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.”
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.
Harrah is building a 35-story luxury condominium tower in downtown Honolulu, dubbed The Pinnacle Honolulu.
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.
For more on this story, see the March 6 edition of the Business Journal.
