Brea, CA Real Estate

Brea is an old oil town that’s all grown up now. And people are starting to notice – the city was recently named a “Best in the West” place to live by Sunset Magazine. The town now has many big city benefits, but still has a small town feel.

Brea’s oil wells and citrus groves gave way gradually to industrial parks and residential development in the 1960’s. The opening of the 57 Freeway and the Brea Mall in the 1970s spurred further residential growth. In the late 1990s, a 50-acre swath of downtown Brea centered on Brea Boulevard and Birch Street was heavily redeveloped into a shopping and entertainment area with movie theaters, sidewalk cafes, a live Improv comedy club, numerous shops and restaurants, and a weekly farmer's market.

Brea's housing market is booming with new developments like Olinda Ranch (662 housing units) located at the corner of Lambert Road and Valencia; Walden Estates (54 single family homes) located on the north side of Lambert Road just east of Kraemer; and Tonner Hills (795 housing units) proposed for an unincorporated area of Orange County just north of Brea that is expected to be annexed into the City in the future.

On the northeastern side of town, plans are underway for a new sports park, as well as a school site. Additional hillside housing is expected in land north of Lambert Road where the County of Orange and property owners are coordinating with the City for utility and safety services and eventual annexation.

In the new Downtown, the colorful Birch Street lofts are built above ground floor businesses. One of the more creative concepts in downtown are the Ash Street Cottages, 96 single-family homes built at 10 units per acre with a 1/2-acre community park. This small-lot development has influenced many similar compact projects throughout the region by incorporating porches and walkways that create a neighborhood feel. Brea's Redevelopment Agency helped spread the downtown plan to adjacent developments, creating a total of 250 new homes within one mile of the downtown core. Seventy-five of those new units are reserved for low- and moderate-income households under the city's affordable housing program.

The city has also restored two historical icons. The "Welcome to Brea" sign that used hang over Brea Boulevard before it was widened, is now over Birch Street, and "Charlie's Clock," which used to be in front of an old watch and clock repair shop, and once again welcomes shoppers to downtown. Further redevelopment of the downtown area will include the renovation of the old City Hall and the American Legion Building.