Private Tours Available Beginning February 11,
VIP Preview Event and Premiere Purchase Release Planned For March

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Madrone, the design-forward collection of 180 living spaces at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, is coming to life. Homebuilder John Laing Urban has announced a series of milestones leading to the formal opening of sales – and eventually move-ins – at the architecturally significant new community.

The Madrone Sales Retreat – its sophisticated, exclusive information-hub inside the ultra-glam Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel – celebrates its public Grand Opening on Monday, February 11. The Retreat is home to a detailed scale-model and 3-D virtual tour of the entire Madrone community; a sampling of Madrone’s eclectic floorplans and in-depth video interviews with architect Jonathan Watts; as well as personal consultations and construction-site tours with Madrone Home Counselors. For detailed directions, visit LiveMadrone.com.

Madrone will host its private VIP Architectural Preview on the evening of March 13, exclusively for home shoppers registered at LiveMadrone.com, the community’s interactive website featuring a live construction-cam. Guests at Madrone’s VIP Preview will enjoy premiere access to each of Madrone’s 44 floorplans, access to presentations from architect Jonathan Watts, vignettes featuring the community’s interior finishes, a glimpse at Madrone’s curated public art space, and the first opportunity to receive personal pricing information for each available home. Sales reservations will be accepted on March 13, and Madrone’s premiere purchase release will occur the following Saturday, March 15.

“Madrone is here. This is an exciting time for hundreds of design-savvy homeseekers who have been waiting to see and feel this community for themselves,” said Home Counselor Steve Babakhanian. “Unlike so many other announced residences throughout Hollywood and Downtown, Madrone is real and tangible, with one-on-one consultations to construction site visits, and move-ins just around the corner.”

John Laing Urban expects the first move-ins at Madrone to occur in winter 2008.

The Design & The Community

Madrone offers 44 distinct floorplans, from studios to three-bedroom flats to one- and two-story townhomes, ranging from 700 to 2,300 square feet. Prices begin in the high $400,000s to over $1 million. Views from Madrone span Los Angeles’ vast metropolis, overlooking the vibrant Hollywood Hills, exciting Hollywood Boulevard and west to Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean.

Madrone’s living spaces are exceptionally individual in both form and function. Offering a departure from traditional interior ideology, Madrone’s floorplans cater to diverse lifestyles by replacing common living areas with spaces identified as Recharge, Retreat and Think (several plans even offer two Recharge spaces). Other living areas are known simply as Live/Eat, Live, Refresh or Cook. The community’s exterior is accented with a striking Cherry Cola blush, supported by a concrete superstructure and highlighted with features including aluminum-clad Semco™ windows and glass mosaic risers on its cascading stairway entry.

Madrone was designed by the urban living studio of Cuningham Group Architecture, P.A., as part of The Metro Collection by John Laing Homes, which includes four architecturally significant residences throughout Los Angeles’ Westside and Hollywood. The Metro collection offers architecture intended to be so advanced and iconic that it transcends tastes, markets and trends. It is designed for the creative class, only in Los Angeles’ most vibrant neighborhoods.

“Madrone was designed from the inside out,” said Cuningham Principal Jonathan Watts, AIA, LEED®. “We aimed to create an interior space much like the old Hollywood courtyard buildings, more intimate with lush landscapes and swimming pools. We then surrounded that interior with the residences to create a project that would span both the idea of Hollywood as an entertainment and artistic capital, but also as a fantastic place to live with vibrant living spaces and exceptional amenities.”

From its conception, Madrone was designed as a new residential landmark in Hollywood. Madrone’s face will transform La Brea Avenue into a stunning streetscape. A Steel Wave Form® panel accenting the exterior of Madrone will lend elegance to the building, and its cascading stairway and public plaza are designed to stimulate social, community interaction. More than 13,000 square feet of retail space will offer convenient shopping on the building’s ground floor. Madrone has also partnered with LA >< Art, a dynamic, urban art gallery, to curate a series of rotating exhibitions on display within Madrone’s glass-enclosed public art space. Integrated into Madrone’s architecture facing La Brea Avenue, the rotating exhibition space is expected to become a new destination for public art.

About John Laing Homes
With a tradition of quality dating back more than 150 years, John Laing Homes is one of the largest privately held homebuilders in the United States. John Laing Homes consistently ranks among industry leaders in overall customer satisfaction by J.D. Power & Associates, and enjoys the financial backing of its award-winning partner, Dubai-based real estate developer Emaar Properties. The homebuilder has earned numerous industry awards itself, including “America’s Best Builder” for 2006 from Builder magazine, “2005 Most Admired Builder of the Year” from Big Builder magazine, “2004 Builder of the Year” from Professional Builder magazine, and “Builder of the Decade” in 2000 from independent research firm Eliant. Based in Newport Beach, California, John Laing Homes concentrates its homebuilding efforts in California, Colorado, Texas and Arizona. For more information, visit www.johnlainghomes.com