Tolga Tarhan and his fiancée, Jackie Williams in the Number One Santa Maria model home of Stonegate Village in Irvine.
Spacious new townhomes and flats with innovative, stylish floorplans close to his software company drew Tolga Tarhan and his fiancée, Jackie Williams to Santa Maria, a popular Irvine Pacific® neighborhood in the Irvine Village of Stonegate.
Private atriums, 12-foot-high ceilings and open areas with lots of windows and natural light are some of the design elements at Santa Maria that have proven very popular with homebuyers, including this couple.
“All of the models were in our price range and we chose ‘Residence 1’ because it is great for entertaining,” said Tarhan. “The vaulted ceilings and open, spacious floor plans make our new home feel like it has this large amount of square footage. The upstairs living area is very bright and we enjoy a great breeze when the windows are open. We use the barbecue on our balcony frequently, and love having guests visit.
“We considered South County and looked
Open, spacious floorplans, great lifestyle make Santa Maria in Stonegate perfect for new buyers
at a number of neighborhoods and realized there was a big market difference between there and Irvine,” he explained. “Outside of Santa Maria, we could not find a floor plan that we liked, as the older homes were not very spacious.”
Tarhan continued, “I grew up in Irvine and being an outdoors person loved the huge amount of parks and open space. I was living in a high-rise in Santa Ana and decided to return to Irvine, realizing that you really do not know how great it is to live here until you leave – it is easy to take the lifestyle for granted.”
Located on Irvine Boulevard between Sand Canyon Avenue and Jeffrey Road, Santa Maria’s three model homes offer townhomes and flats with stylish floorplans that range from approximately 1,386 to 1,614 square feet. Priced from the low $400,000s, these new homes include two to three bedrooms, two to three baths, spacious living areas and gourmet kitchens with stainless steel appliances. Select floorplans feature a first floor bedroom, as well as courtyards, atriums or decks.
Santa Maria students attend Stonegate Elementary School – a California Distinguished School where one of the teachers was recently honored with a
prestigious “Teacher of the Year” award by the Irvine Unified School District – and Sierra Vista Middle School, also a California Distinguished School, was recently ranked in the top 10 middle schools in Orange County by the Orange County Register, as the Irvine Unified School District rose atop the newspaper’s 2011 Orange County’s Best Public Schools Report. Santa Maria students will also attend Northwood High School, one of the U.S. Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon Schools.
“The high quality of the schools and their close proximity to our home did play into our buying decision,” said Tarhan. “We are engaged to be married in the fall, and have the highly acclaimed Stonegate Elementary School just a 2-minute walk from our home. The first six to seven grades of school for any future additions to the family are already covered!” Residents within the Santa Maria neighborhood can take advantage of many recreational amenities including Stonegate Park, the Jeffrey Open Space Trail and Woodbury™ Town Center. Cypress Village Shopping Center, Orchard Hills Village Center®, The Market Place and Irvine Spectrum Center® are also nearby.
“I love our location,” said Tarhan. “We are
within walking distance of Stonegate Park, the pool and the Jeffrey Open Space Trail. We love to jog with our dog along the JOST or take her and go on our bikes, and can even use it to visit my mother who lives on the other side of Irvine.”
He added, “I own a software company, NetBrains, which is really close, near Irvine Spectrum. I am minutes from my work, and have access to a highly educated potential workforce and customers who are drawn to live and work in Irvine. In fact, about one-third of my employees attended UCI and half graduated from an Irvine high school.”
“We really appreciate the master planning in Irvine,” Tarhan said. “We love the way the villages are set up; they feel like small neighborhoods and everything is just a block away. When we lived in Santa Ana, it wasn’t easy to get to the grocery story that was miles away and you had to fight traffic. At Santa Maria, we can enjoy nice, landscaped walkways as we bike or walk to the store!” Visit www.IrvinePacific.com for more information, or contact a New Home Consultant at 866.445.5187. The Sales Gallery is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., except on Mondays (1 to 6 p.m.).
