"It All Sounds Good on Paper, But..."

From the Tracy Press:

The first phase of the River Islands project will include 4,200 homes, condos and apartments. Two schools could be built by 2009 or 2010 to accommodate new students, said project coordinator Susan Dell’Osso. But first, River Islands will have to find buyers for the first phase of homes.
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[Banta superintendent William] Draa admits the valley housing market has significantly cooled since last year. But Dell’Osso is optimistic that the sheer variety of prices and styles will have people scrambling to buy. She said River Islands will offer everything from $300,000 condominiums to million-dollar waterfront homes. Model homes are expected to be built by the end of 2007, Dell’Osso said. And that means more students, Draa said.

Dell’Osso said she’s been working closely with the Banta district on building bigger roads to the existing school. Meanwhile, the district has spent $3.5 million on “modernizations” on existing facilities, including new driveways and sprinkler and alarm systems.
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It all sounds good on paper, but a drop of 30 percent to 40 percent in valley housing sales this year means River Islands will have a lot of competition, said Larry Rumbeck, president of the Central Valley Association of Realtors. Until the industry gets rid of its unsold inventory, he said, “I sure wouldn’t want to invest millions in infrastructure with the way housing is right now.”