Trumark Homes buys remaining 37 sites in long-unfinished San Rafael Loch Lomond project

Fourteen years after the San Rafael City Council approved the mixed-use marina community, including years of working out how the promised below-market-rate housing would be built, the Loch Lomond project has a new builder for the remaining homes.

Los Angeles-based Marina Village Associates LLC on April 15 sold the lots to an affiliate of California-based Trumark Homes at a recorded value of $24.95 million, according to county documents.

Trumark plans to build 37 dwellings within the Village of The Strand at Loch Lomond, with a goal of bring all of them to market next year, according to an announcement Thursday. The company expects over $65 million in gross sales revenue from sales of the homes.

“As an existing site offering new home product with a limited supply of waterfront units, our acquisitions team quickly identified Loch Lomond as the perfect opportunity to expand our luxury home portfolio in the Bay Area,” said Tony Bosowski, Northern California Division president, in a news release. “With captivating bay views, spacious floor plans and a secluded yet well-connected location to downtown San Francisco, our Loch Lomond community provides homebuyers with a valuable, long-term investment that can grow alongside their family’s evolving needs for years to come.”

The 131-acre marina with a 519-slip harbor is owned by Dallas-based SHM Loch Lomond, according to the city webpage on the project. The City Council approved the Village at Loch Lomond mixed-use project in 2007 with 81 homes, 17 of which would be priced below market.

Marina Village Associates started building homes in 2013 after the Great Recession, the Marin Independent Journal reported. The first phase of the housing portion, called The Strand at Loch Lomond, had 44 homes, and those were built and occupied, including 11 of the below-market units, according to the city and the paper.

An Andy’s Local Market grocery store was constructed as part of the original plan.

The requirement for 17 below-market-rate units was based on the city’s 20% inclusionary housing policy, but in 2019 the Planning Commission questioned whether that should be reduced to 10% to 15% to kick-start development, according to the Marin Independent Journal. Last year, the City Council approved a "buy-out“ of the agreement that would allow Marina Village Associates to pay $3.6 million instead of building the remaining six price-restricted homes.

At that time, the developer told the City Council that it was courting buyers for the remaining home lots, according to the publication.

Trumark said it wants to construct at The Strand at Loch Lomond 18 single-family, two-story detached homes; 14 two-story townhomes; and five condominium flats above a mixed-use building that would have shops for local-serving retailers.

The two-story detached homes would range in size from 2,111 to 3,360 square feet, three to four bedrooms and two and a half to four bathrooms, with some plans offering lofts, flex space and dens. The townhomes would have 1,815–1,967 square feet with three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms. The condos would have 1,943 square feet and have two to three bedrooms and two to three bathrooms.

Trumark said it is currently targeting buyers from the San Francisco Peninsula seeking lower density housing, larger outdoor space and more flexible floor plans to accommodate their new work-from-home lifestyles. New homes in The Strand at Loch Lomond would start in the mid-$1.5 million range.

A recent sale in The Strand was a three-bedroom, four-bathroom home with 3,121 square feet. It sold on March 5 for $2.6 million, according to real estate information service RealtyTrac.

San Ramon-based Trumark early last year became 60% owned by Daiwa House USA, part of publicly traded Daiwa House Industry Co. Ltd., Japan’s largest homebuilder.

Since Trumark started in 1988, it has focused on California and built over 8,000 homes. The Loch Lomond project is one of Trumark’s seven new communities in Northern California. Crest and Leeward on the island of Alameda opened sales in winter of last year. The homebuilder’s other communities the region include Edendale in Danville; Compass Bay in Newark; Harmony in Sunnyvale; and Origin, a premier age-qualified community in Manteca and the first WELL-certified residential community.