272-HOME PROJECT MOVES AHEAD: GRADING PREPARES FORMER QUARRY SITE OVERLOOKING PETALUMA RIVER, HIGHWAY 101 FORCONSTRUCTION IN COMING YEAR

Heavy equipment is busy again, preparing land on a hillside overlooking the Petaluma River for homes to be constructed next year.

Los Angeles-based KB Home plans next summer to start building 272 houses and townhomes on the former Dutra quarry site, which is readily visible from Highway 101 at the south end of Petaluma.

"We hope to open for information in the spring," said Craig LeMessurier, a spokesman for the home builder. The company plans to begin sales next summer.

The 43-acre project along Petaluma Boulevard South was initially approved in 2005, and site work began. KB Homes purchased it the next year, but development was delayed until the 135-foot-deep quarry could be filled and reclaimed to meet state requirements.

The project features 130 single-family houses at Sterling Hills at Quarry Heights, 142 townhomes at Stoneridge at Quarry Heights and seven parks totaling more than five acres.

Prices for the houses will start in the low $400,000s, LeMessurier said. The townhomes will be priced starting in the high $300,000s.

KB is one of several national home builders active in the Sonoma County market during the prolonged downturn in home construction.

Miami-based Lennar Homes is selling homes in both Petaluma and Santa Rosa. And Meritage Homes of Scottsdale, Ariz., has verified plans to start construction within the next year on an unbuilt subdivision with more than 130 homes sites in Santa Rosa.

KB Home's last Sonoma County construction was in 1997 in Santa Rosa.

At its Petaluma development, model homes likely will be ready next summer. Buyers will be able to choose from eight single-family floor plans and nine townhome plans.

The company typically builds homes to order, allowing buyers to select such finishing touches as flooring and cabinets.

"We really try to bring customization to the buyer," LeMessurier said.

The company is grading the land, taking steps to control erosion from winter storms, he said. Streets will be built in phases.

KB Home has developments in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Florida, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Washington, DC.

Staff Writer Robert Digitale blogs about local real estate at realestate.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. He can be reached at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com.