Posted July 2026 | By Eric Engelbert | Updated as the project progresses.
717 Lyon by Toll Brothers: 51 Gated Townhomes on a Former Electrical Training Site in Santa Ana
717 Lyon is Toll Brothers' gated community of townhome-style condos at 717 South Lyon Street in Santa Ana, built on a 2.3-acre parcel that previously served as a vocational training center for electrical apprentices. The project was originally entitled by Warmington Residential, a multi-generational Orange County homebuilder, before Toll Brothers acquired the project and carried it through construction and sales. The 51-home community opened for sale in November 2024, announced its final few remaining homes in October 2025, and was listed at 95% construction completion as of September 2025 per the city's development tracker.
For buyers researching what sold and at what price in this part of Santa Ana, 717 Lyon gives a useful data point: a nationally recognized luxury builder entered a market that most comparable builders had not yet targeted, priced from $889,000 at launch and ultimately moving remaining homes in the upper $700s. Eight of the 51 homes were reserved for low-income households under a density bonus agreement. The remaining 43 were for-sale ownership product available without income restrictions.
The Site: Orange County Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Trust
The 2.3-acre parcel at 717 S. Lyon Street (also referenced in city records as 571 S. Lyon Street during the entitlement phase) was owned by the Orange County Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Trust. The Trust operated a vocational training facility on the site, where apprentice electricians in Orange County received hands-on instruction and classroom education as part of the journey toward their journeyman certifications. The site's prior use as a trade school explains why the parcel sat in an otherwise residential and light commercial corridor rather than in a traditional commercial or retail zone: apprenticeship training centers follow the demographics of their union members rather than the economics of retail foot traffic.
When Warmington Residential acquired the site, there was no major contamination disclosure in available city or state records. The prior use as an educational and training facility is far cleaner from an environmental baseline standpoint than a gas station, auto body shop, or light industrial operation. The most complex aspect of the site was not environmental at all but rather entitlement: convincing the city to approve residential density on a parcel that required rezoning for residential condominium use, and doing so in a way that satisfied the Affordable Housing Opportunity and Creation Ordinance targets that the city had recently adopted.
Warmington's solution was to invoke the State Density Bonus Law, propose eight affordable units (exceeding the ordinance's own target of three units for a project of this size), and file the application under SB 330's streamlined review process. The density bonus agreement allowed a density of 22.16 dwelling units per acre, well above what standard zoning would have permitted on the parcel.
Floor Plans, Pricing, and Community Details
717 Lyon's 51 homes are organized across 12 three-story residential buildings within a gated perimeter. Each home has an attached two-car garage, which is a meaningful practical feature in a community of this type: street parking in this part of Santa Ana is competitive, and a guaranteed two-car private garage eliminates one of the most common friction points in urban condo living. The community includes 105 total parking stalls, nearly 15,000 square feet of landscaped open space, and modern design throughout by architecture firm KTGY.
Toll Brothers marketed multiple floor plans under the Lyon naming convention. The Lyon 1 plan at 1,203 square feet represents the entry-level configuration, with two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and a half bath. The Lyon 3 plan, which served as the model home and was offered fully furnished at $999,000, represents the larger end of the product range. All plans are three stories with attached garages and open-concept living areas.
1,203 SF
3 stories, attached 2-car garage
Entry-level floor plan
3 stories, open-concept
Model home fully furnished
Sold at $999,000
50 to 80% of area median income
Income-restricted
Separate qualification required
| Community Name | 717 Lyon (Santa Ana Lyon Towns) |
|---|---|
| Address | 717 South Lyon Street, Santa Ana, CA 92705 |
| Total Homes | 51 three-story townhome-style condos |
| Market-Rate Homes | 43 |
| Affordable Units | 8 (50 to 80% AMI, income-restricted) |
| Bedrooms | 2 to 3 bedrooms |
| Square Footage | From 1,203 SF (Lyon 1) through larger Lyon plans |
| Stories | 3 stories per home |
| Parking | Attached 2-car garage per home, 105 total stalls |
| Open Space | 15,028 SF |
| Site Size | 2.3 acres |
| Prior Site Owner | Orange County Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Trust |
| Prior Site Use | Vocational/apprenticeship training facility |
| Original Entitlement Developer | Warmington Residential |
| Builder / Seller | Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) |
| Architecture (Design) | KTGY |
| Pricing at Launch | From $889,000 (November 2024) |
| Final Pricing (Oct 2025) | From the upper $700s; model home at $999,000 |
| Entitlement Path | SB 330 streamlined; density bonus at 22.16 du/ac |
| Construction Status | 95% complete (as of September 2025) |
| City Planner | Pedro Gomez, AICP, Principal Planner |
Entitlements, Community Process, and the Two Sunshine Meetings
Santa Ana's Sunshine Ordinance requires developers to hold community meetings before submitting an application to the Planning Commission for projects of this type. For 717 Lyon, Warmington held not one but two separate Sunshine Ordinance meetings. The first was on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, from 6 to 7 pm. A second meeting followed on Wednesday, June 1, 2022, from 6 to 7 pm. The city's project page preserved meeting flyers and materials in both English and Spanish for both sessions, consistent with the city's standard for bilingual outreach given the demographics of the surrounding neighborhood.
The fact that two meetings were held, rather than the single meeting that many projects complete, suggests there was enough community interest or enough open questions after the first session to warrant a follow-up. This is not unusual for projects that are converting a non-residential use to residential use, where neighbors may have questions about traffic, parking, setbacks, and building height that take more than one session to address adequately.
From the Planning Commission through City Council, the project completed its public hearings. Planning Commission reviewed the project on September 26, 2022. City Council held a public hearing on December 6, 2022. City permits were issued in May 2024, and Toll Brothers began construction shortly after. No significant organized opposition is documented in publicly available records. The density bonus agreement was formalized at the City Council level, cementing the affordable unit commitment in exchange for the increased density the bonus allowed.
Warmington Residential: A Century of California Homebuilding
Few homebuilders operating in Orange County today have a lineage as long as Warmington Residential. The company was founded in 1926 by William C. Warmington, who built large custom homes for a notable clientele that included Tyrone Power, Claudette Colbert, and Shirley Temple. That early reputation as the "homebuilder to the stars" put Warmington in close contact with some of the most significant early 20th-century architects working in California, including Gerard Colcord, Wallace Neff, and Paul Williams.
Over subsequent generations, the company's focus evolved from celebrity custom homes to production homebuilding at scale. Under the direction of founder William's son Ed, Warmington shifted to building production homes in volume, eventually participating in the post-World War II housing expansion that shaped much of suburban Southern California. By the 1980s, Warmington had added multifamily development and property management to its operations, and in 1996 extended its footprint into Nevada.
The Costa Mesa-based Southern California division of Warmington Residential, established in its current form as of January 1, 2017, handles OC-area projects. Warmington was ranked among the top 30 OC homebuilders by the Orange County Business Journal in 2016. The 717 Lyon entitlement is a representative example of Warmington's approach to infill: identify a non-residential parcel in an established urban neighborhood, work through the entitlement process, and either build out the project or bring in a larger partner once entitlements are secured.
About Toll Brothers: The Nation's Leading Luxury Builder
Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE: TOL) is a Fortune 500 company and the nation's self-described leading builder of luxury homes, operating in over 60 markets across 24 states. The company was founded in 1967 and has been publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 1986. In 24 consecutive years of Fortune magazine's ranking of the World's Most Admired Companies, Toll Brothers has ranked first among homebuilders for 10 or more consecutive years. The company has also been named Builder of the Year by Builder magazine and is the only homebuilder to have received that designation twice from Professional Builder magazine.
What sets Toll Brothers apart from most builders who enter infill urban markets in California is its vertically integrated operation. The company owns and operates its own architectural, engineering, mortgage, title, land development, smart home technology, and landscape businesses, as well as lumber distribution and house component assembly operations. For buyers at 717 Lyon, this meant access to Toll Brothers' Design Studio at 9991 Muirlands Boulevard in Irvine, where buyers could select finishes and personalize their home with professional design consultants before construction was complete.
Brad Hare, Division President of Toll Brothers in Southern California, oversaw the 717 Lyon project. His statements at the community's launch in November 2024 and again at the final opportunity announcement in October 2025 emphasized the Downtown Santa Ana Historic District location and the combination of luxury finishes with an urban lifestyle that would be difficult to replicate at this price point in most Orange County markets.
Market Context: What 717 Lyon Tells Us About Santa Ana New Construction
By October 2025, Toll Brothers was describing 717 Lyon as a "final opportunity" community with only a few homes remaining. The pricing trajectory over the 11 months of active sales is instructive: from $889,000 at launch in November 2024, to the mid-$800s in February 2025, to the upper $700s when the final handful of homes were promoted in October 2025. Price reductions of that magnitude over less than a year reflect the reality of building interest rates and buyer hesitation in 2024 and 2025, not a problem with the product quality or location.
The model home, the Lyon 3, sold at $999,000 in its fully furnished and professionally designed state. That number represents the ceiling of what Toll Brothers achieved in this community. It also sets a reference point for resale buyers: if you are looking at a resale home at 717 Lyon, the original market-rate range was broadly from the upper $700s to just under $1 million, and the condition, floor level, and specific plan will drive where within that range a resale lands.
For buyers researching new construction options remaining in Santa Ana, 717 Lyon's rapid sell-through is a signal that well-designed, properly priced infill product in urban Santa Ana finds buyers. The SB 330 streamlined process that Warmington used to get this project entitled will likely appear in other projects throughout the city, as developers increasingly rely on state law to bypass slower local processes.
Questions About 717 Lyon Resales or Other New Construction in Santa Ana?
Whether you missed 717 Lyon and want to compare it to what is still actively selling, or you are tracking a resale at this community, we follow every new development and resale trend in Orange County and can give you a direct comparison against any property you are evaluating.
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