Lennar Buys Brea Site for Redevelopment for $45 Million

One of Brea’s largest property owners has sold off a chunk of land in the city a year after buying it.

Dwight Manley sold 1698-1700 Greenbriar Lane in Brea to Hearthstone, a division of Lennar Homes, for $45 million, the Orange County Business Journal reported. The developer bought the site, home to an office building and accompanying parking lot, last October for $31.5 million, at the time the most expensive real estate deal in the Brea and La Habra area for the year leading up to the purchase.

Prior to Manley’s buy, 1698-1700 Greerbriar Lane was home to a Mercury Insurance office, though the firm is no longer in operation at the site. Mercury was one of the largest corporate employers in Brea before selling off several of its office holdings in the area to Manley.

With the property now in Lennar Homes’ hands, the homebuilder is proposing to convert the 9.7-acre site into a residential development with 179 units. The Brea City Council approved the housing project for that location in April.

Three types of housing have been proposed by Lennar for the site. The residences could take the form of five-plex buildings with one- and two-car garages; attached three-level duplexes with two-car garages, a side entry and rear yards; and attached three-level duplexes with two-car garages and rooftop decks.

The 179 units would rise in three smaller developments, including 80 units at The Courts, 26 units at The Yards, and 73 units at The Villas.

Those units would join other residential projects in the works to add to the city’s housing supply.

In April, the City Council approved the 120-unit Brea Plaza Apartments, which would be built above a two-level, 95-space parking structure next to the Brea Plaza shopping center. Last July, the city’s Planning Commission approved South Brea Townhomes, which would bring 32 for-sale single-family units to 685 South Brea Boulevard.

Under Brea’s approved housing element, the city must plan for 2,365 new housing units by 2029.

— Chris Malone Méndez