COMMERCIAL
Phoenix-based Vestar Development Co. and a partner closed escrow last month on 59 acres at the former Tustin Marine base with an eye to building a shopping center.
It’s about time the deal closed, considering construction began in April.
Some minor details held up escrow’s closing, according to Lisa Woolery, a spokeswoman for Tustin, which sold the land. Vestar already had a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled and decided to go ahead with it, she said.
Demolition of buildings on the base should begin soon, Woolery said.
The sale price of the land wasn’t disclosed, though I’m sure it went for a pretty penny, since retail is among the hottest of commercial sectors.
Vestar is developing the project in a venture with New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Kimco Realty Corp., a real estate investment trust.
The center, dubbed The District at Tustin Legacy, is planned for the corner of Jamboree Road and Barranca Parkway.
It is set to be anchored by a minimum 14-screen AMC Entertainment Inc. theater.
|
|
||
|
Former Tustin Marine base: retail redevelopment includes 14-screen movie theater |
Stores committed to the first phase are Target, Whole Foods, TJ Maxx & More, Petsmart, Office Depot, Tilly’s, Borders and shoe shop DSW.
Costco and Lowe’s are set for the second phase. There also are some eateries planned for the first phase.
Work around the edges of the base is taking shape, while the major plan for its core still is being hammered out. The City Council is expected to review the plan in December or January.
On the other side of the base, there are a couple of other projects set to get under way.
Later this year South Orange County Community College District should start construction on a technology educational center near Red Hill Avenue.
And Rancho Santiago Community College District is set to start work in fall on its Public Safety Academy near the corner of Warner Avenue and Red Hill.
And the nation’s largest site for temporary housing for homeless families is expected to open in fall as a facility of the Orange County Rescue Mission.
As for the base’s core, the current plan calls for open space to run diagonally across it with a couple of pedestrian bridges over streets. The city also plans a high school and elementary school to connect to the greenery.
No Housing Here
Newport Beach-based Greenlaw Partners and Guggenheim Real Estate Plus recently paid $59.5 million for Irvine Technology Center I and II at the corner of Jamboree and Campus Drive.
The 251,585-square-foot park has a mix of shops and offices. Its tenants include US Labs and an Office Depot shop.
The 19-acre site is in the middle of all the housing construction along Jamboree. But don’t expect condos or apartments there any time soon.
Under site restrictions laid down years ago by The Irvine Company, housing can’t be built there until 2015.
Back in the day, the Irvine Co. wanted to make sure land near John Wayne Airport remained a commercial hub even after it sold the land. The result is that some parcels are easier to develop as housing than others,even if they’re only yards away.
Mike Meisenbach and Matt Moore of Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services Inc.’s Newport Beach office represented the buyers. John Griffin of Voit Commercial Brokerage LP represented the seller, Palo Alto’s Menlo Equities LLC.
Wilbur Smith III and John Tumminello Jr. formed Greenlaw in March 2003. The company since has bought 12 properties worth more than $400 million.
Guggenheim Real Estate Plus is a real estate portfolio managed by Guggenheim Real Estate LLC. It’s the real estate arm of the Guggenheim family’s investments.
RESIDENTIAL
Housing development is further along than commercial construction at the former Tustin Marine base.
In February, John Laing Homes, part of Newport Beach’s WL Homes LLC, began selling homes at Tustin Field II near the corner of Edinger and Harvard avenues.
John Laing began work on the first homes there in 2003. The homes sold quickly.
Later this summer, Miami’s Lennar Corp., which has offices in Aliso Viejo, and Newport Beach’s William Lyon Homes Inc. are expected to debut the first homes at two communities on the former base, Columbus Square and Columbus Grove.
The builders plan more than 2,000 homes at The Villages of Columbus.
The homebuilders are big on recycling. They plan to reuse some 153,452 tons of concrete and asphalt as well as 2.2 million pounds of kitchen appliances, sinks, windows, doors, cabinets, countertops and vanities. And 2,885 tons of trees will be replanted, according to a release.
“We like the sense of permanence mature trees give our communities at grand opening,” said Richard Knowland, local division president of Lennar, in a statement. “We formed a mountain of crushed concrete and asphalt after extracting tons of material from the old base. The crushed material is now being used in building roads for Villages of Columbus’ new streets, a move that is expected to help reduce construction costs while also being good for the environment.”
Habitat for Humanity of Orange County makes use of the appliances.
The first homes should be for sale at Columbus Grove in Irvine in late August. Later phases of homes will be released for sale in neighborhoods that lie in Tustin.
The first phase of homes planned for Columbus Square should be available for sale in 2006.
