Compiled by Chris Hannigan
A technologically advanced South Orange County Community College District campus at Red Hill and Valencia avenues is set to finish by May or June. The Advanced Technology and Education Park campus, being developed at the former Tustin Marine base, is set to start classes in August, offering courses in project management, optics and holography. The first phase of construction on 1 acre includes five buildings,15,000 square feet of classrooms, labs, administration buildings and an outdoor cafe with wireless Internet access. Dulles, Va.-based Resun Corp. and Rosemead-based Los Angeles Engineering Inc. are working on the construction, which the district bills as “green.” Construction and planning costs are about $6 million. The district hasn’t said how it plans to develop the rest of the 68-acre site. A plan is in the works and talks are under way with California State University, Fullerton, Irvine’s Camelot Entertainment Group Inc. and others.
Tinton Falls, N.J.-based Hispanic music store chain Ritmo Latino opened a store at 1215 Anaheim Blvd. Ritmo Latino is the country’s largest independent seller of Hispanic music, DVDs and books with more than 50 stores across the U.S. The Anaheim store is the chain’s third to open in the county, with the other two in Santa Ana. Ritmo Latino is replacing Mi Amore’s Pizza and Chinese Food in a strip mall next to Hispanic grocer Fiesta Mexicana and El Pollo Loco.
The Planning Commission last month approved a request by the Rehabilitation Institute of Southern California to subdivide a lot into two commercial condominium offices at 130 Laguna Road. The rehabilitation institute, a nonprofit serving people with disabilities, made the proposal for tax reasons. If the institute shares the building with a for-profit business, it could threaten the institute’s tax-exempt status. The institute’s building is part of Providence Center, a 6.5-acre, $50 million development by Newport Beach-based Accretive Partners LLC that was approved in 2005. The center is under construction. Providence Center includes 100,000 square feet of medical offices and 8,000 square feet of restaurant space with a Panera Bakery-Cafe signed on.
In February, a bank branch of Britian’s HSBC Holdings PLC opened next to BevMo in Culver Plaza on the corner of Irvine Center Drive and Culver Drive. The HSBC branch is the first in OC. Based in London, HSBC has 12 branches elsewhere in Southern California.
At Woodbury Town Center at Irvine Boulevard and Sand Canyon Avenue several retailers have opened while others are working on stores. In the past two weeks, Carl’s Jr., Niko Niko Sushi and First Class Pizza opened. Bank of America, Juice It Up, Nail & Spa Co., Jalapenos Mexican Restaurant, Thai Spice and Rock N’ Road Cyclery are set to open in late spring. A Ralphs Fresh Fare should open by early summer. By late summer, LA Fitness, Wells Fargo, Game Stop, House of Pilates, Second Street Beauty, Tresor Accessories, Pastagina and The Counter restaurant should be up and running. The neighborhood shopping center is being developed by The Irvine Company as part of its Woodbury Village housing development.
Starbucks Corp. is converting all 17 OC coffeehouses it acquired last year from Irvine-based Diedrich Coffee Inc. Another three in Los Angeles County also are being converted. At the time of the deal, there was the prospect of Starbucks closing some Diedrich coffeehouses near existing Starbucks. A former Diedrich in San Juan Capistrano is set to be the first to reopen as a Starbucks on April 20. The others being converted are in Dana Point, Brea, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, San Juan Capistrano, Orange, Newport Beach, Mission Viejo, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Tustin and Aliso Viejo.
