Summerhill Homes was formed in 1976 and is a homebuilding division of Marcus & Millichap Company. Marcus & Millichap Company is the parent company of a diversified group of real estate companies in the commercial investment, service, and development business.
SummerHill Homes is a privately owned home builder focusing on the unique needs of the San Francisco Bay Area. We believe what makes the Bay Area great is what makes SummerHill Homes great: innovation, constant striving for excellence, determination to be the very best, pride of place, and timeless elegance.
SummerHill is renowned for developing specialized single-family detached and multi-family housing communities in established residential settings throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Since its inception in 1976, SummerHill's goals have been to provide quality homes for its customers, Communities of Distinction™ for cities.
Over the last 48 years, SummerHill has completed more than 83 developments representing over 7,024 single-family homes, condominiums, townhomes, and apartments. SummerHill's successful track record is the result of attracting top development and construction professionals whose goals are consistent with the company's philosophy.
Criteria for site development are highly selective to meet the company's objectives. SummerHill uses extensive market analysis to identify housing needs, then customizes each development to achieve the highest potential. SummerHill has proven expertise in working closely with cities and neighborhood constituents to successfully integrate new home communities into the texture of the surrounding neighborhood by developing the most compatible housing type, architectural style, and urban plan for each site.
SummerHill is committed to green building and works with a diverse community of industry experts who share our commitment to green building. Building increasingly sustainable homes requires informed decision-making throughout the homebuilding process, and we are committed to staying informed. Green building is about building better, more durable structures in infill locations, a principle that has been at our core ever since our founding.
SummerHill's developments have won numerous significant awards including the coveted Best in American Living Award for the entire Pacific Coast Region from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), many Gold Nugget Awards from the Pacific Coast Builders Conference, and many awards for architecture from the Building Industry Association (BIA) of the Bay Area.
SummerHill Homes is one of eight companies founded by Marcus & Millichap Company: mmcrealestate.com.
Other MMC companies are listed below:
Marcus & Millichap Company (MMC)
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Acquisition
There is no substitute for experienced and skillful land acquisition strategies. Of all the business disciplines, regardless of how well executed, success can only be achieved with the appropriate vision for the highest and best use of each individual site. SummerHill views disciplined land acquisition as the backbone of any successful development project and dedicates the resources, consultants, and staff needed to ensure that its site selection process is thorough. Thoughtful, inventive land acquisition and the appropriate entitlements, including rezoning of underutilized or obsolete properties, have always been at the core of SummerHill’s business philosophy and practices. Rigorous due diligence and the thoughtful integration of the correct product ensure entitlement, market, and financial success.
Design And Development Management
SummerHill Housing Group has built an indisputable reputation for seeking out and developing premier communities that by traditional standards are entitlement and development challenges. Sites like these are seriously considered given the valuable opportunities they provide. By maintaining a unique development focus complemented by one of the industry’s most intense and rigorous internal control programs, SummerHill consistently achieves uncommon results.
Through this process, SummerHill has demonstrated its strength and focus for achieving Communities of Distinction throughout the entitlement process by preserving and improving upon the existing neighborhood integrity, and creating positive neighborhood development partners.
Creative Site Selection
Armed with a disciplined and finely tuned approach to land acquisition or in support of development objectives, the company concentrates its efforts in areas where demand is supported by a well-planned existing infrastructure, or adjacent to existing housing stock with a strong resale history.
Develop Planning Partnership
SummerHill has earned a reputation for successfully working with city planning and zoning departments to achieve mutually beneficial results in rezoning vacant or underutilized office, retail, school and former industrial sites to accommodate appropriate residential development alternatives.
Cultivate Community Support
Neighborhood level consensus building is another element of SummerHill’s disciplined development strategy.
Working closely and proactively with city officials and neighborhood groups alike, SummerHill forges positive community support for its developments by demonstrating a genuine understanding of and responsiveness to local concerns.
SummerHill carefully balances floorplan space planning issues and energy efficiency of design with the architectural aesthetics of the surrounding neighborhood while maintaining market appeal for today’s sophisticated buyers.
Construction Management
SummerHill Construction Company is the general contractor for most of SummerHill’s communities. SummerHill Construction Company’s experienced construction and purchasing teams focus on cost controls and efficiency by obtaining bids from leading subcontractors, choosing the best for each specific development, scheduling and managing trades through completion, and evaluating their performance. The construction managers also meet with homebuyers throughout the construction and warranty periods to monitor progress and obtain important information on product reliability.
Asset Management
SummerHill Asset Management teams focus on early participation in development and design to stay on top of market trends/competition- forward thinking. Our team understands each market we are building to maximize value through thoughtful design and operating efficiency. The team is responsible for maximizing operating efficiency to create maximum value.
Sales & Marketing
SummerHill’s sales and marketing team stays at the forefront of ever-changing trends through intense research and by maintaining a keen awareness of buyers’ needs while monitoring local market conditions to forecast appropriate products and services. The team is responsible for meeting the revenue goals for each community while ensuring consumer awareness of the SummerHill brand, its position and recognition within the building industry, and its mission to always build Communities of Distinction.
Warranty & Quality Assurance
The firm’s Warranty & Quality Assurance Program provides follow-up communication with homeowners throughout the warranty period, ensuring product fulfillment, which maintains SummerHill’s reputation as a quality builder with unparalleled customer service support. SummerHill evaluates all communities at set intervals through the use of a leading consulting firm that specializes in homebuyer surveys nationally. The program also provides SummerHill with important customer feedback on sales and construction processes, typical use patterns, and product satisfaction over time, which is an invaluable resource in planning future developments.
SummerHill Housing Group is a privately owned residential developer in the Bay Area and Southern California who has earned recognition and respect as one of the nation's premier residential community builders. The company is renowned for developing specialized single-family detached and multi-family housing communities in established residential settings throughout California.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Robert Freed draws from a dynamic background in real estate, corporate finance, and accounting to oversee SummerHill Homes’ critical areas of development, including land acquisition, architecture, purchasing, construction, sales and marketing, and customer service. In this capacity, he is charged with maximizing company profitability while ensuring the highest quality of development.
From 1993 to 2007, Mr. Freed held a variety of executive positions for KB Home. Most recently, he was the senior vice president of investment strategy. In this capacity, Mr. Freed was responsible for land acquisitions, joint ventures and off balance sheet financing for all of KB Home’s U.S. operations.
In addition, Mr. Freed was president and regional general manager of KB Home’s four Northern California homebuilding divisions. In this capacity, Freed was responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations, including land acquisition and development, construction, purchasing, customer service, sales and marketing. He was also a member of the company's operating executive committee. He began his career with KB Home in 1993 at the company’s corporate headquarters where he served as vice president of western land development.
Prior to joining KB Home, Freed was the chief financial officer for Davidon Homes, a division president of Bedford Properties, and CFO of Blackhawk Corporation. Freed earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he graduated summa cum laude. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. Freed is a former certified public accountant, and was a commissioner for the Santa Clara County Housing Authority. Active in nonprofit giving, he served on the board of directors of the Bay Area Council, St. Mary’s College, and the regional board of the BIA Bay Area. He is also a member of the Policy Advisory Board for the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics and serves on the Bridge Housing Board of Directors.
