IRVINE, CA—Urban infill isn't for the fainthearted, entailing assembling parcels into a cohesive whole and dealing with complex financing, among other issues, TRI Pointe Group's CEO Doug Bauer tells GlobeSt.com. The company's infill-development strategies are an important part of its overall land strategies. We sat down with Bauer for an exclusive interview about some of the changes at the firm and why urban infill is so important to it in so many markets.

GlobeSt.com: Tell us about some of the exciting new changes at TRI Pointe Group.

Bauer: TRI Pointe Group's $2.8-billion merger with Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Co. last year created one of the top-10-largest public homebuilders by equity-market capitalization in the US and placed the combined company in an enviable land position of controlling 29,000 lots across eight states.

GlobeSt.com: Why is urban infill important to your firm?

Bauer: Most of the housing industry's largest builders now operate urban divisions that are focused on creating walkable communities. With urban infill trending nationally, a key part of our land strategy is now urban-infill development, which is enjoying a renaissance in the second and third stages of the housing recovery. TRI Pointe Group focuses on livability, practicality and proximity to economic drivers as the keys to any winning infill project. It's a blend of finding the right locations and where people want to live—instead of just tolerate—that's important to us.

GlobeSt.com: What is the most challenging component of urban-infill developments?

Bauer: Urban infill isn't for the fainthearted. Assembling parcels into a cohesive whole is always a challenge, as is the complexity of financing and building mixed-use projects. The challenge for TRI Pointe Group, as for any expansion-minded builder, is the availability and cost of land where people most want to live. Development and construction opportunities within sprawling master-planned communities are getting harder to come by, particularly those closer to job centers. The regulatory climate and opposition to development are also contributing to the challenges builders and developers face. These and other factors are driving us to pursue urban-infill opportunities more assertively.

GlobeSt.com: What should our readers know about your projects in Huntington Beach?

Bauer: In October 2010, TRI Pointe Homes Southern California agreed to pay the Fountain Valley School District $35 million for two parcels, both in the middle of residential neighborhoods and each with a shuttered elementary school on site. We are now building 49 homes, or about six to the acre, at the Wardlow site, whose community name is now “Truewind.” At the 11.65-acre Lamb School site, now called “Fairwind,” TRI Pointe Homes is building 80 homes, or nearly seven units to the acre.

GlobeSt.com: What were the largest challenges to those projects?

Bauer: The derelict buildings had become a hangout for transients and teenagers, and one side of the school was once a playground area with open space that neighbors assumed they could use for their own purposes. We had to show the community how it would benefit from allowing these properties to be rezoned for single-family detached housing and letting the builder create more density and smaller lots.

GlobeSt.com: How are you meeting the need for more housing options in Denver?

Bauer: Denver is a tough market for any new housing project. The threat of construction-defect litigation, filed by homeowners' associations to mitigate future claims, always looms, especially after lawmakers recently failed to strengthen builders' right-to-repair remedies. But TRI Pointe Homes still aims to create for-sale neighborhoods and pursue infill opportunities with limited common elements. Platt Park North, our first urban-infill project in Colorado, put that strategy to the test, and it worked, since it's already sold out. Located just east of a former rubber factory that is being razed for a massive mixed-use redevelopment, Platt Park North is about a mile from Washington Park, one of Denver's biggest parks and recreational areas.

GlobeSt.com: What design tricks are used to address the narrow architecture at Platt Park?

Bauer: In designing the homes, we focused on how the interiors would be positioned vis-à-vis the open space and how the windows and doors relate to open areas. The space separating the houses is very tight—the houses themselves are only 21.5 feet wide, but this neighborhood is being developed as an alternative to townhouse living, with glass on all sides and usable outdoor space. The narrow architecture compelled us to pay closer attention to fire ratings, the orientation of rooms and particularly the locations of the master bedroom for the sake of owners' privacy.

GlobeSt.com: How is TRI Pointe responding to the real estate boom in the San Francisco Bay Area?

Bauer: In 2012, TRI Pointe Homes Northern California set a goal to build at least 300 new homes every year for the following five years in the East and South Bay areas near San Francisco and Oakland. The goal for those markets has already increased significantly, since as that 300-homes-per-year target will represent the core infill portion of our portfolio going forward.

GlobeSt.com: Tell us about your projects in the Bay Area.

Bauer: Catellus Alameda Development chose us as its preferred builder for a 72-acre redevelopment infill project called Alameda Landing, about 4 miles from Oakland. Thirty acres are earmarked for housing, and we are building 255 homes in three phases including 91 two- and three-story single-family detached homes in a community called Cadence, 108 condos and flats in a community called Linear and 56 townhomes in a community called Symmetry. Homebuyers seeking mass-transit options can avail themselves of AC Transit, including express bus service to and from San Francisco, BART shuttle service and two ferry systems to Oakland and San Francisco. Alameda Landing's other components include approvals for 400,000 square feet of office space, 300,000 square feet of retail and 8 acres of open space. A new Super Target and Safeway have already opened.

GlobeSt.com: How is TRI Pointe Group implementing its urban-infill process in the Washington, DC, area?

Bauer: Silver Spring, MD, is a prime opportunity for urban infill. Winchester Homes, a member of TRI Pointe Group, is managing this redevelopment project with the demolishing of older garden-style apartments on 28 acres to make room for 171 townhouses, which Winchester will build, and a high-rise with 1,500 rental units being developed by another builder.

GlobeSt.com: What attracted you to this area?

Bauer: Several components attracted Winchester Homes to this site. The property abuts Glenmont Metrocenter, a terminal for a subway artery into Washington, DC. This area was also underserved for housing. The only other project of any scale aside from the Glenmont redevelopment is Poplar Run, a 36-hole golf course 2 miles from the Metro that Winchester acquired and where it is building 773 homes.