A new housing development will fill one of the last available spaces in Shell Beach.
Tuesday marked the start of construction on a new Spanish-style housing development at Beachcomber Drive and Shell Beach Road. Solemar is set to include 12 townhomes and eight single-family homes.
Mardee Whitehouse lives in Shell Beach and said the change is not surprising.
“I miss the empty lots just for wildlife," Whitehouse said. "But, I gotta be honest, if it was an empty lot, someone's going to build. That's the way it is.”
Tom McNeal and his late brother, Fred, were from Southern California but dreamed of developing the Shell Beach property since they bought it back in the 1980s.
“We just scraped everything together that we possibly could," McNeal said. "We bought the property and we thought we would be doing this much, much sooner than we are now. So it's been a long, long time in development.”
Two of the new homes will be for the men’s families. Following his brother’s death earlier this year, McNeal said he’s carrying on both of their dreams.
“One of the last conversations I had with him, he was gung ho," McNeal said. "I mean, he said, he actually said, 'I want to see it built wherever I am.'”
The six other single-family homes on 3,200 to 4,000-square-foot lots will be customizable, allowing the buyers to work with contractors.
“We're going to be selling the lots as vacant parcels with plans," explained realtor Lindsey Harn. "A buyer can, in that way, customize what they want and so ultimately they'll be responsible for finishing the construction, hiring the contractor.”
Harn said she can't disclose pricing for the homes just yet, but that the lots could go up for sale as early as July or August.
Whitehouse said she worries about short-term rentals like Airbnbs in the area but understands most of the houses in the area sit empty.
“So many of these homes here are vacant half the time," Whitehouse said. "They buy something here and they come a week every two months and that's it. But if it's built up and looks nice, I have no objection.”
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