FivePoint Holdings LLC is in discussions to take over master development duties at a nearly 300-acre site on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County owned by California State Polytechnic University-Pomona.
The Aliso Viejo-based developer of Irvine’s Great Park Neighborhoods and other large residential and commercial sites in the state was recently selected by the university to be its potential partner in the redevelopment of the Lanterman Developmental Center, a one-time residential healthcare facility that ceased operations in 2015.
The site is about 15 miles north of Brea and the Orange County line, near the Orange (57) Freeway and the city of Diamond Bar.
The largely rural property is close to the main campus of Cal Poly Pomona, which is about 1,400 acres.
The university—one of two polytechnics in the California State University system—has about 26,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
Cal Poly Pomona took over ownership of the Lanterman site in 2015, and last year began an RFP process to find potential development partners for the site.
FivePoint beat a handful of other undisclosed master developer candidates to get the university’s nod, according to public records.
The university and FivePoint are now in an exclusive negotiation process, a multimonth period during which terms and scope of a potential development will be hashed out.
The site is expected to “have residential as well as commercial, and it will have student housing,” FivePoint Chief Executive Emile Haddad said this month.
The Lanterman project would be the second L.A. County project for FivePoint, which also runs the 15,000-acre Newhall Ranch development in the northern part of the county.
Newhall is now underway with early-stage development work. FivePoint said this month that it remains on track to deliver developed homesites there to builders toward the end of next year.
Newhall will ultimately include about 21,500 homes and 11.5 million square feet of commercial space.
More on Horizon?
Other opportunities exist for FivePoint along the lines of Lanterman, Haddad said during his company’s quarterly earnings call, on Aug. 13.
“We are in process of a couple of opportunities … from people who will approach us to partner with them for redevelopment and repurposing of space,” he said.
Haddad calls the Cal Poly Pomona selection of FivePoint “a big statement in terms of a university picking us to be their selected developer on a parcel they own.”
He said, “We view [this] as a great opportunity.”
Cal Poly Pomona said in a statement that it “plans to use the site to support its academic mission and benefit the surrounding communities.”
3.7M-SF Potential
Specific development types and development intensities have not been established for the Lanterman site, nor has a time frame for any entitlement work kicking off been discussed.
A 2016 report by the Urban Land Institute indicated that about 172 acres are flat and likely developable.
The site contained 131 buildings and structures totaling about 1 million square feet, at the time of its closure, according to the ULI report. The institute said it thinks that some of the structures could be repurposed once development begins there.
A 2017 due-diligence analysis by the university estimated that a 90-acre portion of Lanterman could be developed into about 3.7 million square feet of buildings, and that about half the existing structures could be repurposed.
A university-serving retail center, workforce housing, apartments and hotel were all proposed as potential uses in the ULI report, which recommends the development include space to accommodate a Metrolink rail stop.
If for-profit, residential development of the 90-acre site is emphasized, the site could generate an estimated residual value of $320 million, according to the university’s report.
Any long-term development plan that the university and FivePoint agree on during the negotiation process would require approval from the school’s board of trustees.
The city of Pomona has also expressed interest in incorporating the site into its own master plan, and is expected to play a role in the project.
“On- and off-campus constituents and stakeholders will be given opportunities to provide input about development proposals,” the school said.
