juniper woodland preserve and Joshua trees along the foothills of the Sierra Pelona Mountains, Foster said. Model homes for the first phase are expected to be ready for viewing by the first quarter of 2007. Ritter Ranch is bounded generally by 40th and 60th streets west, Elizabeth Lake Road and the Pelona Vista foothills. |
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