Though big builders are masters at finding space in highly developed areas to squeeze in urban villages and mixed-use complexes of 100-plus units, they generally avoid smaller lots that could hold two to 20 units.
Dubbed "orphan parcels," these so-called infill sites lack the potential for high profits. Consequently, most of these sites in Los Angeles County fall to nonprofit builders if they are to be developed, says Joe Carreras, regional housing planner for the Southern California Assn. of Governments. Nonprofit developers, in turn, tend to put up multifamily dwellings rather than single-family homes.
But some for-profit developers, such as Pasadena-based Trademark Development and Edgar Bourne Construction in Monrovia, are finding ways to use these orphan parcels to create small, single-family homes — some qualifying as price-reduced housing for buyers earning 80% to 120% of the median income.
Such projects can enrich a community by softening hard urban edges with single-family homes. Rather than neighborhood eyesores — vacant lots or dilapidated stores — the parcels become desirable spots.
Developers, said Raphael Bostic, director of the master's real estate development program at USC, "have to understand how it fits into the broader community."