An overhaul of one of Orange County’s more recognizable buildings appears imminent, following a deal between the city of Costa Mesa and an international language education company.
Construction is expected to begin early this year to renovate the former Trinity Broadcasting Network building, an ornate 65,000-square-foot property on the southern edge of the San Diego (405) Freeway across from South Coast Plaza.
EF Education First received city planning and city council approvals at the end of last year for a plan to build a new international education campus at the 6.2-acre Bear Street site.
The new school will offer language learning, travel, and cultural exchange programs, with a focus on an English language immersion program. It could serve up to 1,400 students from all over the world and add 70 education jobs to Costa Mesa, according to company officials.
“EF Education First is excited to develop a world-class international education campus in Costa Mesa and bring thousands of students from around the globe to experience this beautiful city while learning English,” said Shawna Marino, EF Education First’s vice president.
“We look forward to putting down roots in the City of the Arts,” she added, noting that “15 months of extensive community outreach improved our design and operations.”
EF Education First hopes to open the Costa Mesa campus by September.
The organization was founded in Sweden in 1965, and now has more than 600 schools and offices, including another new Southern California location opening in Pasadena this year.
International Education
Trinity Broadcasting, a Christian media network, occupied the campus from the 1990s until 2017.
The property was well known for its elaborate light show that used to run over the holidays.
In 2017, the campus was sold for more than $18 million to its current owner, Alliance South Coast Properties LLC, a Pasadena-based real estate investment and development company.
Managing Partner Randy Lim said Alliance is slated to sell the property to EF Education First later this month for an undisclosed price.
The building, at 3150 Bear St., will soon be sold to EF Education and revamped into a campus with 50 classrooms, a student services area, cafeteria, faculty offices, outdoor recreational facilities including a pool, and new dormitories that could hold about 600 students. Other students are expected to live off-campus with host families.
The campus is being designed after EF’s 14 other international language campuses in North America, “especially our newest campus in San Diego,” Marino said.
“The San Diego school was formerly a hospital and underwent a major renovation in 2014 before opening in 2016,” she said, adding that there are now more than 1,000 students at the school.
Mayor Pro-Tem John Stephens said the proposal potentially results in $500,000 in additional revenue to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, $80 million into the local economy and $3 million to host families in Costa Mesa.
“Costa Mesa is already a world-class destination for the arts and shopping. Now we will earn a place on the world stage as an international destination for learning,” Mayor Katrina Foley said.
