When Rancho Mission Viejo-based WJK Development Co. decided to make its largest land purchase in its history, company officials didn’t look to Orange County, home to many of its infill homebuilding projects, or other areas in Southern California like Eagle Rock in Los Angeles County, where it has a nearly 50 homes in the works.
In fact, it went out of California altogether.
The family-owned company, established in 2014, found a multiparcel, 8.1-acre site in downtown Reno, near the Truckee River in Nevada, to build a project that’s expected to run upward of 400 homes or rental units, depending on the company’s final development plans.
“It’s our first time out of the state,” said Chief Executive Grant Keene, whose firm ranks No. 19 on this week’s list of largest homebuilders in Orange County, based on 2021 sales.