REAL ESTATE

Akins Development Co., a Newport Beach home builder, said it had acquired 14.6 acres in the planned community of Rancho Santa Margarita in southern Orange County. Akins plans to build 95 single-family detached homes as the eighth phase of its Vista Ladera neighborhood. . . . Construction begins this week on Park Place Apartments in Anaheim, a Mediterranean-style apartment complex near West Lincoln Avenue and Dale Street developed by Newport Pacific Development Corp. The Newport Beach developer says the 111-unit complex is expected to be ready for occupancy in July. . . . Lawrence M. Scher, former president of Business Properties Brokerage Co., and Robert D. Voit, president of the Voit Cos. of Woodland Hills, have opened Scher-Voit Commercial Brokerage in Irvine. Scher-Voit will take on “the larger regional commercial brokerage firms which currently dominate the Southern California marketplace,” Scher said. . . . Santa Barbara home builder A-M Homes recently bought a total of 336 lots in Westlake Village, Laguna Niguel and La Palma, the company’s Southern California regional office said.