ESCONDIDO - Eight months after the largest structure fire in city history destroyed most of The Paramount condominium complex, the city has received solid indication that the project will rise from its ashes - albeit in a scaled-down form.

The 4.5-acre condominium project on Escondido Boulevard at Woodward Avenue was well into construction when a spectacular blaze on Jan. 18 destroyed virtually all of the complex. Damage was estimated at $6.6 million.

D.R. Horton, the Fort Worth, Texas-based developer behind the project, filed a rebuilding plan with the city Aug. 27. The revised plan, which outsiders said may be a response to new market conditions and an attempt to attract more young families, calls for 92 condominiums instead of the 122 originally planned.

The size of the condos will remain unchanged - ranging from 1,800 square feet to 2,100 square feet - but each of the homes will have four bedrooms instead of the two and three bedrooms in the original plan.

The condos will be distributed among 16 buildings, each of which will be three stories high, according to the plan, compared with 12, four-story structures in the original version. The project will keep its art-deco style and cream, brown and sage-green exterior colors, the plan shows.

The switch to three stories apparently eliminated the need for the elevators once planned for half of the units; the new plans include no elevators.

City officials said Wednesday they were pleased to see D.R Horton back up its promises to rebuild The Paramount with something on paper.

"That's good news," Councilman Ed Gallo said. "It took a little longer than I expected, but they had other issues to work over, I guess."

Although he had yet to see the rebuilding plans, Gallo predicted the scaled-down plans will make the complex a better project than originally planned.

"I think (it's now) a better fit for downtown," he said.

City officials have held The Paramount up as a project that is key to plans to revitalize Escondido's downtown area by mixing housing with existing businesses.

The blaze, which investigators determined was started by an unnamed reckless construction worker, quickly reduced four partially completed buildings to smoldering piles of twisted metal and other debris. One building, which contained The Paramount's model units and sales office, was saved.

D.R. Horton representatives have repeatedly declined to comment publicly on the project's future, but city officials have said the company told them that it planned to rebuild the complex. A contractor hired by the developer cleared the fire debris earlier this year.

On Wednesday, principal city planner Bill Martin said he and others in his department were still going over the plans.

"We're happy that (the developer has) come back in with a product," he said.

David Stern, vice president of acquisitions for D.R Horton in its San Diego office, referred all questions about the design changes to the company's corporate office. Executives there did not return phone calls Wednesday afternoon.

Martin said he suspected the developer was responding to the success of another downtown condominium complex whose units are selling as soon as they are built. That project, Citysquare by Barrett American, is on the southeast corner of Centre City Parkway and Second Avenue and features three-story condominiums priced in the high $300,000s.

MarketPointe Realty Advisors & Residential Trends President and Chief Executive Officer Russ Valone, whose company offers consulting services to developers, said changed market conditions and a decision to target young families as buyers rather than empty-nesters and speculation investors may be among the other factors behind The Paramount's design changes.

"A three- or four-bedroom configuration is a little bit more family friendly and maybe broadens out (your) consumer profile," said Valone. "Also, it's cheaper to build more, smaller buildings versus building more large buildings. So there could be costing considerations going into the newer plan that maybe makes it a little bit more affordable.

"With the changes in the marketplace, they may have reasoned that it makes sense to build a smaller, less-dense product in this marketplace today than when they were building before."

Debra Rosen, chief executive officer of Escondido's Downtown Business Association, said that, like Martin, she believes Citysquare's success played into The Paramount's design.

"They sold out pretty quick," she said, adding that association members are excited about what that could portend. "I think it's a really good indicator of what's to come down here."

Police have turned the results of the fire investigator over to the San Diego district attorney's office. DA spokesman Paul Levikow said Wednesday that no criminal charges have been filed.

- Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.