TECHNOLOGY: Ladera Ranch, a new community in south county, is an example of high-tech ‘smart’ homes.
By KATE BERRY | The Orange County Register | July 23, 1999
Beyond a white picket fence and a two-car garage, Orange County homebuyers are being lured by visions of cutting-edge “smart houses” filled with high-tech wizardry.
Coffee makers linked to a computer network that start automatically each morning. Stoves that lock when children come home from school. Video cameras that let parents keep an eye on the baby sleeping in another room while they watch TV.
This is the image painted by Orange County homebuilders as they prepare to unveil the latest “pre-wired” houses at Ladera Ranch, a planned 8,100-home community near Mission Viejo.
The model homes at Ladera will open for viewing July 31.
Even the standard homes at Ladera Ranch will come with four high-speed Internet connections and wiring for a local area computer network.
Other standard features include 24-hour Internet access, a community intranet, and individual Web pages and e-mail for every resident.
The rest of the “smart home” vision the seemingly endless potential for new technological gizmos Ñ depends on new homeowners hiring contractors to install and program new equipment.
“Technology decisions are made here, not unlike the color of your carpet or paint on the wall,” said Tom Reiman, a consultant to Ladera Ranch and principal of The Broadband Group, a technology consultant based in Sacramento.
Standing in the closet of a model home, Reiman grabs a handful of wires and coaxial sticking out of a computer control panel he calls “the heart of the home.” He explains how features can be added to the hub for additional costs Ñ to control security, appliances, lighting, video and climate control.
Similar high-tech options are available in other cities, but homes elsewhere are not pre-wired for a community intranet, as they will be at Ladera Ranch.
Northpark, a 350-acre, 1,600-home community in Irvine being developed by the Irvine Co., gives residents 24-hour, high-speed Internet access over cable lines which is fast becoming a standard among homebuilders. In a bow to developing the community, Northpark also has its own Web site, operated by Cox Interactive Media, a unit of Cox Communications, that publishes local information, like traffic reports and news.
Since the debut in 1997 of the first “wired” community in the United States, Walt Disney Co.’s Celebration in Orlando, Fla., homebuilders have been refining the concept of using technology to enhance a return to old-style neighborhoods complete with front porches, sidewalks, nearby stores and local schools.
Cutting-edge technology can bring enormous profits for homebuilders Ñ in this case, Rancho Mission Viejo LLC and its telecommunications partner Cox Communications Inc., which will lay the underground lines for Ladera’s high-speed data network at an estimated cost of $12 million.
“People are gladly willing to pay 10 percent and 20 percent more for a home that is wired and has a community network,” said Ken Liles, general manager of DMB Resources, the technology arm of developer DMB Consolidated Holdings LLC, of Phoenix, a partner in Ladera Ranch.
“It’s not enough to just give people a fast connection to the Internet,” Liles said.
The cost of wiring the network and building the community intranet is incorporated into the home price at Ladera Ranch, where home prices range from $200,000 to $1 million. Residents get the pipe to their home for free, but they have to buy the “extras” themselves, including a cable modem and connection to the Internet Ñ both provided by Cox.
The intranet fits in with Ladera’s neighborhood concept. Along with the homes’ cozy front porches and proximity to neighbors, the intranet helps residents “connect” with each other, people involved in the project say.
“The concept is that if one of the soccer team’s practices gets cancelled on Saturday, everyone who needs to is notified,” said Scott Sultzer, vice president of information services at Merit Property Management in Mission Viejo, which is managing the intranet. “The hope is it’s going to make everything easier to manage all these things for families.”
Using specially designed software, residents will be able to publish information on the intranet about a variety of community groups from Little League teams to a babysitter network, from gardening clubs to poker games.
A content coordinator who manages the intranet will name one person in each group as the “publisher,” with the authority to write articles and update information that can be viewed by all residents or only by the group.
“We’ve done preliminary tests that showed unbelievable participation,” said Liles, of DMB Resources, which created the software for the community intranet, known as Ladera Life. At least three full-time staff members will manage the intranet and train residents how to use it.