Plans for more housing near John Wayne Airport are moving forward, even as city officials continue to debate zoning issues and development fees for the area long known for its offices, plants and warehouses.
Newport Beach-based Greenlaw Partners LLC, a real estate investor and developer, is the latest to get in on the action in the area known as the Irvine Business Complex.
Greenlaw is a financial partner and the recent owner of land for a high profile, 18-acre site that’s sandwiched between Jamboree Road and Bardeen Avenue, along Campus Drive.
Greenlaw, along with consulting firm Starpointe Ventures of Irvine, has submitted initial plans to the city for up to 1,000 homes on the site, now known as Irvine Technology Center.
Also on tap are 120,000 square feet of offices and 15,000 square feet of shops on the land.
The existing 18-acre site has 11 office and industrial buildings ranging from 12,000 to 53,000 square feet.
Tenants include medical testing company US Labs Inc., landscape architects EDAW Inc. and art supply store Sterling Art. The businesses eventually would have to move if the redevelopment plan is approved and comes to fruition.
The Greenlaw project is the second-largest development by acreage proposed for the Irvine Business Complex. The area counts close to 4,200 businesses. Some 15,000 condos, townhomes and apartments are slated for the area.
Lennar Corp.’s Central Park West project along Michelson Drive is by far the largest in the area, just a few blocks away. The development is in the early stages of construction.
Central Park West, spread across 43 acres, is expected to include 1,380 homes, 90,000 square feet of office space and 19,700 square feet of stores.
The Greenlaw parcel was bought last year for $59.5 million by a unit of Guggenheim Real Estate LLC and Greenlaw. The companies have bought several properties together in recent years.
Greenlaw owns some 15 buildings in OC, most of them office buildings, according to the company’s Web site. It also is looking to buy and redevelop Costa Mesa’s Triangle Square mall.
Dropping Fees
The latest housing plans for the Irvine Business Complex come as city officials scale back a proposal to increase development fees in the area.
After receiving feedback from developers, city officials have softened their stance on some fees. An early draft sought to raise fees to as much as $70,000 per home, including a $25,000 per home infrastructure fee.
Builders in the Irvine Business Complex now pay about $34,000 per home in fees.
The city now is proposing that basic development fees rise from about $34,000 per home to $42,000. An additional fee for area improvements would be $13,000 per home and $6,500 per apartment.
That would cap the maximum overall development fee at about $55,000 per home. Fees would be lower for apartments and projects with affordable housing.
The city said about $65 million in sidewalks, bridges, parking and other improvements are needed in light of the housing development in the area.
Public Hearings
After several weeks of delays, the Irvine City Council last week began hearings on the future of the Irvine Business Complex.
The City Council is taking up plans to rezone the Irvine Business Complex to handle more housing and retail construction. City officials, pro-development companies and local businesses opposing housing construction in the area discussed the matter at a hearing last week.
Opponents to the area’s residential development, including drug maker Allergan Inc. and Royalty Carpet Mills Inc., are pushing for the city to create an 800- to 1,000-foot buffer between businesses and housing projects in the area.
Developers said such a buffer would severely limit their ability to build homes in the area.
No measures were adopted at last week’s meeting. Additional hearings were pushed back to late July.
“For now, it’s still business as usual,” said Tim Strader Jr., principal for Starpointe Ventures.
The company has worked with developers to get entitlements for many of the 41 housing projects proposed for the Irvine Business Complex.
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