Leading California Homebuilder Wathen Castanos Homes acquired by Trumark Homes
Clovis, Calif., October 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ – Wathen Castanos Homes, a leading award-winning California homebuilder, announced the acquisition of its homebuilding business by Trumark Homes, a subsidiary of Daiwa House USA Inc.
Originally founded in 1983 and currently led by President, CEO and partial owner Josh Peterson since 2014, Wathen Castanos Homes is a leading private homebuilder in California’s Central Valley and Central Coast with a long-established legacy of homebuilding success. Currently building in San Luis Obispo, Monterey Bay, Clovis, Fresno and Madera, Wathen Castanos Homes is known for its award-winning design and energy efficiency.
“We are very excited and honored to join the Trumark Homes family,” said Peterson. “This transaction represents the culmination of an extensive process run by Tony McGill and his team at Zelman to analyze our strategic alternatives and find the best long-term partner for all of our stakeholders, and especially our employees, land partners and subcontractor partners. Over the decades that we have been in the homebuilding industry, we have always been guided by a foundation of quality and values, a tradition of craftsmanship, and dedication to high quality customer care. Trumark Homes shares these same guiding principles as well as the resources to accelerate our growth, which makes them the perfect match for us.”
Trumark Homes launched a new homebuilding division in Colorado in 2021, capitalizing on the robust housing market there. That move marked the company’s first foray outside of California, signaling its ambition to become a dominant player in the western U.S. homebuilding landscape. The acquisition of Wathen Castanos Homes is the next step toward that vision as the company eyes additional growth opportunities in the Western United States to take advantage of the vast resources of Trumark’s parent company Daiwa House.
“Our acquisition of Wathen Castanos Homes is a unique opportunity to fulfill several of our strategic goals,” said Gregg Nelson, co-founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Trumark Companies. “First and foremost, our companies share a similar culture as well as a commitment to building quality homes and providing an unparalleled homebuyer experience.”
Added Michael Maples, co-founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Trumark Companies, “With today’s announcement, our homebuilding portfolio is now contiguous from Northern California to Southern California. This is another important step forward in our vision of becoming the dominant regional homebuilder in the West, as this acquisition will allow us to exceed $1B in revenue in 2024.”
Nelson, Maples, and Peterson emphasized the quality of employees and dedication both Trumark and Wathen Castanos have to their highly skilled teams as integral to the value of joining the two companies.
Zelman, a subsidiary of Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD), served as exclusive sell-side investment banker to Wathen Castanos Homes. Zelman is the leading investment bank dedicated exclusively to the U.S. housing industry. This transaction continues Zelman’s position as the #1-Ranked M&A advisor for residential builders and developers since 2015.
JTW Advisors LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Trumark Homes for this transaction.
SOURCE Wathen Castanos Homes
Ariette at Westerra, a new home collection in Fresno, offers beauty and functionality for various lifestyles and families. These homes are particularly great for first-time homebuyers, with an assortment of floorplans and price points starting in the low $300s. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice quality for affordability, and buying an Ariette plan means you won’t have to.
The Ariette collection features single and two-story homes with six plans ranging from 1,163 – 2,044 square feet, including one brand new plan, Canon. These floorplans are all highly functional, with open concept designs and an effortless flow from one room to the next. Not only does Ariette offer great floorplans and accessible pricing, but it also boasts a convenient location near new and existing local amenities.
Westerra is a master-planned community located in the West-Fresno region, the heart of cultivation and growth. The community offers three different home collections – Ariette, Emery, and Prominence– and has multiple parks and walking paths throughout the neighborhood. It is in the highly acclaimed Central Unified School District, adjacent to the new Central Unified Educational Complex, which includes the brand new Justin Garza High School, Glacier Point Middle School and Harvest Elementary School. The community is also just a short drive up Highway 99 to the Marketplace at El Paseo, a dynamic shopping district with big box and entertainment retail, restaurants, and services. With quick access to the highway from Westerra, you can get wherever you need to go in a breeze!
If you are interested in finding out more about Ariette at Westerra, we are happy to offer several different options to help get you started you on your home buying journey:
Tour the models in person, opening this summer!
Visit the community page and take a virtual tour online
Chat with a sales agent via our LiveChat feature
Speak to an agent via phone at 559.475.6966
We look forward to connecting with you and can’t wait to help you join the Wathen Castanos Homes family!
Part of the excitement of buying a new home is the opportunity to design, decorate, and create a space you love. When you purchase a new home with Wathen Castanos, you get a head start on personalization with our design team, who help you choose things like elevation style, colors and interior finish options. Once your new home is built, and you start settling in, the real fun begins – decorating! Below are four simple tips to help get you started.
Having an idea in mind for how you want your new home to look and feel is essential as you start the decorating process, and creating mood boards is a perfect way to figure out what you like. Decide on what emotions you want to invoke; do you want something cool and fresh or comfy and cozy? Pinterest is a great place to gather inspiration, and usually, you can purchase those exact pieces in just a click. You can start to pick out the similarities and decide what you want or don’t want from the pins you save. Playing around with the layout of your saved pins can also help you visualize the space. Getting paint and fabric swatches are also helpful tools when creating a mood board as it allows you to understand how different elements might come together. From this, you can figure out what color story will work best.
A great way to determine a color scheme is finding a piece of furniture or art that you love and working off those colors for the rest of the décor. This will help keep the color story cohesive throughout the space.
It is also important to remember that colors can have different effects on a space. For example, a darker accent wall can make a room feel more closed off and make the lighting appear darker, versus a lighter accent wall which can make the room feel more open. When selecting paint, it is important to try out swatches of your top contenders and live with it for a few days. Seeing those swatches during various times of the day can help you decide which colors feel best. It is also important because the way a color looks under artificial lighting might be very different than how it looks in your home’s natural lighting.
If your goal is to have a space that feels more open, we recommend starting with a neutral base – light-colored floors and walls – and then add pops of more dramatic colors. This can be accomplished with items like rugs, art, and throw pillows. The added benefit of using smaller, trendy colorful transitional pieces is that you can switch your color palette up more frequently without a substantial cost.
When picking out large furniture, it is crucial to think of the longevity of the piece; how often do you want to change it out? It may be better to choose timeless versus trendy pieces. We also recommend going to furniture stores and see products in person, even if you buy online. Going into stores can give you a better sense of what you like and provide an opportunity to know the piece’s functionality for yourself. Getting fabric swatches of the furniture you are interested in also helps when shopping for various accent accessories.
As mentioned previously, when it comes to following trends, we recommend choosing small décor items that can be easily changed and won’t break the bank if and when you decide to switch things up. But, if that pink cheetah print couch is calling your name, make the jump and go for it! This leads us to the final tip.
The most important tip when designing and decorating your home is to make it your own! Since you will be the one living in it, make it a place you want to be and fill it with things that bring you joy. Explore adding personal touches, like souvenirs from a vacation, a childhood toy, or your child’s artwork in a frame to showcase what matters to you. The mixing of sentimental and intentional elements can give your home more personality and create a welcoming environment for guests. Decorating and designing your home isn’t always about following trends, but creating a space that brings you happiness and the ability to connect with those most important – so don’t be afraid to take risks too!
We hope these tips help you create a home that is uniquely you and functional for your lifestyle. Be sure to tag us in your photos on social media – we would love to see how you decorate your new Wathen Castanos Home!
Much like the various buildings that can be seen throughout San Luis Obispo, the new homes built within our South Morros community reflect the town’s rich Spanish and farming heritage. The homes’ unique designs include Transitional Craftsman, Contemporary Spanish, and Farmhouse Revival architectural stylings, with soothing earth tone colors inspired by the local rolling hills and surrounding area.
The town of San Luis Obispo began with the founding of the Old Mission in 1772. As different cultural groups moved into the area over time, changes in construction methods, architectural styles and uses of materials occurred – ranging from Spanish to Victorian, Craftsman to Farmhouse, and the more modern styles we see throughout the city today.
The homes at South Morros pull direct inspiration from San Luis Obispo’s architectural heritage. The Transitional Craftsman elevation features a covered, raised porch with stunning tapered columns and clapboard wood siding. The Contemporary Spanish, a beautiful modern take on the style that SLO was founded upon, features definitive flat or low-pitch roofs, tile and arched doors and windows. The Farmhouse Revival features a traditional pitched roof with metal accents, board-and batten-siding and overhanging porch.
Crafted with quality and designed with care, all of the new homes built at South Morros in San Luis Obispo include floorplans that are both functional and beautiful. Open concepts of the living room, dining room, and kitchen that connect effortlessly to the outdoors; an owner’s suite on the first floor of select plans, ideal for those that want a bit more privacy from the other bedrooms, with large walk-in closets, shower, and dual sink vanities; additional bedrooms, an optional loft, and centrally located laundry rooms upstairs. All of these features were thoughtfully implemented with the homeowner in mind.
With a variety of exterior styles and floorplans that range from 1,904 to 2,759 square feet, you are sure to find the new home that fits your needs.
Schedule an appointment to take a tour of the models, and picture yourself settling into one of these unique homes. Then go explore all that San Luis Obispo has to offer – beautiful historic buildings, award-winning vineyards, and charming restaurants and shops. You may discover that San Luis Obispo is a destination you won’t want to say goodbye to but instead call home.
There are times when a discovery turns the unexpected into a pleasant surprise. South Morros is this type of find. Nestled between the SLO city life and the rolling hills of the award-winning wine country is where you will find this collection of uniquely designed new homes.
In the desirable area for new construction, the location offers easy access to fantastic amenities and outdoor activities courtesy of the surrounding natural environment. The 53 home community is practically next door to a variety of wineries like Tolosa, Croma Vera, and Edna Valley, to name a few.
We’ll admit it might be hard to find on your first visit as it is among several new neighborhoods that require access from interior streets off of the more well known Orcutt Road. The beauty here is that South Morros is isolated from heavier traffic ways and yet still connected via the serene walk-able inner streetscapes.
We think it’s definitely worth a look. The architectural quality and craftsmanship set these homes worlds apart and connect to San Luis Obispo’s historical styles, such as Craftsman and Mission – with a contemporary twist.
You just can’t beat a new home in San Luis Obispo just minutes from local hot spots and scenic rolling hills. Most already know that San Luis Obispo is pretty close to paradise, next to the coast, with the best weather arguably in the world.
The quality of life on the Central Coast is second to none, from starting a business, relocating to a new one, or retiring from the crazy, competitive, high traffic crowded cities. Top schools and a growing technological industry blend into the thriving historic downtown district.
Finding South Morros might take more of a search but well worth the effort to discover a San Luis Obispo hidden gem.
We are humbled to be nominated for the 2021 Luxury Awards and would love your support!
Voting is open through Friday, January 15th, 2021.
With only a few homes remaining. Don’t miss this opportunity to own a beautifully crafted home just minutes from the Arroyo Grande Village.
To schedule an appointment, contact Jill at 805.301.6267 or Email Jill today.