RESIDENTIAL
The prolonged housing slump isn’t preventing Newport Beach-based chipmaker Conexant Systems Inc. and developer Koll Co. from moving ahead—and working together in seeking entitlements—on separate plans to get commercial land near the city’s boundary with Irvine approved for nearly 1,500 homes and apartments.
The two companies are seeking city approvals for adjacent developments that would turn a total of nearly 38 acres of land near Jamboree Road and Von Karman Avenue into residential developments that could also include a few shops and open space.
The residential components of the plans could include a few high-rise condominiums or apartment buildings, according to documents filed with the city.
The land has been the site of older offices since the early 1970s, and is near a number of similar redevelopment projects being proposed in Irvine in the area around John Wayne Airport.
Updated plans recently filed with the Newport Beach planning commission detail the Conexant and Koll proposals, which first were announced in 2006 and updated in 2008.
Conexant has proposed building 1,244 homes on 25 acres of space it owns along Jamboree Road, which now contains two buildings with a total of approximately 456,000 square feet of space. The site being considered for redevelopment doesn’t include the nearby high-rise offices, which house the headquarters of Conexant and spinoff Mindspeed Technologies Inc.
Koll owns another 75 acres of commercial space nearby, and is looking to build as many as 260 homes on a 12.7- acre portion that borders Conexant’s land, primarily along Birch Street.
Six existing office buildings in Koll’s development area would remain amid the new development, as would a big parking structure, according to filings with the city.
When any actual development could occur hasn’t been disclosed, but it could be as little as five years away.
The larger of the two buildings on Conexant’s land is leased to Israeli chipmaker Tower Semiconductor Ltd.
Conexant had a $26 million deal to sell the land to Santa Ana-based developer City Ventures earlier this year. That fell apart in March and Conexant said it would move ahead on entitling the project on its own.
Conexant said the housing it’s contemplating in its plan include ground-level townhouses, podium mid-rise buildings, and high-rise apartment or condos.
Koll is envisioning a mixture of town homes and mid-rise apartments and condos that could run as tall as six stories.
COMMERCIAL
A few more details have been disclosed about one of the larger industrial deals seen in West Orange County this year.
Last month my colleague Chris Casacchia wrote a story on Modular Wind Energy Inc., a Long Beach-area maker of blades for wind turbines that’s relocating to Huntington Beach.
The company signed a 167,778-square-foot lease to take up an entire building at 5800 Skylab Road. The building is part of an industrial park near Boeing Corp.’s operations, just off Bolsa Avenue.
Modular Wind Energy will be using the building for manufacturing and distribution.
The five-year lease is valued in excess of $4.9 million, which puts monthly rents at about 49 cents per square foot.
The industrial building is owned and previously was used by appliance maker Dynamic Cooking Systems, whose parent company owns about 300,000 square feet of space in the area. The company vacated the 5800 Skylab building about a year ago when it relocated some manufacturing operations to Mexico.
Dynamic Cooking Systems made a number of improvements to the property, including utility upgrades and a large and private fenced yard. That allowed Modular Wind Energy to immediately move in and begin operations with no modifications, according to Clyde Stauff, executive vice president in Colliers International’s Irvine office, who represented the landlord.
The tenant was represented by Jeff Shepard and Dillon Dummit, from the Newport Beach office of Cresa Partners LLC.
Stauff said he’s been involved in close to 1.5 million square feet of local industrial lease deals so far this year.
Others transactions include the July lease of a 155,484-square-foot industrial building located in Santa Fe Springs to Ada, Mich.-based Alticor/Access Business Group, a maker of consumer goods. The seven-year lease, at the Golden Springs Business Center, is valued at more than $7 million.
The site is a short distance from Alticor’s existing Buena Park operation, which it’s keeping, Stauff said. Alticor is using the building for light assembly, manufacturing and distribution.
