What makes your city special?
Tustin is a great place for living and doing business. Tustin has a small town feel with big city conveniences. Our city is located not only in the center of Orange County, but in the center of Southern California. We have easy access to major freeways, airports and mass transit lines. You can easily catch trains either to San Diego or Los Angeles.
We’re decidedly pro-business with one of the lowest business license tax in Orange County, a one-stop shop for development processing and low development fees. We offer site location assistance and various financing opportunities.
What are the best restaurants for executives to meet?
Some of my favorites are The Black Marlin in Old Town, Zov’s Bistro in Enderle Center, Mizu Sushi Bar and Grill at The Market Place, The Winery and Prego Mediterranean at The District.
What are fun things to do in your city?
Great things are always happening such as a citywide Easter egg hunt, a weekly certified farmers market, summer concerts and movies in the parks. Tustin’s proximity to Peter’s Canyon Regional Park offers great hiking and beautiful sights. Our annual Fourth of July celebration and firework display brings thousands of people together to celebrate, as does our Tustin Tiller Days parade and carnival, and annual Totally Tustin Food and Wine Festival.
In December, we host a holiday tree-lighting ceremony. Let’s not forget that Tustin is home to the world’s largest one-day Chili Cook-Off every June.
What is planned for the historic downtown area?
Last year, the City Council adopted a plan to create a vibrant area in Old Town by attracting new businesses and developing a walkable or bikeable destination with strong transit and auto access. It also will have the Vintage development, which has 140 new homes walkable to the historic commercial area.
What is in store for the former Marine Corps base?
Since the Marines left in 1999, we’ve been developing the 1,600-acre site now known as Tustin Legacy. The city has developed hundreds of acres to date for residential, retail and office uses, including recent projects such as The Village retail center, Greenwood neighborhood and Phase 1 of the new Flight office campus. Expect to see more exciting projects coming online or starting construction over the next 12 months. When completed, we are projecting a future population of more than 18,000; over 6,800 residential units and 9 million square feet of nonresidential use with more than 100 acres dedicated to parks.
What will happen to the 17-story tall blimp hangars?
The hangars are the largest free-standing wooden structures in the world. The South Hangar (closest to The District) is used by the city for filming, events and civic activities. The city is planning to perform deferred maintenance and bring power back to the South Hangar. The city envisions that this building will remain publicly accessible and be a key component of the Tustin Legacy community core neighborhood. The North Hangar (closest to Veterans Sports Park) sustained roof damage in 2013 and remains closed. The North Hangar and the surrounding property are slated to be conveyed to the County of Orange, which will determine its future when a park is developed.
What about traffic through Tustin Legacy?
We’re improving Red Hill Avenue, Park Avenue, Moffett Drive and Legacy Road. Anyone who gets gas at The District’s Costco station can see our enhancements. We’re also collaborating with the city of Irvine to improve traffic flow by synchronizing the signals along Tustin Ranch Road, Edinger Avenue, Von Karman Avenue, Barranca Avenue and Irvine Center Drive.
