Plans announced for massive new rental-only Santa Maria housing development

SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- Plans were announced Thursday to build "Blosser Ranch," a new large-scale rental-only housing development in Santa Maria.

The project site is located along South Blosser Road, in between West Battles Road and West Stowell Road, diagonally across the street from the southwest corner of the Santa Maria Fairpark.

Los Angeles-based Canfield Development Inc. intends to build a strategically planned community with phased home and apartments units.

"This is going to include single family homes. It will also include multi-family rental apartments that will have both market rate and affordable," said Jared Brenner-Goldstein, Canfield Development Inc. Managing Partner. "I think what you can expect in the project is a really, really high-quality residential project that will cater to the people that live here and the new people coming to the area for these jobs. It will look just as good, if not better than single-family home developments that you're used to, or multi-family developments that you're used to."

The project is unique in that the developers intend to offer the housing units only as rentals, including the single-family homes.

"It is planned as a rental concept, so the apartments are for rent, but also the homes are actually rental offerings. They'll be highly amenitized, built to the exact same quality as for sale housing. It really fits that unmet that middle-market at rental product for someone that doesn't necessarily want to live in a one or two bedroom unit, but isn't sure they're going to be in an area for five or 10 years, or doesn't have the down payment."

According to Canfield, Blosser Ranch will include single detached homes that average 2,000 square feet in size with three to four bedrooms, a garage and a two-car driveway.

Smaller sized homes averaging 700 square feet will also be included in the project, as will apartment units.

Apartments will vary in size, with studios to three-bedroom models available that range from 500 to 1200 square feet.

Each of the planned communities will include clubhouse, study lounge, pool, gym and spa.

The 160 acre site is currently the last large-scale agricultural farmland located within the city landscape.

"This property is actually relatively close to within the center of town," said Chuen Ng, Santa Maria Community Development Director. "It's close to a lot of amenities, close to our services and shopping. It's been planned It's been planned for many years for future development and we're finally seeing the development applications."

If approved, the project would continue an ongoing building boom in Santa Maria.

"There's a lot of residential construction happening in the city," said Ng. "There's three major apartment complexes that are being built. Santa Maria Studios on Santa Maria Way and Miller, Centennial Gardens on Battles and Depot, and then Lakeview mixed-use, we also call it Elements by Skyway and Highway 135. In total, it's about 500 housing units coming online in the next year."

The project is expected to be discussed by the Santa Maria Planning Department in January 2023.

"We are really, really excited about this project and hopefully as the city progresses, more to come," said Brenner-Goldstein.

For more information on the Blosser Ranch housing developmemt, click here.