The development group behind a proposed two-tower project next to John Wayne Airport in Irvine has been brought in to help oversee an equally ambitious mixed-use project yet to start near Angel Stadium in Anaheim.
The Business Journal was first to report this month that Hong Kong-based LT Commercial Real Estate Ltd. sold a nearly 14-acre parcel next to Anaheim’s baseball stadium, at the northeast corner of State College Boulevard and Orangewood Avenue.
An L.A. Live-type, mixed-used development valued at around $500 million has been envisioned for the currently vacant site for close to five years, but has yet to break ground.
LT Commercial quietly sold the land last month for about $32 million, or nearly $2.3 million an acre, the Business Journal reported on Oct. 1.
The Hong Kong firm had bought the site five years ago for $28.4 million; it was the firm’s only known local commercial real estate investment.
Camphor Involvement
Entities affiliated with Irvine’s Camphor Partners are part of the new ownership group in Anaheim, but, company officials said, not the primary owner.
Officials with Camphor, which until 2017 operated under the Great Far East name, said they are working on behalf of another group—described only as local real estate investors—to develop the site, whose ultimate plans are still in-process.
The new ownership group is “studying the plans right now,” Sean Cao, Camphor’s chief investment officer, told the Business Journal.
LT Commercial’s project, dubbed LT Platinum Center, was expected to run about 1.7 million square feet when initially proposed. In 2016, the city approved a plan with 405 residential units, 583,000 square feet of commercial development, and 77,000 square feet of office development.
Highlights of the project as previously envisioned included a condo and hotel tower, along with retail.
Cao said “there will probably be less retail” than initially proposed when all is said and done, but that the high-rise aspects of the development could remain. Apartments are also a possibility.
A time frame for the new ownership group bringing their revised plans before the city hasn’t been disclosed.
City officials said they’ve talked to the new ownership group and that they are anxious to get the development—the most ambitious mixed-use project currently on the books in the Platinum Triangle—moving ahead.
“We welcome this new investment, which speaks to the appeal of the Platinum Triangle,” said city spokesman Mike Lyster.
“With any new ownership, we would expect to see changes geared toward current market demand and what would work best for the site.
“The site continues to hold potential for an exciting project that speaks to the long-term plan we have for the area around the stadium,” Lyster said.
Landmark on Deck
Camphor has built a sizeable portfolio of commercial properties in Irvine over the past decade or so; buildings it owns include the eight-story Spectrum-area office that holds the operations of Yard House Restaurants, as well as a few apartment developments closer to the airport.
It also has plans for the tallest airport area development currently approved in the city.
Camphor in 2017 won approval from the city of Irvine for a two-tower development next to John Wayne Airport called Landmark.
At the current 7-acre site of a low-rise office park, Landmark is proposed as a pair of 15-story towers, including a 420,000-square-foot office building, and 386-key hotel with 15,000 square feet of retail.
Cao said his firm is keeping a close eye on leasing activity on other nearby office projects that have been built of late.
The current pace of leasing and the rates those properties’ landlords are getting hasn’t convinced his firm’s group to move ahead yet, he said.
