The developer of 580 Anton, the first upscale apartment project in the Costa Mesa arts district area in a decade, has a second residential project in the works a few blocks away, just over the city line in Santa Ana.
Foster City-based Legacy Partners is in the early stages of entitlement work at 651 W. Sunflower Ave., a 3.6-acre site on the northeast corner of Sunflower Avenue and Flower Street.
The site currently holds a nearly 10,000-square-foot building that’s used by The Sound church, along with a paved parking lot; both of which are proposed for demolition.
Legacy Partners is looking to build a five-story apartment holding 233 units, which would be wrapped around a six-story parking structure containing 466 spaces.
Courtyards, landscaping and various on-site amenities are also proposed for the Legacy Sunflower project, according to Santa Ana planning department filings, which note that the project will require a general plan amendment, zone change, and environmental impact report.
The developer held some early-stage fact-finding meetings with local residents about the project over the course of the summer. Irvine-based Sapetto Real Estate Solutions is handling the entitlement work, according to public filings.
The Sunflower Avenue site is across the street from the northern edge of The Enclave, Newport Beach-based Irvine Co.’s 890-unit apartment complex in the arts district of Costa Mesa, which opened in 2008.
The Enclave was the last big rental complex to open in the immediate vicinity until last month when Legacy Partners took the wraps off 580 Anton.
The seven-story, 250-unit rental complex is across the street from Plaza Tower, and a short walk from the proposed development at Sunflower Avenue.
Studios at 580 Anton start around 500 square feet, and two bedroom units are about 1,200 square feet. Monthly rents top $4,000 for some larger two-bedroom units, and studios start about $2,000.
Legacy acquired the Costa Mesa site in 2015 in a joint venture with Des Moines, Iowa-based Prudential Real Estate Investors and broke ground in 2016. The roughly 2-acre site previously held the Lakes Pavilions retail center. The developers paid about $21.3 million for it.
There are no records of the Sunflower site changing hands of late, according to CoStar Group Inc. data.
CRG Expansion
St. Louis-based real estate development firm CRG is opening a West Coast office, which will be based in Newport Beach.
The company, which is best known for industrial development, said this month it had tapped Bud Pharris to open the new office. He will serve as senior vice president and partner, and will lead CRG’s industrial activities in logistics markets throughout the Western U.S.
Joe Williams will join Pharris in the Orange County office, and will serve as director of development for the West Region.
Both previously worked for DCT Industrial, which was acquired this year for $8.4 billion by Prologis. DCT had built a sizeable presence in OC’s industrial market prior to the acquisition.
Pharris said he’s looking forward to “the opportunity to continue to execute on a Western regional development platform in one of the hottest industrial markets in the country.”
The Newport Beach office and a new office outside Philadelphia brings CRG’s roster of locations up to seven.
Privately-held CRG is the development arm of Chicago-based design firm Clayco Inc.; CRG reports having developed more than $9 billion worth of projects. It’s looking to build another $1 billion of projects over the next three years with an emphasis on large distribution centers.
