Compiled by Kelly Ryan and Paul Hughes
FULLERTON
A service station is being integrated into the construction of a small office building for an architecture company. The project is near the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Berkeley Avenue. Frank Webb Architects opened an Anaheim office a few years back for local employees. The temporary office will close upon completion of the new building in June. The property was purchased in 2007 after it fell out of escrow with another buyer. The design features open spaces with natural lighting and environmental features,the architects are shooting for a silver rating under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system. Total square footage is 2,580. Frank Webb Architects specializes in medical and recreational facilities. They’ve designed skate parks and public recreation pools in Los Angeles as well as the Kaiser Permanente medical office building in Garden Grove.
LA HABRA
Construction has stalled at a two-story office building on West La Habra Boulevard near North Euclid Street. City officials say that the building’s permit extension expired in August 2008. To begin construction again, the owner must request another extension. The city council approved plans for construction of the 2,160-square-foot office building in March 2006. At the time, the parcel was vacant. An uninhabitable single-family residence was demolished on the site in 1999. The new office building would be situated between Nena’s Dress Shop and a Discount Tropical Fish store. Space for parking is available in the rear, accessed through an alley.
MISSION VIEJO
Wrecking crews razed a 5,663-square-foot vacant commercial building along Marguerite Parkway near Simon Property Group Inc.’s Shops at Mission Viejo. Construction is expected to begin in June on a 5,937-square-foot Jared Jewelry building. Jared the Galleria of Jewelry is a division of Sterling Jewelers Inc. Robbins Bros. Corp. has an engagement ring store right down the street that could remain open, even as the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy a few months ago. The new Jared building will replace the former Sid’s Steak House site. Its design mimics the city’s civic center with stone treatments and a
tower element. It will also tie in to an under way remodel of the surrounding shopping center. The store could open before Christmas.
Construction crews are expanding the southbound off-ramp of the San Diego (I-5) Freeway at Oso Parkway. Caltrans will add a southbound lane before the Oso Parkway off-ramp and widen the northbound direct off-ramp at the intersection. The changes should improve efficiency within the area by reducing merging conflicts and congestion. The Orange County Transportation Authority is working on the project with the California Department of Transportation and cities of Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills. Construction began in September and should be finished in about a year. Total cost for the project is $14.3 million.
A small tenant remodel is under way next to a Shell gas station on Jeronimo Road near Los Alisos Boulevard. Tenants Mark and Laura Wright will open a New Orleans-style snow cone shop called Sno On The Go. The location previously operated as a drive-through coffee kiosk. Plans call for modification of the parking lot surrounding the 330-square-foot kiosk to accommodate some seating and fencing for the business. Approximately 460 square feet on the west side of the kiosk will be converted into patio seating surrounded by planters and fencing. The shop could open in June.
ORANGE
The Orange County Flood Control District will have a new operations and maintenance yard on West Collins Avenue near the intersection with North Main Street. The Richardson Group in Orange is midway through construction of the facilities, which include a 6,813-square-foot prefabricated metal building, vehicle service bays and Compressed Natural Gas fueling station. The new yard solves problems of overcrowding and inefficiency found in previous yards. Nearby Collins and Eckhoff streets were widened for the project, requiring removal and relocation of power and phone lines. The natural gas station requires a new three-inch gas main to be installed in coordination with Southern California Gas Co., part of Sempra Energy. Construction of the $6.2 million project should be finished by December. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. is the designer.
