Irvine : Hotel, Shopping Project Begun at Irvine Co. Farm
The thud of a cement block hitting the rain-soaked ground on Thursday signaled the start of a project that developers hope will turn seven dilapidated buildings on a former Irvine Co. farm into a tourist attraction.
The abandoned site at the Santa Ana Freeway and Sand Canyon Road in Irvine will become the home for a 98-room hotel, shops and restaurants, developer Robert Smith said.
The farm’s cement silos will be converted into a four-story La Quinta motor inn, and the remaining wood and tin buildings, including a lima bean warehouse and blacksmith shop, will be rehabilitated for lease to other firms, Smith said.
Artifacts collected from around the farm will be transported to the site and placed on display.
The farm, once the hub of the Irvine Co.’s ranching and farming operations, was shut down in 1972 and most of the equipment sold, said Judy Liebeck, a member of the Irvine Historical Society.
The city and the Irvine Co. agreed to preserve the buildings at the urging of the Historical Society, Irvine City Councilwoman Barbara Wiener said.
The Olde Towne Irvine project, financed by private developers and Historical Investments Inc., an Irvine Co. subsidiary, is expected to cost $15 million and be completed within three years, Smith said.
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