Are there too many apartments planned along Jamboree Road in Irvine?
Time will tell. For now, I can say another developer is switch-hitting from apartments to condominiums.
Phoenix’s Opus West Corp., which has its regional headquarters in Irvine, has scuttled plans for 341 apartments at Jamboree between Campus and Dupont drives. Opus instead plans to sell 404 condos there in a partnership with Red Bank, N.J.-based Hovnanian Enterprises Inc., known as K. Hovnanian.
A sign at the site says prices start in the $300,000s. I suspect that’s for a one-bedroom in the high $300,000s.
Matt Montgomery, director of real estate development with Opus, said the switch to condos wasn’t based on diluted demand for apartments. He said the market for apartments is strong, but the market for condos is stronger.
Makes sense. The same move made a lot of sense to Irvine’s Sares-Regis Group, which previously planned 535 apartments on the site adjacent to Opus’ dirt. Last year, Sares-Regis said half the units or so at its Watermarke project would be sold as condominiums.
As for Opus, it plans three condominium towers at its site in partnership with Scottsdale-based Geoffrey H. Edmunds & Associates Inc. They’ve presold about 175 condos in the first two towers, Opus’ Montgomery said. He said the third tower, which is to come later, should have a pool on the roof.
Bolsa Chica Update
An Irvine-based homebuilder recently said its shareholders have agreed to sell the 103-acre lower bench of Bolsa Chica Mesa in Huntington Beach to California’s Wildlife Conservation Board.
Last summer, the conservation board approved the agreement to buy the land for $65 million, to be funded by bonds under Proposition 50. The sale must be finished this year, under the agreement.
But everything hinges on homebuilder California Coastal Communities Inc. getting a permit from the Coastal Commission to put up 349 homes on 68 acres of the upper portion of the mesa.
In April, the commission approved the builder’s application,sort of. The builder must satisfy 27 conditions.
“Upon completion of the sale of the lower bench, the 30-year struggle over development of Bolsa Chica will finally be resolved and approximately 96% of Bolsa Chica will be preserved and in public ownership,” the company said in a statement.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that the Coastal Commission will give final approval this year or that the sale will go through, the builder said.
Hearthside Homes, a unit of California Coastal, is set to build the homes and a park.
The project is one of several developments along the county’s coastline that are set to move forward after years, even decades, of delay.
Rolling the Marbles
Back in April I wrote about Marblehead: a striking swath of empty land in San Clemente west of the freeway stretching to Pacific Coast Highway.
Marblehead is one of those choice coastal sites that appears ripe for posh development but instead has been vacant for years. That should change soon.
Irvine-based developer SunCal Cos. closed escrow in June on the 248 acres of prime dirt. It plans 313 homes.
O’Donnell/ Atkins of Irvine represented the seller, Irvine’s Lusk Co. and partners.
SunCal is set to turn around and sell part of the site closest to the freeway to Newport Beach-based Craig Realty Group, sources said.
Craig Realty plans to build a 600,000-square-foot outlet mall,the first such shopping center in the county. Plans also include a 14-screen movie theater and four restaurants.
Dana Point Headlands is one coastal site already under development. In spring, bulldozers began moving dirt on the 121-acre project, which should include 118 homes, some shops, an inn of up to 90 rooms, and a 28-acre park.
Small is good. Smaller is better.
At least that’s the thinking of developers lately who have gone from small buildings for sale to smaller condominiums for sale.
Back in the day, anything less than 30,000 square feet or so was part of the hot for-sale market. Then 10,000 square feet or less was the “sweet spot.” After that, I started seeing buildings less than 7,000 square feet.
Recently I learned that Voit Development Co. plans office condominiums in the range of 1,000 to 4,000 square feet.
Voit acquired a 47,000-square-foot building, dubbed Hyland Plaza, in Costa Mesa for $7 million.
“Voit will reconfigure the office space interior to accommodate any size user of 1,000 square feet or more,” said James Camp, senior vice president of acquisition and development for Voit, in a statement. “The flexibility involved with this project allows a number of companies to find an ownership opportunity for their office-oriented business.”
Kurt Strasmann, who heads Grubb & Ellis Co. in OC, said there is strong demand from companies for small commercial condos. He said the format also allows developers to increase density, and profits.
Chris Cussen of Voit Development will be the project manager for Hyland Plaza. The project should be done by January.
Sam Olmstead and Tim Walker of Voit Commercial Brokerage LP’s Irvine office represented Voit Development in the acquisition and are marketing the condos. Both companies are part of Woodland Hills-based Voit Cos.
Brian Garbutt and Mike Meisenbach of Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. represented the seller, Hyland Windell LLC.
