A Brief History of Our Community
Canyon Ridge and our neighbors directly to the west of us, Stone Canyon were both originally conceived and designed by Baldwin Homes with construction beginning in 1993. Following Baldwin’s bankruptcy, awarding winning builder Warmington Homes took over the project with the first homeowners purchasing in 1995/96. According to the Warmington website, “The Warmington name achieved recognition as one of the region’s foremost builders of classic estate homes for some of the decade’s emerging screen legends including Claudette Colbert, Bing Crosby, Henry Fonda, Tyrone Power and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. By the 1930’s Warmington had become unofficially known as the “builder to the stars,” and was designing and building custom homes in some of the country’s most prestigious locations – Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Westwood, among others. In the 1940’s Warmington began to make a mark in the homebuilding industry by creating well-planned neighborhoods designed to meet the needs of the middle American family. Although less grand in scale, these homes reflected the same quality craftsmanship and attention to detail that were present in the grand estate homes first built.”
The mid-nineties were a different time in the San Diego real estate market. Selling new homes was difficult. It’s hard to imagine now, but a $10,000 buyer’s incentive was offered by Warmington to entice buyers to Canyon Ridge. The money could be used for upgrades, pay closing costs or reducing the price of your home. Original owners who purchased homes in Canyon Ridge in 1995/96 paid prices ranging from $230,000 to $246,000. What else was different? Del Mar Heights Road ended at Carmel Canyon Road, you could get a parking space at the Von’s Shopping center, the promise by the city of San Diego to build the park at Carmel Knolls was in jeopardy as some in the community wanted the land converted into a soccer field, and Highway 56 was a dead-end. Re-sales in our community have been in high demand right from the beginning with original homeowners seeing a substantial appreciation of their investment. Recent sales (2024) are now hovering near or above $1,500,000.
Our community over the years has been lucky to have board members with extensive experience in real estate, accounting, business and landscaping. Their combined knowledge has allowed our community to maintain low HOA dues, a balanced budget, and fully funded reserves. Dues in 1996 were $104.00 per month but were subsidized by the builder until the project was fully occupied. When the last homeowner moved in the dues increased to $123.00 without the subsidy. Our current Home Owner Dues (2024) are $350.
Our striking and well maintained landscaping has matured beautifully and is part of the reason for the huge appreciation in values of our community. In 2000 the California Landscape Contractor Association awarded Canyon Ridge the Landscape Beautification Award in the Large Commercial Maintenance category.
We are fortunate that Canyon Ridge continues to be a quiet, safe and sought after community with access to the best schools in San Diego County. The nearby Carmel Knolls neighborhood park is safe and clean thanks to the efforts of some very engaged parents who continued to push the San Diego Parks Department in the right direction. With first class shopping nearby, a beautiful community center and library, free summer concerts, mild and consistent weather, and a general feeling of “community”, we think Canyon Ridge is just the best place to live!
