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I went today to check out the houses, and was dissapointed with the view. I do like the courtyard feel when you enter the houses.  The decor and upgrades were less than I expected for houses at this price range. I prefer Trevi or Hidden Canyon over this community.
 
WTTCHMN said:
Went to the Grand Opening today.  As NYT mentions, the homes are impressive.  Better than Trevi (which I wasn't that impressed with anyway) and much better floorplans than Hidden Canyon (sorry, Caitlin).

ps9 will like plan 1... it reminded me of La Vita plan 4.  IHS, with his internalized sinophobia, will also approve, as the crowd was 98% white.  IHO, however, will fail (no 3 CWG, which was surprising given the $3.7 million price point).  In fact, two of the plans had no option for even a tandem garage.

I was surprised at the low turnout.  They clearly expected more people with 20 valet parking attendants just mulling around.  The signage leading up the models was poor (no flags, no big TIC directional signs).  Fiano is part of a built-out gated community, which I didn't realize.  I had to ask the gate attendant if I was even in the right place.  If you go, I'd definitely take directions or you won't find it.

It's at the top of the hill, which means your ears will pop multiple times as you ascend.  Don't know if I would like going up and down the hill every day, especially since the school is at the bottom.  It's definitely not walkable, or even bikeable (for a kid).

The valet parking was a nice touch.  No food, but they were giving out really nice embroidered hats and boxed chocolate toffee.  TNHC must have also read TI because the floorplans weren't photocopied this time but printed on foldout paper and presented in a folder.

The front setbacks were very impressive.  The backyards, however, were small, considering the size of the homes.  I was also really disappointed with the views.  I expected more given the hype and the altitude of the community.  I wouldn't even call them ocean views... more like peek-a-boo ocean.

I was also surprised that the great rooms and bedrooms were comparatively small (again, given the size of the homes).  But they definitely went all out on the closets.  All of the closets, including those for the secondary bedrooms, were massive.

Overall, the models were well done and definitely worth looking at.  If I had to rank the current offering of 4,000+ sq ft homes, I'd say Fiano > Trevi > Hidden Canyon.
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I attended the grand opening of Fiano this weekend. I agree with much of what WTTCHMN has posted.  Very low turnout, compared to any grand openings in Irvine. There was also no signage for the community outside of the Pacific Ridge gates (however, once you're inside the gated community, there are signs leading to the models & sales office).

Does anyone else find it interesting that Irvine Company has not marketed Pacific Ridge or Fiano at all? Irvine Co has websites for Crystal Cove & all of the "Villages of Irvine," but nothing for this.

My guess is the lack of Irvine Co marketing + the lack of newspaper coverage (the OC Register had a story about THNC's Oliva community in SJC but no advertising or mention of Fiano) + lack of outside signage led to a small turn-out. But maybe that's what TNHC wanted? (i.e. keep most of the riffraff out?)

There was fewer people than at NYT's preview event, less than 15 other people when I was there. I was one of two Asians there, everyone else was white. The other Asian was a young Asian lady who was accompanied by a much older, middle aged white man. Hmmm.....

About the floorplans, I think they are more functional than TB's floorplans at Hidden Canyon. But probably less memorable and less dramatic. No grand curving starcases, but the living spaces are more useful to how the 1%'er American families want to live.

It was strange that none of these floorplans had a third car garage, they had a two car garage + a storage space with a garage door in front of it. If you look at the floorplans, it wouldn't have been too difficult to have pushed back a wall or two to create enough space for a real 3rd car garage. Maybe Irvine Co didn't want to allow three car garages on these lots and this was the compromise.

Location was very nice, there was not a real ocean view but the ocean breeze was there, temperature was cooler than in Irvine.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
Am I really the first one to point out the difference in these pics and pics from Irvine new home grand openings?
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Newport Coast grand opening:  Valet parking, guests sipping on champagne, orchestra playing music, blonde women who look like Real Housewives of Orange County, businessmen talking about golf & their latest venture

Irvine grand opening:  Tour bus, people bumping & pushing each other to get to the free coffee bar, screaming children, Asians/Indians/Middle Easterners talking in their native languages refusing to interact with others outside their race, white sales agent thinking "what the f did I get myself into?"
 
thelandofnoland said:
Question: Is the Tides at Crystal Cove still selling or are they sold out? It seems that they are selling lots without homes in that development? Is that the way they are selling it, and you can only build one of their homes, or can you build any home you want on that land? And also, there is about 70 lots left in Crystal Cove with no plans yet to build anything. Does anybody have info on this?
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So, for an update from OC Business Journal,
http://www.nwhm.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/05.18.15_OCBJ_Corporate.pdf

TNHC will be building in Crystal Cove on about 60 of the 70 (?) remaining lots. This is not surprising because Irvine Company has a long standing relationship with execs at TNHC. (Many of the execs at TNHC were previously at John Laing Luxury, which went belly up during the recession)

The article says they will be divided into two sites -- my guess is that smaller lots (which were marked for Laing Luxury's Nautilus) will be one community & the larger lots (which were supposed to be part of Laing Luxury's Seapoint) will be the other community.

The article also says that TNHC is working with Irvine Co to build communities in Orchard Hills & Portola Springs. TNHC is paying over $250 million for a total of 195 lots.
 
$250,000,000 / 195 lot = land cost alone is $1,282,051 per lot. Those are going to be some pretty spendy new homes.
 
Toured the models yesterday. Consistently TNHC, extremely stylish homes made for entertaining. The wood inserts on the stair treads in plan 2 were a nice touch, as were the fancy walk-in closets. Overall much more favorable compared to Trevi, but then it is a million bucks more. Functional family-oriented floorplans in comparison to Oliva. So only the cul-de-sac lots on Seaview will have actual ocean views?
 
So which plan does everyone else like and why?  Are these homes a good buy (in the first phase)?
 
It appears that all 39 homesites were taken in first few seconds of priority registeration. I must have just missed it as I registered as soon as it allowed me.  Too bad...
 
Happylife6 said:
It appears that all 39 homesites were taken in first few seconds of priority registeration. I must have just missed it as I registered as soon as it allowed me.  Too bad price was great.
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There is always hidden canyon and orchard hills :)
 
Happylife6 said:
It appears that all 39 homesites were taken in first few seconds of priority registeration. I must have just missed it as I registered as soon as it allowed me.  Too bad...
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Did you click at 10am?  I wonder how many of those people are prequalified, actual buyers (not agents), waiting for future phases, etc?  Were you told that you couldnt get one of the first round of homes?
 
Coleman said:
I wonder what percent of the 39 were actually sold by word of mouth prior to registration.
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I dont think all 39 are gone as the homes are being released in phases.  I think there were around 9 homes available the first round (phase I & II).  I'm not sure how many of those are already sold.  I'm sure many people with good time stamps were holding off for some of the better lots to be released in the later phases (probably at higher price points).
 
I think the lots are still available but you have to have pre registered and the earlier you did it the higher up in priority you are to bid on lots. Next release in 6 weeks. I suppose you could pre register but not sure if you would be in line with a number of others...
 
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