Harmony @ One: Multimillion-Dollar Homes at Fassler & Roberts

How Does This Help Pacifica?

Pie in the Sky
Bob Pilgrim photo

According to Canadian developer Sonora Shores* (say what?), Pacifica's scruffy surfer overlook Roberts Road (between Fassler and Crespi) is to become home to something mysteriously branded as Harmony Estates. How's that grab ya?

*Note to the geographically challenged: Sonora is 145 miles east of Pacifica and not on the shores of any body of water that we know of.

Comments

[Big Banker]

Laurie:

Two different transactions.

One lot was sold.

The existing 2nd was refinanced with a bigger 2nd loan.

[Laurie Soca]

It sounds like the "one sale" (of a lot -- no house) was really a loan to the whole project.

[big banker]

There was an ad in the SF Chronicle Sunday paper the past two weekends. Almost two years since this article was posted and only one sale.

[Chick Filet]

Real estate marketing copy written by creative geniuses.

[alan wald]

Reading from the PacificUnion.com website:

-- "The city of approximately 38,000 is located north of Half Moon Bay..." (but no mention of that other little town called San Francisco).

-- "A skate park is available for skaters of all abilities..." (wow, a skate park, but no mention of Pacifica Pier).

-- "and citywide Wi-Fi service is available for residents, visitors, and businesses..." (oh, really?).

-- "The Sanchez Adobe history site dates back to prehistoric times..." (prehistoric?).

The things we learn from outside real estate developers.

[Jay Bird]

The Harmony@1 houses on Harmony Way/Harmony Court are being marketed through Pacific Union -- and it looks like they are complete:
http://www.pacificunion.com/areas/pacifica

[todd bray]

The zip code is for Dana Point. WTF does a resident of Dana Point want with us?
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Apparently, that's where Bijan Khosravi lives.)

[Jim Tierney]

Here is the lot that closed. Lot only; they bought the dirt and that's it:

Owner Information --
Owner Name: Khosravi, Bijan
Tax Billing Zip: 92629

Tax Information --
APN: 022-150-470
Lot Number: 3
Tax Area: 016017
Legal Description: LOT 3 OF HARMONY @ ONE RSM 139/36-42

Anyone know what has happened to the project?

[Spediacci]

I smell a Bernie Madoff, er uh, I mean a Javier inquisition coming right up!!!

OK. All together now, PONZI Party!!!!!!!!!!

Where is the money? Paved roads built first? Really? (Ponzi) Not one stick up on them thar hills. Foundations? None. Nada. Nothing. An effing sham. Shame on this ridiculous city I pay many taxes in.

Looks like Hazzard County is on track! Make no mistake, there will be homes up on them thar hills one day. Who knows what, when, or how. After the economy recovers from the impending "second wave" ahead, I would imagine. (Hold your money; its here.)

No. Really. WHERE IS THE MONEY????

Along with the trial that should be taking place, we need to bring down the people in City Hall, and the Planning Department as well. All should be held accountable for this disaster.

[www.Pacifica.city]

How long until we see a developer arguing that 58 homes on that site with 10,000-square-foot lots are the same square footage as nine homes with 1.5-acre lots?

Or 116 homes with 5,000-square-foot lots?

One thing's for sure, our sewer infrastructure can't handle either one. Every time we get a big storm, the sewers in Linda Mar overflow.

http://pacifica.city/images/PAC_WASTE_sso.jpg

[I believe (not)]

FWIW (likely nothing), the Facebook page is still up. I want to meet the sucker -- I mean, the smart new neighbor -- who "closed escrow" on the first property. Hopefully, I will run into him/her at the new Grocery Outlet.

[Thomas Clifford]

On February 15, Javier submitted plans for lots 7, 8, and 9. Lots 7 and 8 are supposed to have living roofs, but the plans show the buildings without this feature.

[big banker]

Javier, the official mouthpiece for Harmony @ 1, claims one property just closed escrow. This is in today's Pacifica Tribune.

I see the problems with this outrageous claim:

1. The Mechanics Lien for work that was unpaid has not been cleared. With a Mechanics Lien you cannot get clear title to the property. No title company in the country would insure this transaction.

2. No deed transfer has been recorded in San Mateo County.

Also, the website being taken down is extremely troubling.

[Jim Tierney]

All of the listings for the development have been removed from the MLS and the Harmony website is gone. I think it's official. The developer has pulled the plug on this really bad idea. Maybe I'm wrong?

[Jay Bird]

Shame on City Council and council member Mary Ann Nihart, who publicly endorsed this screw-up disaster for Pacifica.
http://www.mercurynews.com/pacifica-news/ci_26592190/4million-value-homes-living-harmony-above-pacific-ocean
It's easy to pick up a shovel, but it takes more work to learn what LEED Gold Standard means, and to track its progress. As we learned a year or so into the excarpment of Fassler hill, when Chavarria asked council to forego several Conditions of Approval, including LEED Gold Standard, he was not even aware of how to implement that standard.

Council should have professional planners who DO know LEED specifications review and analyze developer plans to avoid expensive problems of ill-thought-out plans.

[todd bray]

To Laurie, and anyone else interested in keeping an eye on this ridge line project, you can contact Lee Diaz at the city Planning Department and add your contact info to the list of folks already keeping tabs on Harmony @ 1. Each house will require a separate planning process and must adhere to the Conditions of Approval the project was given when first approved.

Please believe me, if there are any further shenanigans by these Canadians and/or their local contractors, there is already a line of folks ready to pounce.

[Peter Loeb]

Laurie, where do you see that the developer "appears to be asking for a pass on all the agreed-upon requirements"? If there's evidence that that's true, I think there are some people who will raise holy hell. I haven't heard anything from people who are knowledgeable about this project and the requirements. If there's something out there, let's get the facts.

[Laurie Soca]

Ex-Mayor Nihart, Digging for Dollars?
http://www.mercurynews.com/pacifica-news/ci_26592190/4million-value-homes-living-harmony-above-pacific-ocean
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Additional comments originally posted here have been deleted at the commenter's request.]

[Laurie Soca]

The developer's sign is down. I hope that does not mean the project is not going forward. It's been agreed on, and the hillside is all dug up -- and the views to the hill where the project is are no longer beautiful. The best thing is for the project to proceed properly.

[Color Me Skeptical]

This whole development smells like a sham. Each of us who lives here knows that no one in his or her right mind will pay high-four-to-five million to live in a middle-class town that offers no shopping for anyone with real money to spend just because it is "near" SF or Silicon Valley, when, for that kind of money, one can buy prime real estate in both places (complete with views and world-class shops). Yes, the views from the hills are beautiful, but the homes still overlook a highway and some folks are trying to double the size of that highway, which will have a significant impact on the vista and on home prices. Because the development makes no sense, a cynic could conclude that the plan is to make some sort of less-than-successful effort to sell the mega mansions and, when that fails (as it will), the developers will go to the Planning Department and City Council with a revised proposal to build three times the number of homes, which will list for much more reasonable prices. The argument will be that since the land has already been destroyed and the infrastructure is in place -- why not? And Planning and City Council will just say baa.

[Dan Underhill]

It is an old ploy. Change the situation on the ground and you have a whole new discussion: easier to get forgiveness than permission. How we deal with these deviations will decide how much of this misbehavior we get in the future. Forgiveness shouldn't be all that easy.

[Laurie Soca]

The approved site map for the mega mansions is different from what is being built. Most obvious, the one standalone home site is built with a road going down the ridge line to the house. That's not the same as what's on the plan.
http://www.pacificariptide.com/pacifica_riptide/2014/12/harmony-1-back-to-planning-commission-november-17.html

[Laurie Soca]

It's too bad, but it looks like these places are already slipping on a clay hill.

If you stand at the beach, you can see that almost every point on the hillside has been changed so that the project butts up from Pacifica's skyline.

Where is the Planning Department on Harmony@1? It appears that Planning is "asleep at the wheel."

[Lionel Emde]

"How can you run a city with a $47 million budget, and not have one accountant on staff?"

Badly.

All cities in this county have finance directors, except Pacifica. At least the new city manager recognized this deficiency and is beefing up this most important part of administration. I hope it is enough.

That being said, it was suggested by a close friend that she hoped the missing $4 million WAS malfeasance, as the city would have insurance for that. If it was solely the incompetence clearly displayed by Mr. Rhodes and the council in allowing this sort of faith-based finance to go on, we are truly f@@@ed.

[Jay Bird]

"There is no smell from that pump." We were just there today, and it was quite smelly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_New_Clothes#Plot