Long Beach Business Journal: “The Companies Building Long Beach”
Sep. 23, 2019
A high frequency of residential, industrial and retail projects have cemented Long Beach as a city undergoing considerable development, according to local construction executives. While construction firms oversee and facilitate many of these projects, they often solicit the work of contracting firms, whether they specialize in design or physical building, to complete these citywide developments.
The Business Journal contacted general contractors and construction firms to learn about current and past Long Beach projects and the history of their companies.
Brandywine Homes
Based in Irvine at 16580 Aston St., Brandywine Homes was founded in 1994 by Jim Barisic with the purpose of building family developments in the region, according to Melissa Reese, the firm’s director of sales and marketing. The company has 30 employees.
In Long Beach, the firm developed the Riverdale community, a neighborhood of 131 single-family-detached homes that was completed in 2018 at 4747 Daisy Ave. “Brandywine specializes in infill communities, which means they develop underutilized pieces of land in existing communities,” Reese said. “Most of the time, it is an asset of the neighborhood. It improves the neighborhood and increases the value of the home.” She said the community sold all its homes as of this August.
Adjacent to the Riverdale community is David Molina Park, 4951 Oregon Ave. Reese said Brandywine developed the park as part of an agreement with the city to complement the neighborhood. “Of all the communities, I felt like Brandywine and that community had such a strong bond and contribution to one another,” she said. “It was one of my best experiences ever in developing a community.”
She said Brandywine Homes is working on various developments in Carson, although she indicated that the firm hopes to develop a future community again in Long Beach.
