Considered by some Angelenos as just a place to escape for a weekend of scuba diving, Catalina is experiencing growth in new home construction for permanent residents.
Though the island’s primary industry remains tourism, the city of Avalon has seen a recent spate of proposals for new homes tailored specifically to full-time residents. City planners have approved permits for three new single-family homes, three multi-unit residential projects, and about 10 major remodeling projects over the past few months.
That represents a considerably higher total than in previous years, said Pete Woolson, Avalon’s assistant city manager and planning director. “It’s following the economy,” he said.
The city of Avalon, about 2.66 square miles in area, is home to 3,500 permanent residents but welcomes nearly 1 million visitors a year.
To control growth and pollution, only a limited number of permits are given for cars, and most of the community travels by golf cart, motorcycle, moped, bicycle or simply by walking.
As for building, there are typically no new lots available for construction. Most often, old homes are being knocked down to make way for new ones.
This year, however, the Santa Catalina Island Co., which fosters recreation and tourism on the island and is currently the largest nonprofit landowner in Catalina, released a handful of lots for development. The hot economy made it a good time to sell off six plots that the company had not yet developed, said Bret Carman, vice president of planning at the company.
Meanwhile, the company is also developing one of its existing lots itself. The Santa Catalina Island Co. is planning a seven-unit project of detached dwellings to be offered to its employees, and possibly others who currently live and work on Catalina. The company might retain a stake in the homes itself; it is currently working out a method for making sure investors don’t buy up the homes at a low price and then resell them at a premium.
Meanwhile, the city of Avalon is getting into the housing business as well. It plans to construct a 14-unit senior citizen housing project and a 24-unit affordable housing project, one of which is to be built in a large field previously used for industrial purposes.
According to local contractors, the bustling economy has brought a flurry of other activity, ranging from small remodeling jobs to completely new homes.
“We just finished three or four houses, and we’ve got five or six coming up,” said Pete Edwards, president of Fine Line Construction in Avalon. “For here, that’s a big deal, considering when I first got here (in 1985) we did about one (house) in a 10-year stretch.”
The relative bustle is welcome, because housing is so hard to come by in the densely packed city of Avalon.
“There has always been a real shortage. It’s always been very bad,” Edwards said. “Housing is a big deal.”
Because the economy is fueling all facets of business, including tourism, people can pay for remodels or new construction that they would have been unable to afford before.
“It’s very expensive over here,” Edwards noted. “Everything is very compressed, there’s no extra room. The cost per square foot for sales and construction is much higher over here probably a couple hundred dollars a square foot or more.”
There’s also a bit of a “keeping up with the Joneses” attitude, noted David Zeller, owner of Zeller Construction. After the city of Avalon and other groups joined together to refurbish a local country club, golf course, and walkways and landscaping, some residents felt like sprucing up their homes or stores.
“All the neighbors see us doing a little job, next thing you know, all the neighbors want us do to something (on their homes),” Zeller said.
