Irvine Wins: Gateway Village, a nearly 75-acre residential development planned in North Irvine near the intersection of Portola Parkway and Jeffrey Road, could well turn out to be one of the more profitable ventures backed by the city in recent memory.
At the start of April, the Business Journal reported on Brookfield Residential, the Canadian homebuilder with local operations in Costa Mesa, being tapped by the city to act as master developer for Gateway Village, a project that is expected to hold over 1,200 homes and apartments. Groundwork there could kick off in the next few years.
The city of Irvine got control of the land last year, as part of an agreement with Irvine Co., that resulted in the closure of the nearby All American Asphalt plant, whose operations had angered area residents. The city paid $285M to the factory’s owners for its land.
Under the current terms of the proposed deal with Brookfield, the city will get 100% of the proceeds from land sales at the new housing project, up to $541M. After that, land sale proceeds will be split 85/15 between the city and Brookfield, filings from last month indicate.
Brookfield has the right to purchase up to 65% of the residential lots at Gateway Village, per the deal, with other builders buying the remaining lots from the company.
Builder profits over 8% are expected to be shared 50/50 with the city, which ultimately expects to see between $600M and $675M in total proceeds from the endeavor.
Irvine Loses: Getting your watch battery repaired at South Coast Plaza’s Jostmar Jewelers will set you back $25 or so, but clock repair for Irvine’s city hall building counts a much heftier price tag.
The city’s earmarked nearly $350K for the “rehabilitation” of the Irvine Civic Center Clock Tower, a project that includes “erecting scaffolding, sandblasting, cleaning and painting,” but evidently not a new clock battery.
The upside of the project, to be performed by Techno Coatings Inc.: it could’ve been worse. Other bids topped $1.5M.
Irvine’s in the midst of expanding and updating its city facilities, and this month is expected to close on the $13.5M buy of Resources Connections Inc.’s (Nasdaq: RGP) HQ in the city. The 57K-SF office will be used for an expansion of the city’s operations.
The city also recently leased 24K SF of space at Irvine Co.’s UCI Research Park, to hold a portion of its staff while improvements are made to its existing city hall facility, which runs 191K SF.
Everyone’s Loss: Has there been an adequate explanation given for the nearly 8-month timeline required to complete the repaving of Jamboree Road in Irvine, just south of the 5 Freeway?
The $2.2M project, due to wrap up this month, has made commuting on the city’s main north-south corridor a disaster for the entirety of the year. Early returns suggest the improvements are minor at best.
Seems like it should have been a 3-week project? There’s rarely more than a handful of workers seen on site at any time.
