Chapman University is moving ahead with a sizeable expansion plan at the Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus, the Orange-based school’s graduate health science campus in the Irvine Spectrum.
Irvine’s planning commission this week is expected to review plans to convert into institutional facilities a traditional four-story office building that Chapman owns but doesn’t occupy. The office is near its existing two-building campus along Jeronimo Road.
An unused lot nearby that the school also owns would be converted into a 540-space parking lot under the plan, which is scheduled to be reviewed on Sept. 5.
If approved, the proposal would increase student enrollment capacity at the campus from 500 to 906, and faculty and staff count could increase from 125 to 227.
A time frame for the expansion moving ahead hasn’t been set, school officials told the Business Journal.
KTGY Group Inc. of Irvine is working with the school on the entitlement work, while DRC Engineering Inc. of Anaheim Hills and Fountain Valley’s BrightView Landscape Development are among the other contractors involved in the project, city records indicate.
Opened in 2014
The Rinker Health Science campus opened in 2014, and was funded in part by a $15 million gift from the Rinker family in 2013.
Harry Rinker, a longtime trustee at the school, runs Rinker Co., a real estate investment and development company with properties primarily in California and Idaho.
The Irvine campus marked the first time Chapman has expanded outside its main Orange campus; property records indicate the school has paid more than $70 million to assemble offices and other nearby property in the Spectrum area over the past seven or so years.
Chapman bought the original 166,413-square-foot building for the campus at 9401 and 9501 Jeronimo Road in 2012 for a reported $20 million.
The school has since spent millions more on renovations, including a PrescribeWellness Center that opened in October 2018.
The 9401 building is used for faculty and staff offices to support the graduate campus operations, while the 9501 building primarily houses classrooms and practical laboratories, according to the city.
The all-graduate campus includes the Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences and the School of Pharmacy, the first pharmacy school in Orange County.
The School of Pharmacy is currently developing two new master’s programs, while Crean College is preparing to draft a new strategic plan for the next five years.
“Because we’re purely a graduate campus, our graduate students have different needs. We’re focused on addressing these needs, and bringing high excellence to our academic programs,” said Dr. Janeen Hill, dean of Crean College.
Conversion
The expansion plan involves converting a pair of additional properties, located on a little more than 10 acres, which the school has added to its growing collection of real estate holdings in the Spectrum.
Chapman purchased a nearly 127,000-square-foot office at 9701 Jeronimo Road for $25.5 million in June 2014, and a 5-acre vacant lot across the street at 9750 Jeronimo in August 2016 for $10.5 million, records indicate.
The 9701 Jeronimo Road office is used by a variety of tenants, though the school plans to take over the space for academic purposes as it grows.
Student Services
Other Chapman facilities in the vicinity of the Rinker campus main buildings are also in line for renovations.
The school is planning to build a student services center on its Irvine campus at 14725 Alton Parkway, where a new Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Science is located.
The Alton property is a short walk from the Jeronimo Road facilities.
The student center, which will provide food services and study spaces, is in the design and planning stages and expected to open in fall 2021.
Additional ongoing projects entering the design and planning stages include a fitness center that will replace a parking structure adjacent to 14725 Alton, and campus landscaping that will allow students to enjoy the outdoor areas.
“The plan is to create a comprehensive student center at the Irvine campus. This is critical to the future success of the school, as the commute to the Orange campus is difficult for many students,” said Ronald Jordan, dean, School of Pharmacy.
“The additions of the student services center and fitness center will meet a great need in the community.”
Chapman purchased the 59,500-square-foot property at 14725 Alton in March 2017 for $15.3 million, records show.
Other buildings that are part of Chapman’s Spectrum-area campus includes offices at 1 and 3 Hughes, which were purchased in July 2016 for $13.5 million and are currently leased to others.
