The Pelican Hill Golf Club is about a month into a year-long renovation of its two 18-hole courses, one of several notable renovations taking place at Irvine Co.’s 500-acre The Resort at Pelican Hill as it transitions into the first property in a new luxury portfolio overseen by Marriott International, dubbed the St. Regis Estates, by 2027.
While portions of the two golf courses are being closed on a rotating basis during the renovation, the golf club is finding other sources of business.
Camera crews have been spotted on-site at the golf club for a few weeks, using some of those closed-off holes to film scenes for what sources say is the upcoming, golf-centric Netflix comedy series starring Irvine native Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson and some “Saturday Night Live” alums, including Molly Shannon.
The as-of-yet unnamed, 10-episode series, announced a few months ago, centers on Ferrell’s Lonnie Hawkins, “an uber-competitive, legendary pro golfer,” according to reports.
It’s Ferrell’s first TV series and marks a return to sport-related comedies for the University High School and USC alum, whose filmography includes “Semi-Pro” (basketball), “Blades of Glory” (figure skating), “Kicking and Screaming” (soccer) and “Talladega Nights” (Nascar).
Business Journal Editor-at-Large Rick Reiff noted during a golf outing on Dec. 9 that “the camera crews are all over the South Course today—they’ve recreated a U.S. Open leaderboard.”
Golf and hospitality aficionados looking for a less formal environment than Pelican Hill can consider visiting Irvine Spectrum Center, which last week saw the unveiling of two of the Irvine Co.-owned mall’s bigger additions in recent years, the Holey Moley miniature “golf club” venue and related Hijinx Hotel. See Emily Santiago-Molina’s column on page 12 for more.
Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren never told the good people of San Diego to “go F yourself,” a la Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy character in the comedy classic “Anchorman,” but the city’s leaders likely took the landlord’s rapid exit from the office market in downtown San Diego over the past year almost as personally.
As a Wall Street Journal Dec. 8 feature (which echoed a report from our paper last month) noted, the 93-year-old Bren’s decision to sell all of Irvine Co.’s office towers in the downtown area of San Diego, at steep discounts to what the company paid, is a clear “vote of no-confidence” that “tells other downtown property investors that Bren expects the near-record-high office vacancies and other problems could endure for years.”
Bren’s decision isn’t to be taken lightly, the WSJ noted, given he “has shown a clairvoyance for when to buy and sell real estate” over the past 60 years.
Irvine Co. officials note that the company continues to invest in San Diego County’s higher-growth markets, including La Jolla and University Town Center, where they own both offices and apartments.
