Los Patos Ave, Huntington Beach

Brightwater is a new “master planned” community of about 350 homes in Huntington Beach. The houses in the development are large McMansions, built close together with a cookie-cutter appearance. There are no trees or other mature landscaping, which gives the neighborhood a stark appearance. Some of the Brightwater homes features expansive views of the Bolsa Chica wetlands and the Pacific Ocean but that is limited to homes build along the edge of the development.

This development has been controversial for decades. Originally, it was planned to include 5700 homes and would have wiped out a large portion of the Bolsa Chica wetlands nature preserve. That plan was scaled back following protests by conservationists and some land was returned to the nature preserve. Then a Native American burial site was unearthed during construction, leading to more protests.

Many of the homes in Brightwater are larger than 3000 square feet and sell in the $1 million to $2 million range. Maybe the community will develop some ambiance as time passes, but at this point it’s lacking in the beachy charm that it’s trying so hard to emulate. The developer was near bankruptcy in 2009 but has managed to borrow money to stay afloat. A large number of homes are still empty and it remains to be seen how long they’ll stay that way.