When the Picerne Group got Newport Beach’s approval in late 2023 to convert the site of a two-building office park along Bristol Street to a 229-unit apartment complex, company officials expressed confidence that other developers would add similar residential projects to that largely commercial area of the city, near John Wayne Airport.
“It’s not difficult to see that the airport market is the one area in Newport Beach that will go through a dramatic change in the next 10 years,” Picerne officials said at the time, per a report in Stu News Newport.
“We truly want to look back in 10 years and feel like we made a positive difference in this city,” the official added.
Whether Picerne Group is now making a positive difference is a matter of debate, following local reports that the Newport Beach-based developer of apartments is behind an anti-development ballot measure in the city that could be voted on this November.
The Voice of OC this month first reported that company founder and CEO Ken Picerne was the sole donor (paying $150,000) behind the Coalition for Responsible Housing, which bankrolled an initiative that got over 6,100 signatures to support a city measure that would cut back new housing entitlements in Newport Beach between 2024 and 2029 from 8,174 units to 2,900 units, including units already in the pipeline.
Along with the 229-unit Bristol project, Picerne Group—one of the developers behind the Uptown Newport residential developers along Jamboree Road in the city—also is eyeing a 312-unit project along Von Karman Avenue.
Ken Picerne hasn’t commented publicly on the initiative, which has the backing of former Mayor Duffy Duffield.
A related anti-development group, the Newport Beach Stewardship Association, filed an opening brief with the 4th District Court of Appeals on Jan. 7 to ensure the measure makes the ballot.
Other city officials are puzzled by Picerne’s seemingly self-serving involvement in the matter.
“Why is the person that has the most apartments under construction funding a voter initiative to stop anyone else from building anything?” Councilman Noah Blom asked at a recent city council meeting.
Ken Picerne is no stranger to ruffling the feathers of other local developers.
Igor Olenicoff’s Olen Properties has been in litigation with Picerne Group and its Uptown Newport partner Shopoff Realty Investments for several years, in an attempt to thwart additional residential development next to an office along Birch Street it owns, in the Koll Center Newport business park near the airport.
Olen estimates its litigation damages and costs at around $10 million; the case is ongoing.
Notable developers with office-to-residential plans for the airport area of Newport Beach include Lincoln Property Company and Irvine Company, the latter of which also has big housing plans for Newport Center.
Antagonizing Irvine Co. with the ballot initiative is “a big mistake” by Picerne, said one local developer.
