$300-Million Project Planned in Irvine

Mola Development Corp. said it intends to build a $300-million project--including housing, two office towers and retail facilities--on the former Beckman Instruments property in Irvine.

Officials for Huntington Beach-based Mola, which entered escrow last October to purchase the 40-acre site from Prudential Realty Group for $45.5 million, said they hope the housing component will save their project from the kind of controversy and delay that has plagued Trammell Crow Co.’s proposed office development on the site of Fluor Corp.’s 162-acre Irvine headquarters.

Mola project manager Kirk Evans said he expects the plan to win necessary approval from the Irvine city government, which has encouraged construction of housing that will be accessible to workers in nearby office buildings and reduce commuter traffic on already congested streets and freeways.

Mola’s plans call for construction of 480,000 square feet of offices to be housed in two buildings: one 10 stories and the other 14. Also proposed are a 2,000-seat cinema complex, 50,000 square feet of restaurants, 50,000 square feet of shops, a 450-room hotel, a 66,000-square-foot health club and an 8,000-square-foot child day care center.

Planned for the northern and eastern periphery of the project, Mola officials said, are 1,350 apartments and/or condominiums, including a 20-story residential tower. Sources close to Mola said that the company is in preliminary negotiations with Fredricks Development Corp., a Santa Ana building subsidiary of Pacific Lighting Corp., to develop the residential portion of the plan. Fredericks officials could not be reached.

Evans said the close of the land purchase from Prudential has been delayed pending the removal of soil that has been contaminated by toxic wastes.