Development at Tustin’s Legacy Park is continuing as planned, despite last month’s departure of former partner Centex Corp., officials said last week.
Aliso Viejo’s Shea Properties last week unveiled plans and timeframes for the first batch of development at the 820-acre Legacy Park, the masterplanned community within the 1,580-acre Tustin Legacy, the site of Tustin’s former Marine helicopter base.
Close to 2 million square feet of commercial space is in the offing for the first phase of construction, with the first office buildings completed in about two years. The first of 1,500 homes at Legacy Park will be completed a year after that.
A total of 6.7 million square feet of commercial space and 2,100 homes will be built at Legacy Park when all is said and done. The total price tag for the six- to eight-year project has been estimated to be $3 billion, with commercial development comprising about two-thirds of that.
Shea Properties, along with sister company Shea Homes,both units of Walnut-based J.F. Shea Co.,and the city of Tustin comprise Tustin Legacy Community Partners LLC, the partnership that’s building Legacy Park.
In April, Dallas-based homebuilder Centex pulled out of the partnership, citing financial constraints in the slow housing market. How much Centex paid to get out of the project has not been disclosed, although regulatory filings show the company taking a $45 million write-off after exiting the venture.
No Change
The departure of Centex won’t result in a change of direction for the partnership, according to Shea officials.
“The vision remains the same. It’s not going to be a huge change for us,” said Steve Center, senior vice president of leasing for Shea Properties.
“Entitlements haven’t changed. We still have the same recipe we’ve always had,” he said.
Initial plans call for a 340,000-square-foot office and research and development campus along Red Hill and Warner avenues. Those buildings should begin construction in the next six months.
A total of five two- and three-story buildings within the campus should be finished by mid-2009.
They’re being designed by Irvine-based LPA Inc., one of four architecture firms selected by Shea so far to handle different parts of the project, according to Center.
Later in 2009, another 525,000 square feet of office space will start to finish up.
Shea also is in talks with a number of companies for several hundred thousand feet of build-to-suit corporate and campus headquarters space that could be built by then, according to Center.
Later Phase
In 2010, the most distinctive part of Legacy Park will begin coming on line,a pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use district that will include offices, shops, homes and a hotel or two, running alongside a 170-acre park.
Plans for the first phase of this Main Street project now call for about 200,000 square feet of office space to be built, along with homes, on top of 150,000 square feet of retail space.
“This type of project doesn’t exist in Orange County,” Center said.
Expect to see a pickup in site development in the near future. Last week, the partnership closed on escrow for the first 300 acres of Legacy Park, which broke ground late last year.
There was no cash payment made at the time of escrow closing, according to city officials.
For the first of four phases of land take-downs at Legacy Park, the developers are responsible for a minimum of $228 million in backbone infrastructure work at Tustin Legacy, including roads, sewers and storm drains, as well as more than $193 million in other costs.
The next land closing is due to take place in late 2009, where a payment valued at $150 million is expected, city officials said. n
