The developers of the Great Park Neighborhoods in Irvine have filed plans for the first batch of commercial construction at the former El Toro Marine Corps air station, a 2-million-square-foot office park that appears designed to hold the headquarters and expanded operations of Broadcom Corp.
Aliso Viejo-based FivePoint Communities Management Inc. filed preliminary plans with the city of Irvine’s planning commission to build an eight-building research and development campus on 78.5 acres at the southern edge of the former marine base.
The campus would go up near the intersection of Barranca and Alton parkways, near the Irvine train station.
The Spectrum-area land is currently used for agriculture.
All but one building at the campus would be between four and six stories, with the largest of the eight offices running 455,000 square feet, according to city filings.
The campus would be built over three phases and could be completed by 2017, according to the city documents. A mix of parking structures and surface parking for more than 7,000 employees is also expected.
The project would be Orange County’s largest office development in well over a decade if it goes ahead as envisioned.
Irvine-based Broadcom isn’t mentioned by name in the planning documents as the likely occupant.
However, the initial plan for the campus looks to be designed for a single tenant and appears to fit with the needs of the chipmaker, which is Orange County’s largest office tenant.
Six of the Great Park offices would “serve as engineering buildings, which will feature mixed lab space and standard office space,” according to city filings.
A five-story, 308,000-square-foot office would include meeting room space, a conference hall, office space for executives and administration, and other uses.
The eighth and smallest building would run 34,000 square feet and serve as an employee fitness center.
The exterior design of the buildings is expected to feature metal and glass, according to the city report.
The deal, if it goes ahead with the technology company as its sole tenant, would represent a major step up in space for Broadcom.
The company currently leases about 920,000 square feet from Newport Beach-based Irvine Company in the University Research Park, a business park next to the University of California-Irvine that runs along the San Joaquin Hills (73) Toll Road (see related story on Spectrum tower, page 1).
Broadcom has been exploring potential sites for a larger campus—including locations in other parts of Irvine and Tustin—for well over a year, but has yet to announce its definitive plans.
That contrasts with statements by Irvine Mayor Steven Choi, who said in March that Broadcom had reached an agreement in principle to build its headquarters on Five Point Communities’ land near the Great Park.
