The biggest commercial property owners in the Mariner’s Mile area of Newport Beach aim to have a scaled down redevelopment project for their land brought before the city’s planning commission in the latter part of next year.
Revised plans for Newport Village, a 9.4-acre mixed-use project along West Coast Highway headed by Newport Beach-based Mx3 Ventures LLC and MSM Global Ventures LLC, were brought before a community group last month, the latest step in a development process that’s been underway for several years.
The group’s initial redevelopment proposal for Newport Village in 2017 called for a little more than 240,000 square feet of retail, office and restaurant construction, and a multifamily project totaling 175 units and 356,000 square feet.
The new plan, revised after concerns over traffic and obstructed views for residents whose homes overlook the area, proposes nearly 299,000 square feet, including about 120,000 square feet of commercial; residential plans now call for 14 condos on the south side of Coast Highway and 108 apartments north of PCH.
Then as now, the project proposes a new publicly accessible waterfront promenade and north of 800 parking spaces.
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The development is being overseen by different members of the Moshayedi family, longtime locals who founded and ran Santa Ana-based computer storage device maker STEC Inc. until its 2013 sale to Western Digital Corp. for $340 million.
Manouch Moshayedi, STEC co-founder and one-time chairman, runs Mx3, while Mark Moshayedi—Manouch’s brother and a STEC co-founder—heads MSM.
Other family investors in the area include Mike Moshayedi, another brother with prior ties to STEC.
The family has bought land for the multiblock project in a series of transactions over the past decade or so.
Land under its control on the water-facing side of Coast Highway include the former Ardell Yacht & Ship Brokers building, the nearby Duffy Electric Boat Co. rental store, and the Mariner’s Mile Marine Center office property.
On the inland side, they own a roughly 5-acre stretch now home to Sun Country Marine and Johnston Yacht Sales properties, and an adjoining office parcel.
A draft environmental impact report is expected by next summer, with a planning commission hearing in the fall.
It’s not the only redevelopment project the Moshayedi family is working on; news reports from San Francisco this year note they’re steering a pair of projects in the city’s Mission District, which like the Mariner’s Mile work could be home to housing, retail and restaurants.
