A big medical and condominium project by Newport Beach standards is planned near Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. And it just may escape the wrath of Greenlight, both I and II.
A doctor and his partners are seeking to build medical offices, shops and lofts on Newport Boulevard across the street from Hoag.
Plans for Newport Medical Plaza call for some 16,000 square feet of space, including four condos on the upper level.
The $10 million project is small compared to others going on in Orange County. But it’s big for Newport Beach, which has seen development slow to a crawl since voters in 2000 passed Greenlight, a slow-growth measure that puts sizable projects to a vote.
On Tuesday, Newport voters are set to weigh in on Measure X, dubbed Greenlight II, which would put further restrictions on development.
Newport Medical Plaza is too small to meet the “major development” threshold spelled out in Greenlight II, according to Kevin Quick, a senior vice president in Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services Inc.’s Newport Beach office who’s marketing the building.
“We just don’t go to vote,” he said. “We have to comply with the zoning code over there.”
John Sun, an ear, nose and throat doctor who’s developing Newport Medical with partners, said he doesn’t know much about Greenlight. He and his partners have met with city officials on the proposal, he said.
“They said it was fine,” said Sun, who practices at Orange County Ear, Nose and Throat nearby in Newport Center. “We had really good, positive feedback from the city.”
The project could get tangled in Greenlight if someone else decides to pursue a project in the vicinity.
Greenlight II, if passed, would require even smaller projects to go to a vote if they, in combination with others in a 500-foot area, surpass traffic and density limits.
Greenlight’s primary backer, resident Philip Arst, said he doesn’t see an issue with Newport Medical Plaza.
“Our goal is to permit reasonable redevelopment” in Newport Beach’s older areas, he said.
Newport Medical Plaza is set to replace an aging office building at the corner of Old Newport Boulevard and Hospital Road. Pending city approvals, construction could start by the middle of next year and finish in early 2008. Sun and his partners paid $3.6 million for the site in July.
The Schafer Group Inc. of Temecula is Newport Medical Plaza’s general contractor. Ware Malcomb Architects of Irvine is the architect.
Newport Medical Plaza would be the first new medical office space in the city for some time. It’s not for lack of demand.
Nearly all,99%,of Newport Beach’s medical office space is full, according to broker Quick.
“What makes this site so desirable down there in Newport Beach is the hospital’s right there, and there is a lack of space doctors can own, so it’s very unique and rich from that standpoint,” he said. “That’s where all the doctors want to be.”
Greenlight likely has pre-empted medical office projects, which are flourishing elsewhere in the county. Just over the city line on Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa, a 75,000-square-foot medical office project is in the final stages. Pacific Medical Plaza’s developer gets the benefit of being near Hoag without having to go through the hoops of building in Newport Beach, where the project would have been put to a vote.
Sun said he’s pursuing his project to add medical office space, shops and eateries for Hoag workers and doctors.
“There is really no fast-food eatery around that area for Hoag,” Sun said. “I’m a physician at Hoag. I know that in between surgeries, other than eating at Hoag, there’s really no fast food, no Subway.”
Sun plans to move his practice to Newport Medical Plaza and offer space to other doctors. No leases have been signed yet.
Greenlight II
As for Greenlight II, it would require public votes on major projects, just as the first Greenlight did in 2000. Greenlight I requires votes on developments larger than 40,000 square feet, housing developments larger than 100 homes and on any project that adds 100 peak-hour auto trips beyond what Newport Beach’s general plan allows.
Greenlight II would continue those restrictions and expand them to expansions of existing buildings, including home renovations.
Critics, including the Orange County chapter of the Building Industry Association, have charged that Greenlight II unfairly would hamper smaller projects.
Two-thirds of Newport Beach homes would be subject to Greenlight II’s provisions, according to Jeff Flint, campaign strategist for the “no” side.
“Even if you’re for restricting large development, the measure is flawed, Flint said.”
Proponents argue that a second Greenlight is needed to protect property values and quality of life from “overcrowding, traffic congestion and gridlock.”
Three projects have come up for vote under Greenlight in recent years. All were shot down.
A few projects have made it around the initiative.
Newport Lexus, a $65 million automobile dealership that opened this year at Jamboree Road and MacArthur Boulevard, already had zoning in place and proceeded with just city approval.
The Irvine Company was able to build a 50,000-square-foot office building at Newport Center in 2003 because zoning already was in place.
And Bel Mar & #233;, the $80 million boutique shopping center due to break ground by year’s end on Mariner’s Mile, also took advantage of existing zoning.
Greenlight II would have required all of those projects to go to a vote.
Hoag could find itself bumping up against Greenlight with its plans for a recently acquired office complex. The hospital wants to turn the 14-acre Newport Technology Center into medical offices and add parking.
At the time Hoag bought the center, the hospital said it recognized “that there are city approvals required and will work closely with the city to transition the property.”
Hoag has endorsed Measure V on Tuesday’s ballot. If passed, the initiative would make some changes to Newport Beach’s general plan and allow the hospital to build more medical office facilities near its campus.
Greenlight backers take issue with Measure V: it’s “designed to circumvent Greenlight despite all their advertising,” Arst said.
