In a region of soaring rents, the Irvine Co. aims to help the City of Irvine build 2,500 cheaper apartments that could help meet its state housing goal.
The giant Orange County landowner has filed plans to build three apartment complexes at sites targeted by the city’s so-called housing element, the Orange County Register reported. Unit rents would be more in line with local wages.
The Newport Beach-based developer provided no costs or specifications for the proposed apartments. To be less expensive, they’d likely have to be smaller units located in denser neighborhoods.
“These are mixed-use districts where residents will have immediate access to employment, shopping and transportation infrastructure,” Jeff Davis, an Irvine Co. senior vice president, told a city hearing. “Meeting economic and quality of life needs for recent graduates, young professionals and essential service workers — all within the community framework of a new mixed-use setting.”
Irvine, which just finished its state-manding housing plan, must rezone land to fit 23,610 homes by 2029, of which more than 10,000 units must be affordable to very-low and low-income households. It’s also the epicenter for some of the highest apartment rents in the nation.
The median rent in Orange County this month is $2,632 – an 18-percent increase from a year ago, according to a ranking by ApartmentList.com, putting it second highest among U.S. counties. Manhattan, at $2,833 a month, is first.
Irvine plans to create more affordable housing in new hot spots for apartments — in more urban, busy areas at or near shopping and job centers.
The Irvine Co plans to build 1,400 units in northern Irvine, where it would demolish an underused section of The Market Place, an outdoor shopping center at 2961 El Camino Real. The shopping center straddles Tustin and Irvine, on whose portain contains 79 acres.
It also aims to build up to 1,100 apartment units on two vacant lots at Gateway and Pacifica, both of which are zoned for commercial development such as offices, a few blocks north of its Spectrum Center.
Construction would require the city to rezone part of the shopping center and the land designated for offices. With city approvals, the apartments could be completed by 2025.
[Orange County Register] – Dana Bartholomew
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