MW Investment Looks to Build 169 Townhomes in Duarte

MW Investment Group wants to build 169 townhomes on a former school site in Duarte.

Crestfield Townhomes, an affiliate of the Laguna Beach-based developer led by Matthew Waken, has filed plans to build the three-story complex at 1433 Crestfield Drive, LAYimby and Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

The project would replace the Andres Duarte Arts Academy, which closed two years ago because of dwindling enrollment.

The Duarte Unified School District, which owns the property, is co-developing the 14-acre site.

Plans for the development call for 169 three- and four-bedroom townhomes from 1,400 to 1,500 square feet. Parking lots would serve 338 cars.

The property includes the 6.3-acre Otis Gordon Sports Park, which would be redeveloped. The new park would have sports fields, picnic tables, an outdoor gym, walking paths, restaurants and a parking lot for 59 cars.

Pending approvals, including a general plan amendment and a zone change, the developer could break ground in April 2026 and complete the project in the San Gabriel Valley by September 2028.

The white and beige townhomes, designed by an undisclosed architect, would include a recreation center, according to renderings.

MW Investment Group, founded in 2014 and officially registered on Coto de Caza, has built 1,100 homes with a combined value of $500 million, according to its website and state business records.

In April last year, a proposal by the developer to redesign Rancho Duarte Golf Course was killed by the City Council after residents turned out to oppose the project at 1000 Las Lomas Road.

In October 2022, MW Investment won approval for another controversial plan to swap the pins of the seven-decade-old Pickwick Bowl in Burbank with 92 townhomes.

Early that year, MW paid $26.5 million for an 88,000-square-foot federal office complex in Los Alamitos.

— Dana Bartholomew