Newport Beach Advances Irvine Company Office-to-Resi

The Newport Beach City Council has approved a plan for Irvine Company to turn offices into housing near John Wayne Airport.

Newport Beach council members unanimously voted in support of a development agreement for Irvine Company to build a mixed-use development at the 19-acre MacArthur Court Campus next to the airport, the Los Angeles Times reported. The plans call for 700 market-rate units as well as a 10,000-square-foot building for either retail or restaurant use.

In exchange for its approval, Irvine Company is on the hook to build up to 49 units of affordable housing at an off-site location in the future, a total that equates to 7 percent of the market-rate units at the project near the airport. The market-rate units are set to rise in two five-story residential buildings. The site is currently home to an office park bordered by MacArthur Boulevard, Campus Drive, MacArthur Court and Birch Street.

In addition to the affordable units, Irvine Company must provide public benefits including nearly $3.3 million to help revitalize MacArthur Boulevard and a $17,000 fee for any unit that is issued a building permit on or after July 1, 2028. The first building permit for off-site affordable housing, meanwhile, would have to be issued by Jan. 31, 2029.

Some residents, however, are skeptical that Irvine Company will follow through with its pledge to build affordable units, even in another location, as the company would be able to pay the in-lieu fee of about $37,000 if it doesn’t build the affordable housing or set aside land to the city for them.

“I don’t think we’re ever going to achieve the city’s housing plan with the number of affordable units at a 7 percent rate,” Ron Rubino, vice president of the Eastbluff Homeowners Community Association, told council members. “It seems like they should be built at the time you approve this kind of development agreement” with conditions that mean the developer ”can’t buy out of it.”

In order for the plan to advance, the Newport Beach Planning Commission must look over a site’s development review, traffic study and other entitlements before building permits are issued. Under its housing element, the City must plan for 4,845 new housing units by 2029.

— Chris Malone Méndez