High-rise condominiums like those going up in Irvine and Anaheim are in the works for Orange County’s most urban city.
A handful of developers are pushing plans for condo towers in Santa Ana, the county’s largest city by population. Grading is under way for some projects. Others still are in the early stages.
If the plans come to fruition, about 1,000 high-rise homes could be built in the city, alongside another 1,000 in smaller buildings.
Developers and planners “are trying to pick the best places where vertical works,” Mayor Miguel Pulido said. “Santa Ana is one of those places. There was a need for high-rise commercial, and now we’re also starting to see a need for high-rise residential.”
Harrah Condos?
Among the projects could be one from Michael Harrah, Santa Ana’s dominant real estate figure. Harrah, who heads Santa Ana-based Caribou Industries Inc., could be planning a condo tower to match a massive office building he plans to put up.
Harrah declined to talk about a possible condo tower but said, “We’re continuing to preserve the past and ensure the future” of the city.
Almost single-handedly, Harrah has revitalized downtown Santa Ana by restoring old buildings and attracting restaurants, art galleries and other businesses.
|
|
Site of Harrah’s proposed office tower: twin condo tower? |
Last year, he won voter approval for a massive office tower between downtown and the Civic Center.
Harrah has been working to line up tenants and financing for the proposed 37-story office building. Under a pact with the city, he needs to have half of the building leased before starting construction.
The tower, One Broadway Plaza, would be Orange County’s largest building.
Harrah is building a 35-story luxury condominium tower in downtown Honolulu, dubbed The Pinnacle Honolulu.
Shea’s Play
Shea Homes, the homebuilding arm of Walnut-based J.F. Shea Co., also could have plans for Santa Ana.
The company recently bought a 9-acre site at Fourth Street and the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway, according to real estate sources.
Shea could be looking to build a 10- to 20-story building with as many as 150 condos. Several hundred townhomes could be part of the mix. Plans for the project haven’t made their way to the city yet.
Other Projects
Several low-rise condo projects are being built in Santa Ana.
They include Lennar Corp.’s 108-unit Santiago Street Lofts, near the city’s train station.
Seal Beach-based Olson Co. is in the third phase of development on lofts along Main Street in the heart of downtown.
The projects are part of Santa Ana’s maturation, Pulido said.
“We need to have open spaces, and low density in the city. But we also need to have high-rise opportunities,” he said.
MacArthur, Main
The city’s other hotspot: on MacArthur Boulevard along its border with Irvine.
Plans for high-rises there started in 2004, when two developers started work on condo towers at Main and MacArthur.
Developer Franco Mola, president of Coastal Rim Properties Inc., is working on two buildings,one 18 stories, the other eight.
The project, called Geneva Commons, was hindered early on by issues related to planes flying in and out of nearby John Wayne Airport.
Those issues have been resolved, said Hans Van Ligten, a partner with Costa Mesa’s Rutan & Tucker LLP who represents Mola.
Other parts of the project need to be ironed out with the city. New plans for the 278-condo project should be submitted soon, said Vincent Fregoso, a senior planner with the city.
Airport Towers
Construction on Mola’s project could start next year. Early plans for Geneva Commons call for condos ranging from 1,000 to about 1,600 square feet.
Next to Mola’s planned towers, near Hutton Centre office park, Santa Ana-based Nexus Cos. plans three 25-story condo towers.
The project, called Nexus Lake Towers, is the farthest along. It has zoning and approvals and “is moving ahead very quickly,” said Steve Harding, Santa Ana’s executive director of planning.
Last month, development rights for two of the Nexus towers were transferred to MacArthur Towers LLC, a Newport Beach-based unit of Intracorp of Los Angeles.
Also in February, a plan to transfer control of a separate low-rise condo project at MacArthur Place South was taken up by the council. The project calls for 350 condos.
Newport Beach-based Integral Partners LLC had planned to develop the 5-acre site.
Now development rights have been passed to Western Pacific Housing, a subsidiary of D.R. Horton Inc. The executive team of Integral Partners hails from Western Pacific.
