Privately held SunCal outbid three others in the bankruptcycourt sale to acquire the Ritter Ranch property, site of along-stalled efforts to develop a new community in SouthwestPalmdale. With SunCal's acquisition, "Construction at Ritter Ranchwill move forward after a series of delays that have tied updevelopment for nearly a decade," says Frank Faye, president ofSunCal Cos. Los Angeles/Ventura Division. Ritter Ranch has longbeen considered for development, but the site has been leapfroggedin recent years by other developments as a result of thebankruptcy. Construction is scheduled to begin early next year onthe first of 7,200 home sites, a golf course, equestrian center,two lakes, approximately 100 acres of improved parkland, sixschools and an amphitheater. The first residents could begin livingin Ritter Ranch by the end of 2005, with development continuingover the next decade. Commercial development is planned on eightsites proposed within the project, all of them intended to servemulti-tenant, maximum two-story retail and office developmenttotaling approximately 73 acres. The commercial buildings willcomprise approximately 692,135 sf of gross leasable area, SunCalsays, with proposed uses to include neighborhood-serving retailstores, a farmers' market, a supermarket, an open-air amphitheatreand office space.Other current SunCal projects in development inthe area include Tesoro del Valle, Northlake and Plum Canyon, allwithin the Santa Clarita Valley. The company is also developingWestport at Mandalay Bay in Oxnard, which is California's first newcoastal waterway development in decades.