Martin Lighterink, San Diego division president of KB Home

KB Home is well-known in San Diego suburban housing, building entry-level and first-step-up single-family homes, mostly in the North and South counties. But with close-in large tracts of developable land now history, the company’s San Diego division president, Martin Lighterink, is looking to get creative.

In 2005, look for the San Diego native to bring the company back into the attached and multi-family markets, test out rural Campo and move out into the deserts of the Imperial and Coachella valleys.

It is a challenge that all suburban builders are facing, some more deftly than others.

“The main goal is in recognizing that the housing base is fundamentally changing in Southern California, and so we’re really engineering a transformation from a ‘conventional community’ to one with the mid-rise condo and urban in-fill locations,” says Lighterink, who also faces a personnel challenge in 2005. “I’m going to teach my daughter how to drive.”