Count another developer with a high-rise housing vision in Irvine,this one with a twist.
Igor Olenicoff, owner of Newport Beach’s Olen Properties Corp., said he plans up to 2,000 apartments in Irvine, including a couple of eight-story towers. It’s been decades since anyone has built an apartment tower,not condos for sale,in Orange County, and it would be the first for Irvine.
Eleven condominium high-rises are under construction or planned by different developers in Irvine. Each condo tower offers posh units for sale.
Olenicoff controls four apartment sites in Irvine. The developer plans up to two eight-story buildings at one parcel,1929 Main St. at the intersection with MacArthur Boulevard in Irvine, he said.
“We feel if the market is not here now, it’s coming,” Olenicoff said. “We intend to build all four sites as soon as we can get them approved.”
He may have to wait a while.
Irvine’s Planning Commission isn’t set to consider Olenicoff’s application anytime soon, said Michael Haack, manager of development services with the city.
Irvine is waiting to see a detailed plan from Olenicoff, he said. The commission typically considers a project in its entirety before voting on a zone change in the popular commercial hub near John Wayne Airport, he said.
In early July, Irvine held a series of meetings to discuss design standards in the Irvine Business Complex. The city is considering an ordinance that would create guidelines for area housing developers.
Olenicoff said he wants to see the results of those meetings before committing to his plans. He said many of his apartments would be in low-rise buildings, which are more typical for the county.
In February, Olenicoff submitted an application to change the zoning on his four sites to allow housing, according to Irvine principal planner Tim Gehrich.
The three other sites are at the intersections of Jamboree Road and McGaw Avenue, Von Karman Avenue and Barranca Parkway, and Michelson Drive and Dupont Drive.
Gehrich said the four sites mostly contain one or two-story office or industrial buildings.
It remains to be seen whether there is a market for an eight-story apartment building. For years, luxury apartment developers from Newport Beach’s The Irvine Company to Irvine’s Sares-Regis Group have limited their OC projects to four stories.
Steel a Factor
Anything higher requires steel framing, rather than wood, and costs more to build. Higher costs could mean higher rents if there aren’t enough units to offset the building costs.
Olen could build the apartments with the right to covert to condos. Developers of condominium high-rises in Irvine have been able to sell units long before finishing construction.
Vancouver, British Columbia-based Bosa Development Corp. sold all but three of its 232 condos in twin towers at Park Place in Irvine by October,16 months after marketing began but more than a year before construction is set to finish in late December.
Two Arizona-based developers are selling their high-rise condos as quickly or faster than Bosa.
Phoenix-based Opus West Corp. and Scottsdale-based Geoffrey H. Edmunds & Associates Inc. have sold 166 of their planned 202 condos at the corner of Jamboree Road and Campus Drive in Irvine.
They began sales in December and started construction in March. The first units should be finished late next year.
Matt Montgomery, director of real estate development with Opus, said the development partners sold about 30 to 35 condos a month in the beginning and lately about 15 a month. Bosa averaged closer to 14 units a month.
Developer Olenicoff is bullish on the airport area. In January he paid about $130 million for a pair of 13-story office towers on Main Street in Irvine,his first buy of office high-rises near the airport.
“This is the first of several high-rises that we intend to buy in the near future,” Olenicoff said in a statement at the time.
