Tower Keystone to Renewal : Private Sector Joins Santa Ana Revitalization
Park Tower, a $30-million professional office and retail building viewed as a keystone in the redevelopment of downtown Santa Ana, is under way at 200 W. Santa Ana Blvd.
Roger A. Kooi, director of Santa Ana’s development commission, called the 10-story structure “the first major building done by a private developer for a major land parcel under the auspices of the redevelopment agency.”
Construction is expected to begin soon on another eight or nine buildings being developed by private parties in the redevelopment area, he added, “and these range from office projects to a four-block fiesta market to residential developments.”
The Park Tower site, purchased from the city of Santa Ana, is strategically located across the street from the old Santa Ana courthouse and near the county recorder’s office.
When completed by Birtcher Pacific Construction of Laguna Niguel next March, Park Tower will be home to Orange County’s growing legal profession as well as retailers and other professionals.
The project is a joint venture of CM-Properties of Santa Ana and American Diversified Capital Corp. of Costa Mesa, one of the nation’s largest development-related entities.
Corbin-Yamafuji & Partners Inc. of Irvine designed Park Tower to include polished granite and mirrored, solar-insulated glass to reflect many nearby historical buildings. During the last several years, CM-Properties has worked closely with the Santa Ana Redevelopment Agency and Santa Ana Historical Society and has completed the rehabilitation of three historical buildings. The firm is backed by individuals who had $1.6 billion in revenues for 1984.
Park Tower will have a total of 339,769 gross square feet, with 47,435 square feet on the ground floor, where there will be offices and/or office-related retail space and support functions such as food purveyors.
Fronting the building will be a grand plaza with brick pavers extending into the 20-foot high foyer, which will be accented with granite and metal. Solar insulated glass windows will be aligned vertically.
Four high-speed elevators, including one for freight, two stairwells in the tower and four stairwells in the parking area, will provide access to the upper floors.
Common areas, including the lobby, restrooms and corridors, were designed to have high-grade carpeting, suspended acoustical ceilings, fluorescent lighting, vinyl wall coverings and fixtures to accommodate commercial traffic.
The building will have a steel frame with poured-in-place concrete floor slabs and a centralized mechanical system in a rooftop penthouse of 4,442 square feet. The roof will be made of a tar-and-gravel composition.
There will be 173,535 square feet, or 450 stalls, for parking encompassing the second through fifth floors. The garage will have a gate-guarded entry, and there will be direct access to the office tower.
The 6th through 10th floors will have 14,357 square feet of professional office space with views of the entire downtown civic center.
Every office will also have key-card access and separate electrical metering. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning will be provided by clusters of small heat-pump units, that will permit various zones for each floor.
Leasing is being handled by Lee & Associates of Orange.
