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Lennar Pays $55M for Land at A-Town 2 Site

Lennar Corp. has closed on another plot of industrial land in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle, a few blocks from the heart of its massive A-Town development.

The 13.5-acre property, which cost Miami-based Lennar about $55 million, is expected to hold more than 1,000 homes, along with about 50,000 square feet of shops and restaurants.

Three residential towers overlooking the stadium are planned at the site, which is being called A-Town Stadium Neighborhood, or A-Town 2.

Hotels are a possibility for the newly acquired property, along with condominiums and other residences. A total of 1,132 homes can be built on the land.

Lennar officials expect the site to have more retail and entertainment for tourists than other parts of its A-Town development. The latest buy is right next to Angel Stadium of Anaheim, at the northeast corner of State College Boulevard and East Orangewood Avenue.

“You are going to see more entertainment, and more destination-type offerings here,” said Richard Knowland, division president of Lennar Communities Inc., a unit of the developer.

The deal to buy the six parcels that make up the 13.5-acre area has been in place since mid-2005 but closed last week.

The site is the only land that Lennar currently owns in the Platinum Triangle that’s outside its core 41-acre A-Town development.

“The residential will be a little edgier, a little louder, and there will probably be more congestion” than the main A-Town housing, Knowland said.

Homebuyers could include business owners who work nearby, people seeking a second home or Angels’ workers, he said.

The latest deal is a big part of Lennar’s plan to remake a large chunk of the former industrial area surrounding the baseball stadium.

Lennar’s holdings in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle now total about 55 acres. The developer has paid more than $250 million for the land, said Louis Tomaselli, a senior vice president at Voit Commercial Brokerage LP, who along with partner Mitch Zehner represented Lennar in the land buys.

Lennar’s holdings make up about half of all the city-approved residential projects in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle.

The area, totaling 382 acres, has land that can hold about 9,500 apartments, townhomes and condominiums, according to city records. About 10 developers have bought the bulk of the land.

“That’s it,there’s no other mixed-use parcels,” Tomaselli said.

But Lennar might not be finished buying land around the site.

“You never say never,” Knowland said.

The company potentially could buy property that other developers already have acquired.

“For right now, though, it is the final piece,” he said.

Other developers with sizable Platinum Triangle holdings include Archstone Communities, a unit of Englewood, Colo.-based Archstone-Smith Trust.

Archstone plans to build 884 apartments along the Anaheim-Orange border. San Francisco-based BRE Properties Inc. has proposed a 771-unit condo and apartment complex along Katella Avenue.

The next step for Lennar is getting final city approvals for its latest land buy. Applications already have been filed, and the company expects to go to the City Council soon to get the final entitlements for the property.

“We’re expecting few problems,” Knowland said. “What we’re doing is consistent with the zoning.”

In October, the city OK’d Lennar’s plans for the bulk of its main A-Town development, which runs along State College Boulevard, from Katella to Gene Autry Way.

That 41-acre parcel is set to include a 2,681-home development with up to 11 condo towers. Some 150,000 square feet of commercial and retail development also is planned.

One proposed 38-story high-rise would be the county’s tallest building.

Demolition at A-Town began early this year. A groundbreaking is planned for May, when more detailed designs will be unveiled.

Some of the anchor stores for the retail part of the site are expected to be named in the summer.

Groundbreaking for the first condo tower at A-Town is planned by the end of the year.

Development is set to unfold more slowly at A-Town 2.

Tenants at the industrial site, including electric cord manufacturer Lamcor Inc. and food maker Don Miguel Mexican Foods Inc., aren’t expected to leave for several months. Demolition might begin by the end of the year.

Voit is working with several industrial tenants to find new space in OC, Tomaselli said.

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Mark Mueller
Mark Mueller
Mark is the Editor-in-Chief of the Orange County Business Journal, one of the premier regional business newspapers in the country. He’s the fifth person to hold the editor’s position in the paper’s long history. He oversees a staff of about 15 people. The OCBJ is considered a must-read for area business executives. The print edition of the paper is the primary source of local news for most of the Business Journal’s subscribers, which includes most of OC’s major corporate and community players. Mark’s been with the paper since 2005, and long served as the real estate reporter for the paper, breaking hundreds of commercial and residential real estate stories. He took on the editor’s position in 2018.
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