Person to Watch Emile Haddad
It was a year of construction, home sales and political victories for Emile Haddad, developer of Great Park Neighborhoods in Irvine.
Haddad’s FivePoint Communities opened the first portion of its long-awaited housing project at the former El Toro Marine Corps air station in September.
The first batch of homebuyers is moving into the 720-home development, called Pavilion Park. About a quarter of the homes are now under contract, and groundwork is beginning for a 1,000-home project nearby.
Plenty more homes will be coming over the years, thanks to a late-November agreement struck between Aliso Viejo-based FivePoint and the city of Irvine.
The Irvine City Council approved plans for the developer to increase housing from about 5,000 homes to 9,600 at the former base in return for more than $200 million to be spent building parts of Orange County Great Park.
The deal caps a year of negotiations between the city and FivePoint, which had pushed for more construction at the 1,347-acre Great Park.
“I told people I wouldn’t give up,” Haddad said.
Company to Watch: Rancho Mission Viejo LLC
The grand opening for the first village of Tony Moiso’s Rancho Mission Viejo proved there’s still life beyond Irvine when it comes to successful housing developments in South Orange County.
The first phase of development for the village, called Sendero, opened in June to heavy sales traffic, and there have been more than 300 home sales to date, exceeding expectations.
The 1,226-home project, which includes single-family houses and condominiums, has also gotten industry plaudits. The Greater Sales and Marketing Council for the Building Industry Association of Southern California named it Master-Planned Community of the Year.
Rancho Mission Viejo LLC, the project’s master developer, has its eyes on a second phase of development at its namesake 14,000-home, masterplanned ranch community and has gotten more than $100 million in funding to help push that project along.
The money will be used to build roads and other infrastructure for a development expected to hold about 2,400 houses and 300 apartments. The development could open by the end of 2015, depending on market conditions.
―Mark Mueller
