A safe landing

June Casagrande

Steve Richley was on his way to work Thursday when a spectacle made

him do a double-take: A pretty yellow house sat on a trailer in the

middle of 32nd Street, workers struggling to attach it to a crane.

“I’ve lived in Newport Beach my whole life and I’ve never seen

anything like this,” Richley said. “I just had to pull over and

watch.”

The show he saw did not disappoint. Shortly after 10 a.m., the

40,000-pound first floor of the manufactured home dangled in the air

from the crane. With surprising ease, the crane gently set the house

down on its foundation before repeating the process for the

30,000-pound second story.

“I thought they were going to have more trouble than that,” said

Dee Williams, another Newport Beach resident enjoying the show from

the Albertson’s parking lot across the street.

The lot and the $98,000, 1,410-square-foot home on it belongs to

Jean Poole, a Newport Beach real estate investor.

Assistant City Manager Sharon Wood said that the house is the

second manufactured home in the city installed on a permanent

foundation not in a trailer park. The other one, in Newport Heights,

drew some concern from neighbors at first, but the matter simmered

down once the house and landscaping were in place. Wood said it’s

probable that neighbors’ worries that the house would stand out were

assuaged after they saw it in place, blending with its surroundings.

“I think there’s a big difference between manufactured homes and

what people think of as mobile homes,” Wood said.

Poole is certainly sold on the difference.

“It’s a good way to go,” said Poole, who purchased the

Silvercrest-brand home through Corona-based Nu Trend Homes.

Poole said that once she has added her own special touches to the

house, which already has a dishwasher, cabinets and other amenities,

the Balboa Peninsula house will go on the market for “somewhere in

the nines.”

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].